ZBrush instruction manual: common problems and their solutions. Part 1

Step-by-step guide to modeling in ZBrush

Before taking lessons on sculpting in ZBrush, for beginners (and not only), we have prepared instructions with the most common problems in ZBrush and their solutions. Its author is — the curator of courses in 3D graphics at Skills Up School Vitaly Gomolitsky.

Instead of sculpting my model, I end up drawing copies of it all over the canvas. What's the matter?

Solution: The T key was pressed, or the Edit object icon, which is the same thing. You need to return to the model editing mode by pressing the T key again, after clearing the canvas by pressing N.

Something happened and I can't see my model, maybe my camera flew away somewhere.

Solution: This is easy to fix by pressing the F key, which is responsible for the focus on the active subtool (object), the camera itself will center itself relative to it.

I move the subtool, but all the subtools in the scene move at once. Why?

Solution: The Transpose all selected subtools icon was pressed, which is located in the manipulator menu. By default, there should be one bar, not three.

My manipulator has gone somewhere. What to do?

Solution: The manipulator can be easily returned by pressing the icon with the location. It will center itself relative to the subtool, and the button with the house will send the subtool together with the manipulator to the center of the scene.

My subtool has become completely black.

Solution: You need to look at the palette on the left below, most likely, the absolutely black color was accidentally selected, it’s worth returning it to white.

The floor, the grid that was under my subtool, has disappeared. What to do?

Solution: The floor display was disabled. You can press the Shift+P key combination, or the button with the inscription Floor in the right column.

I could easily rotate the camera around the object, but now it seems to be rotating along a certain axis. What happened?

Solution: The camera rotates along a certain axis, the XYZ button in the right column was released, and movement along one of the axes was selected. Just press XYZ back.

I have several subtools, and when I rotate one of them, the others disappear and reappear when I stop the camera. What is this?

Solution: The Dynamic mini-button was pressed in the SOLO button. Not everyone knows that this is a button in a button, you need to extinguish it by pressing it again, and everything will be fine.

I have such a screen resolution that not all buttons fit. Can something be done about it?

Solution: Yes, you can: go to Preferences > Interface > UI and adjust the Buttons size, reducing them. At the same time, you can uncheck Wide buttons, which will make the buttons narrower in width, and more of them will fit.

All my subtools have scattered all over the canvas. What happened?

Solution: The Xpose button was pressed, or the Shift+X key combination — it creates such an effect. Located in the right column.

There was a long and fruitful work, but the next time I opened the file, I saw just a flat picture with my model, like a screenshot. What's the matter?

Solution: There are several types of saves in ZBrush. You should immediately remember Ctrl+S — it will save your project, and saving through the Document tab will only create a frame with your model.

There was a long and fruitful work, but ZBrush crashed/the light went out/the computer froze/there was no time to save. Does it save backup copies?

Solution: Yes, ZBrush saves backup copies. They can be found in LIGHTBOX (top left) > Quicksave. The latest autosaves of projects are stored there. You can learn modeling from scratch in the Skills Up School course on 3D graphics. In three months you will master the full cycle of creating a 3D model: from a dummy in 3Ds Max to sculpting in Zbrush with the retopology process and preparing the model for texturing. Pay attention to our useful article "free brushes for ZBrush: brush sets", as well as review of the most popular Zbrush brushes.