ZBrush 2021.6

Release Notes for ZBrush 2021.6

ZBrush 2021.6.6 Update

This release brings feature parity with ZBrushCore and ZBrushCoreMini.

Of special note, Chisel 3D and VDM (Vector Displacement Mesh) brushes now work with Sculptris Pro mode, providing an easy way to build out your base meshes uses pre-sculpted elements.

Updated

- Added several new Chisel 3D brushes.
- VDM Brushes have been Updated to work with Sculptris Pro.
- The mesh resolution for the CurveAlpha brush can now be adjusted using Brush >> Alpha and Texture >> Max Alpha to Mesh Size.
- Increased the alpha tolerance when using Mesh Extract. The cut-off level is now exactly 50% gray.
- Decimation Master has been Updated to work on older macOS versions, matching the system requirements for ZBrush itself.
- ZBrush 2021.6.4 Update
- Updated
- LightBox will now also show folders with a period in the name.
- Fixed
- Resolved issue reported with brushes not working consistently when using a stored Undo History.
- Dots display mode.
- SliceRect and TrimRect brushes now work as they did in previous versions.

ZBrush 2021.6.3 Update

This version includes Updates that affect the ZBrush experience, as well as introducing new features:

New

- - A dot has been added to DynaMesh Resolution, offering a different skinning mode. When off, ZBrush will use classic skinning for DynaMesh operations. When on, DynaMesh will automatically increase resolution for smaller objects.
  - PolyGroup Select Growing. This will allow the user to select a few faces of a PolyGroup and grow the selection to only the polygons that contain the same polygroup.
  - Curve Flat and Curve Flat Snap brushes have been added. These brushes are perfect for drawing out hair cards for games or creating a ribbon.
  - Curve Tube and Curve Tube Snap brushes can now support gradient PolyPaint color.

Updated

- Set lasso Stroke “Smoothness” to zero by default (to allow for improved accuracy).
- SpotLight will no longer readjust all images when adding more images.
- PolyGroup color ID Assignment improved.
- GoZ has been Updated to work with Maya 2022.
- GoZ has been Updated to work with 3DSMAX 2022.
- Decimation Master has been improved to handle decimating meshes up to 100 million polygons.
- Stored Undo History will now display a red bar when the undo is stored on a SubTool that is not the selected SubTool.

Changed

- The Material Diffuse and Specular sliders Updated to high exponential (in order to increase accuracy when using small values) .
- The default ZModeler welding tolerance to be 5.
- The Brush Modifiers slider to show values from -100 to 100.
- The IMM Selector will only be shown if the brush has more than one mesh. With this change, ZModeler will not show the default included mesh in order to conserve space.
- Raytracing AO default Samples slider will be set to 256 by default.

Fixed

- Keyboard value entry in sliders when CTRL or SHIFT key is pressed.
- ZIntensity / RGB / Draw Size values not being stored when typing in the values.
- Deleting the first curve when using brushes with Curve Mode enabled will no longer produce unexpected results.
- Projects with active Gizmo Deformers will now load properly.
- Fixed stability issues related to NanoMesh.
- The “As Line” brush curve mode now works as expected.
- Selection Marquee is now as accurate as with previous versions.
- Double option for Arrow3d primitive now Updates the mesh.
- Using the Gizmo on 3D primitives now works as expected.
- Crease Lvl will be retained when making adjustments to the mesh with ZModeler.
- DragRect stroke works as expected in 2.5D mode.
- Eliminating spikes in geometry when using layers + triangles + crease.
- Decimation Master progress bar is now displaying properly.
- LIVE Boolean Show Issues will now display correct results when used on meshes created with the Folder>Make Boolean option.
- MaskRect and Mask Square strokes no longer shrink when used.
- ZBrush 2021.6.2 Update
- This Update changes the Sticky Hotkeys feature in response to user feedback.
- Preferences >> Interface >> Click >> Use Sticky Keys has been added. It is disabled by default.

ZBrush 2021.6.1 Update

This Update provides important fixes and includes a quality of life enhancement.

New

- Added a new preferences slider to control the timed activation of the Sticky Keys feature:
- Preferences >> Interface >> Click >> Sticky Keys Activation Timer
- Smaller values = faster activation of sticky keys.
- Larger values = slower activation of sticky keys. At maximum setting, this effectively disables the feature.

Fixed

- Project all fails to execute, or executes slower than usual.
- Using the “S” hotkey to resize the brush not working as expected due to the Sticky Keys feature.
- Unable to create a flat mesh from the selected alpha.
- Pressing the Alt key while creating a Balloon mesh creates a mesh that is too close to the camera.
- ZBrush fails to launch when anti-virus software prevents ZBrush from properly accessing files.
- ZBrush fails to launch on Windows 7 or 8.0 (missing .dll error)
- Seams created when using Sculptris Pro on a partially visible mesh with multiple PolyGroups assigned.

2021.6 Release Notes

- Added: CurveAlpha and CurveAlphas brushes to Brush palette.
- Added: MeshExtrude, MeshBalloon, MeshSplat, and MeshExtrudePropDepth to Brush palette.
- Added: ExtrudeProfile and ExtrudeProfile2 to Brush palette.
- Added: New SnakeCurve: 1, 2, 4 and 5 brushes to Brush palette. (There is no SnakeCurve 3.)
- Added: “Repel Strength” and “Repel Falloff” to Curve Stroke modifiers.
- Added: “Flat” mode added “To Mesh” in the Alpha palette to allow the creation of a flat mesh that can be extruded along a curve. IMM Curve brushes will automatically use flat meshes as an extrusion profile.
- Added: MeshFromMask support for Lasso, Circle, Rectangle, and Curve masking types.
- Added: Ambient Occlusion plugin to Zplugin palette.
- Added: Split the “Bend” stroke/curves option into two sub-options: “Bend Start” and “Bend End.”
- Added: New Modes added to Picker that influence Mesh from Mask behavior: Continuous Z and Once Z.
- Added: New Lasso stroke slider “Smoothness”.
- Added: Lazy Mouse support for Lasso stroke type.
- Added: Closest and Farthest modes for Continuous Z Picker.
- Added: Universal Scene Description (USD) format support.

- Hotkey behavior modified for sliders with new Sticky Hotkeys feature: Tap the hotkey for old behavior. For the new behavior, hold the hotkey, move the cursor left or right to adjust the slider, then release the hotkey to accept the setting.
- Improved Lazy Mouse straight-line drawing. The straight line now reaches the end point exactly.
- Improved control of curve editing.
- Updated shading maps to 16bits, improving rendering quality.
- The last saved or loaded project will now automatically be opened when ZBrush starts (optional).
- Brushes that use “fast” sampling now use a marked Undo History state. This allows the application of multiple curve strokes on the mesh without overlapping.
- Default render “Details” now 4 instead of 3. This improves render quality.
- Modified code to auto-set the light distance to .9 for all older projects that had light distance set to 1.
- Modified code to turn off deep/vibrant shadows for previously saved projects.
- Modified Slider Stroke: Curve projection range to allow zero value.
- Modified the brush icon creation button to default to grabbing the thumbnail from the screen.
- Modified the Light Distance to be disabled when not in perspective mode.
- Fix: Error with shading code when using Light Distance less than max

- Fix: Rendering error in 2021.5 where the model was not rendered when using a background image with deep shadows turned off.
- Fix: Software interaction that could cause the ZBrush program window to resize when importing or exporting a mesh.
- Fix: Improved stability for issues reported in previous versions.