From Brush

From Brush

Captures alphas and textures from sculpted and painted details

From Brush evaluates sculpted and painted surface details, and captures those de­tails as an alpha and texture.
This system offers a highly customizable way to sculpt your own details to repeat on other areas of the model, build alpha brush libraries and more.

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How From Brush Works

From Brush looks at the ZAdd and ZSub sculpture details on a surface and provides a capture tool to draw over the details, converting them into an alpha.

The From Brush button is found in the Alpha palette. The Hotkey for From Brush is the G key. Activating From Brush mode will display a blue circle instead of your usual red cursor, indicating that ZBrush is ready to capture an alpha from a sculpted surface.

The From Brush blue circle capture tool utilizes the selected Stroke type for capture.

When using From Brush, the generated alpha will be assigned to whichever sculpt­ing brush is selected at the time. It can also be assigned to any sculpting brush, and customizations can be made to the brush for refinements to how the alpha will be used for sculpting on the surface.

If PolyPaint exists on the model, turning on RGB channel allows From Brush to gen­erate an alpha and a texture from the captured surface.

Important!

To use a captured alpha and texture for application with a brush, you must turn off the A button, found next to the MRGB button.

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The ‘A’ button, next to the ‘Mrgb’ button

Expert Tip!

The From Brush feature is utilized by default in the XTractor brushes found in the Brush palette. For more information on utilizing From Brush in action, search for XTractor Brushes in docs.pixologic.com or the Documentation Guide PDF found in the ZBrush installation folder.

Strokes functions with From Brush

Important!

For all stroke types, the draw size as indicated by the blue circle must fully encompass the sculpted detail before you begin your stroke in order to ensure successful alpha capture

Freehand Stroke

This stroke captures the sculpted details by dragging your cursor across the sculpt­ed surface.

DragRect Stroke

This stroke captures the sculpted details by dragging your cursor from the center of the sculpted details outward to fully encompass the desired area for alpha conversion.

Dots Stroke

This stroke captures the sculpted details by dragging your cursor across the sculpt­ed surface for alpha conversion.

DragDot Stroke

This stroke captures the sculpted details by clicking and slightly dragging your cursor to the desired center of the sculpted surface for alpha conversion.

DragDot Stroke

This stroke captures the sculpted details by clicking and slightly dragging your cursor to the desired center of the sculpted surface for alpha conversion.

Spray Strokes

These strokes capture the sculpted details by dragging your cursor across the sculpted surface for alpha conversion.