BPR Filters

BPR filters are post-process effects applied to your Best Preview Render. There are several advantages to using these filters. First, it avoids the extra step of doing post-render work in another program like Photoshop. Second, the BPR filters can use internally computed information like depth or masking. This means you can apply the effects to a local area rather than to the entire image. This local application of the filters is also what sets BPR filters apart from the other render filters from previous versions of ZBrush.

BPR Filters

BPR Filters sub-palette

BPR Filters Management

To make your experiments easier, it is possible to copy, paste, cut, and insert BPR filters. Since ZBrush renders the result of each filter in order, it can be useful to change the order or to insert new filters.

2019_NPR_12

The filters Copy/Paste/Cut/Insert functions. Combined with the Load, Save and Freeze functions, they offer full control over filter management.

After copying or cutting a filter, select the one that you wish to follow it in the render order. When you then insert the copied/cut filter, the selected one will be shifted to the right and the inserted filter will take its former slot position. Other filters located after the inserted one will of course also be shifted.

Obviously, cutting a filter will also shift the positions of all filters which had been located after this removed filter.

The Reset Filter function will restore all settings for the current filter to their initial values.

BPR Filter slots and settings

BPR Filters and their settings

F1 – F12

Click on the F1 to F12 buttons to display the corresponding slot which can receive a filter. By default, no filters are activated. You must click on the small circle at the top right of the Function button to enable/disable the filter.

Filter (default> Noise)

The Filter selector. Click to select a filter to apply to your render. The same filter may be applied in multiple slots, with each instance receiving its own settings.

BlendMode (default> Add)

Change the mode by which the filter effect will be combined with your render. Each filter has a default blend mode that will be selected by default but you are free to change it to get the exact result you are looking for.

Strength (default> Noise)

Define how strongly the filter will be applied to your render. At 0, the filter has no effect, while at 100 it applies the effect at 100%. Negative values are also possible and will reverse the filter’s effect (such as turning the Blur filter into a Sharpen filter).

The Strength slider will have the name of the selected filter.

Opacity

Define the amount of opacity the filter will be applied to your render. At 0, the filter will be fully transparent and have no effect, while at 100 it will appliy the effect at 100%.

Front Color

By clicking on the Front Color box you can change the color applied to the filter. Some filters like Red, Blue or Green are not affected by this option.

Back Color

By clicking on the Back Color box you can change the background color applied to the filter. Some filters like Red, Blue or Green are not affected by this option.

Modifiers

Some filters, such as the Texture filter, have Modifiers which can be accessed when this button is enabled. These are additional options for adjusting how the filter affects the render.


Below the Modifiers button you can find a series of operators which modulate the filters’ effect based on various properties coming from the 3D model, color information or rendered elements like shadows.

Changing their values will allow you to control whether the filter result is part of an element or discreet from it, such as having a filter affect only the render’s shadows. Of course, it is possible to combine multiple modulators through the Mask modulator, such as affecting only the shadows which fall on the model itself.