Saving & Loading

Saving and Loading Render Settings, including BPR Filters

When creating complex effects through BPR filters and render settings like shadows, ambient occlusion and more, you may want to save these settings to reuse in future projects or share with other artists.

2019_NPR_09

The power of BPR filters: On top, the original render. At the bottom, the exact same render with a preset loaded that includes several filters, some of which use 3D data from the original render and model.

The entire Render palette with all its settings can be saved together as a single RenderSet file preset. After saving you can then load this preset for other projects or to use the settings as a foundation for new renders. You will find Load and Save buttons for this purpose at the top of the Render palette.

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The Load and Save functions at the top of the Render palette.

By default, RenderSet files save to where they can be easily accessed later through the LightBox >> RenderSet tab.
If you have just performed a BPR render, double clicking on a RenderSet preset in LightBox will rerun the render with the new settings.

It is also possible to save and load the current state of all BPR filters. In fact, saving a BPR filter preset is the same as saving a RenderSet preset. The only difference is that when loading a RenderSet file from the BPR Filter sub-palette, only the BPR filters part of the file will be loaded. The same is true if you double-click the preset from the Filters tab in LightBox.

ZBrush includes several sample RenderSet files, already in LightBox.

Don’t forget that BRP settings and filters take not only the model into account but also the overall document image or background color. This means that when loading a RenderSet file for your scene, the result may differ from what the thumbnail looks like. This is also true of presets made for hard surface models which may not look the same on an organic model and vice versa.

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A series of presets in LightBox, ready to be used. Just double-click on the one of your choice to load it.

Freezing Render Settings and BPR Filters

When experimenting with renders, you may want to test the current settings with a different Project (.ZPR file format) or simply load a variation of a scene in another Project before performing the same render effect. However, whenever you load a Project file, all ZBrush settings including those found in the Render palette will be overwritten by those stored in the project.

To prevent a loaded project from changing your render settings or BPR filters, you can use the Render >> Freeze or Render >> BPR Filters >> Freeze function. The one you select with either protect all render settings or only the BPR Filter settings.

Expert Tip!

Notes: Saving and loading Tools (.ZTL files) has no effect on the render settings and/or BPR filters. Saved Tools only include that specific model’s parameters from the Tool palette, with none from other models or areas in the ZBrush UI.

It is always advised to save a new RenderSet file to keep your rendering settings, effects and filters for a later usage.

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.

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.

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