---
title: "Using Sculpting Brushes"
url: "https://help.maxon.net/zbr/en-us/Content/html/user-guide/3d-modeling/painting-your-model/polypaint/using-sculpting-brushes/using-sculpting-brushes.html"
section_path: "User Guide > 3D Modeling > Painting Your Model > Polypaint > Using Sculpting Brushes"
description: "You can use sculpting brushes to polypaint. In the Draw palette, switch off Zadd and Zsub, and switch on RGB (although remember that you can polypaint and …"
---

# Using Sculpting Brushes

You can use sculpting brushes to polypaint. In the Draw palette, switch off Zadd and Zsub, and switch on RGB (although remember that you can polypaint *and* sculpt at the same time if you wish – such as for creating fine veins).

### Control the Shape of Your Brush with Alphas

![The Alpha pop-up palette](https://help.maxon.net/zbr/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Alpha-popup.jpg)

The Alpha pop-up palette

You can control the shape of your sculpting by using an Alpha. To select an alpha you can do two things:

- Click the large Alpha thumbnail to the left of the canvas and choose an Alpha from the pop-up window.

or

- Open the Alpha Palette, click the large thumbnail of the Alpha and choose an Alpha from there.

To learn more about Alpha Controls visit the [Alpha Palette](https://help.maxon.net/zbr/en-us/Content/html/reference-guide/alpha/alpha.html.md) page.

### Control Your Brush Stroke

![The Stroke pop-up palette](https://help.maxon.net/zbr/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Strokes-popup.jpg)

The Stroke pop-up palette

ZBrush has several different Stroke types available for the artist. Each is useful for a different task. In the[Painting a Head](https://help.maxon.net/zbr/en-us/Content/html/user-guide/3d-modeling/painting-your-model/polypaint/painting-a-head/painting-a-head.html.md)section we learned about the Colorized Spray stroke. For sculpting, the Dots stroke, Drag Rect and the Freehand stroke are very useful. Some of the stroke options are not available while 3D sculpting. ZBrush’s interface is context sensitive. It will only show you the controls that you can use.