ZBrushCentral

Rendering out of Zbrush itself

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I’ve seen a lot of tutorials and gallery images but most appear to have been exported Zbrush models to other rendering programs.

Are there any tutorials/suggestions for rendering straight out of Zbrush itself? Those would be very helpful. (I assume it would involve the document size but I’ve not seen any clear references to it in most of the documentation floating around here.) If I’ve missed info already in existence I apologize.

I appreciate any help. Thanks.

#2

Check out Vitaly Bulgarov’s tutorial:

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=074301

#3

Thank you, Penrod! That’s the type of info I was looking for. Much appreciated!

#4

Thanks again for the help. I had some follow-up questions (being a newbie).


  • Is there more in-depth info out there pertaining to the document size and the AAHalf option?
  • When sizing a document window at the outset, does it resize the canvas view? Sorry…it’s unclear to me.
  • What exactly does the AAHalf button do; does it basically resize-to-fit the canvas into the viewing area of the monitor?
I apologize if this info is covered elsewhere. I’ve searched but not found what I’m looking for. The ZHelp doesn’t really explain it sufficiently enough for me either. It could be that I’m missing the obvious (deer-in-the-headlights, so to speak).

If someone could point me to written and/or video tutorials covering this I would sincerely appreciate it. This community is fantastic and I thank you for your tolerance of my basic questions.

#5

The document size is just a grid of 2.5d pixols, similar to how an image is just a grid of pixels. You can resize the document under the document menu.

If you resize larger than your screen can view at 100% zoom (actual), then you will have to zoom out to see the whole document.

The AAHalf doesn’t resize the canvas, it just zooms out half way and anti aliases the pixols. This makes everything look smoother and minimizes artifacts such as stair stepping pixols or low res meshes. Before you export a render to a psd or image, hit AAHalf for a cleaner looking export. This also means your document needs to be twice the size of what you want your render to be.

Also, the Actual button zooms to 100%. So w/ these two buttons, you can quickly toggle between 50% and 100% zoom.

#6

Thank you, James, for the reply. How does it effect rendering out of ZBr? I don’t why I’m not getting this concept. Sorry.

What settings do you suggest for getting the maximum renders out of ZBr then?

Many, many thanks.

#7

The document size AND zoom both affect the size of the final, exported image. You hit export in the document menu to save out that image. If you are at 50% zoom (AAHalf), the export will be half the size of an export at 100% (Actual).

So say you need your render to be 1000 x 1500, you would:

Resize your document to 2000 x 3000
Position your model, lights, etc
Hit AAHalf
Hit Best Render under the render menu
Document>Export
Viola!

Note that you can hit AAHalf, Actual, or Zoom after rendering to export different sizes, so it doesn’t have to be in that order. Also, you can export a canvas that hasn’t been best rendered. Good for progress shots when you don’t want to spend time on a render.

The larger the render your computer can handle, the better the final image has potential to be. However, it really just depends on the level of detail in the scene and how big you need your final image to be.

Try out some tests, you’ll get the hang of it :+1:

#8

Wow! I just had the ‘lightbulb’ moment. I think I get it now. WOO HOO!!!

Thank you VERY MUCH for the additional details.

#9

No problem, have fun :slight_smile: