Pixologic’s ZBrush 4R5 new features help artists focus on their artistry rather than how to convey their ideas. These features greatly enhance ZBrush’s toolsets to give you better and more accurate control.

Did you know ZBrush 4R5 is a FREE Upgrade to all registered users? More Info

An entirely new set of sliders has been added for polishing to improve your surface and make them cleaner, especially for hard surface models and product design objects. They allow you to Polish by Features, but also Polish by PolyGroups and Polish by Crisp Edges. The functionality of Dynamesh has been greatly enhanced and can now retain more of your shape in a lower polygon count than previously, thanks to the new Polish by Features volume preservation characteristic.

Curves by Features, is another newly added feature. This feature creates curves based on the model’s PolyGroups, creased edges or its outline. They also can then be used with any of the curve-based sculpting brushes.

Based on PolyGroups, ZBrush added the new feature of PanelGroups this feature will transform the selected model into individual panels with thickness. Or it can extrude those panels from the surface with clean borders and bevels, perfect for hard-edge sculpting.

Pixologic added a couple new loop features as well. They now have Delete Loops which allows you to remove erroneous edge loops. At extreme settings you can also use this tool to modify the shape of your model. In addition they have Align Loops, an alternative to Delete Loops, which creates the same visual effect as align loops but does not change the model’s topology.

Your textures will now remain consistent regardless of your models distance from the camera with Dynamic Brush Size.  No matter the distance the model is from the camera the bolt, alpha pattern and scales will remain the same size due to the brush dynamically changing.

PolyGroup Enhancements – Several functions have been added relating to ZBrush’s PolyGroup options. You can now group by normals, merge stray groups (useful when groups have been auto-assigned), increase or decrease by PolyGroup and also a Smart Polish by Feature function to improve your mesh shape without losing volume.

ZBrush has also added Posterize which takes a smooth gradient and converts it to fewer steps with more drastic changes between them. With additions made to the profile curves, Material Mixer, BPR Filters and a new 3D Posterize feature, you can now easily create a cell shaded render.

To learn more about ZBrush 4R5 and its’ pricing head on over to Studica.com where they offer education discounts on Pixologic Products. For upgrade information for current ZBrush users, check out this link.