News
Pixologic has released ZBrushCoreMini, a free cut-down non-commercial version of its industry-standard ZBrush digital sculpting software, aimed at &#;new artists of all ages&#;.
The new free edition features key ZBrush sculpting technology Sculptris Pro, a highly streamlined set of brushes and materials, and a simplified user interface.
A highly streamlined entry-level edition of ZBrush&#;s sculpting toolset
Targeted at students and 3D printing enthusiasts, ZBrushCoreMini adds a new entry-level edition to the ZBrush product line, slotting in below ZBrushCore, the existing commercial cut-down edition.
It includes Sculptris Pro, ZBrush&#;s new dynamic tessellation system, so it should provide a genuinely clay-like sculpting experience, without the need to worry about subdividing a mesh manually.
However, mesh resolution is capped at , polygons, so it&#;s geared towards simpler, lower-detail forms.
Compared to either ZBrush or ZBrushCore, the toolset really is beginner-friendly: just eight of the really key sculpting brushes, including Standard, ClayBuildup, Inflate, Pinch, Move, SnakeHook and Smooth.
Similarly, there are just eight materials &#; the Basic material, the red wax and grey MatCaps, and plastic, metal and skin materials &#; and no 3D painting capabilities.
That makes the feature set rather smaller than mobile sculpting apps like Sculptura 3D, and considerably smaller than Sculptris, Pixologic&#;s own legacy software: still available free, but no longer updated.
However, it looks to be a quick, uncomplicated way to create simple sculpts, and a free introduction to the key tools for students learning ZBrush.
Export models in OBJ format for 3D printing, or in Pixologic&#;s hybrid 2D/3D iMage3D formats
Completed models can be exported in OBJ format &#; the software automatically decimates the mesh for 3D printing &#; or shared via Pixologic&#;s new iMage3D PNG and GIF formats.
Files generated in this way appear as normal 2D images, but contain a band of black-and-white &#;noise&#; at the foot that enables ZBrushCoreMini to reconstruct the 3D mesh when they are loaded into the software.
There aren&#;t any native rendering capabilities, but users can also generate screen-resolution captures of a sculpt against a plain background, without the software interface.
ZBrushCoreMini can open project files generated in ZBrushCore itself, including surface colour data, though it isn&#;t possible to edit them: only to rotate the model. It doesn&#;t open files from ZBrush itself.
Pricing and system requirements
ZBrushCoreMini is available free for bit Windows 7+ and Mac OS X +. It is only licensed for non-commercial use, not professional work.
New perpetual licences of ZBrushCore cost $, while new perpetual licences of ZBrush cost $
Download ZBrushCoreMini for free from Pixologic&#;s website
(Requires a free Pixologic account)
See a feature comparison table between ZBrushCoreMini and ZBrushCore
Tags: 3D modeling, 3D painting, 3D printing, brushes, digital sculpting, download, dynamic tessellation, entry-level, Featured Articles, free, GIF, iMage3D, limitations, non-commercial, OBJ, Pixologic, PNG, polygon count, rendering, restrictions, Sculptris, Sculptris Pro, Sculptura 3D, system requirements, ZBrush, ZBrushCore, ZBrushCoreMini
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