Monday, January 2nd, 2017 Posted by Jim Thacker

Pixologic releases three new free ZBrush plugins


Pixologic has released two entirely new ZBrush plugins: render pass exporter ZBrush to Photoshop CC; and Scan Master, for setting the real-world scale of a ZBrush sculpt.

In addition, the company has released 3D Print Hub, a replacement for the self-descriptive 3D Print Exporter plugin included as part of the most recent release of the software, ZBrush 4R7. All three tools are free.

ZBrush to Photoshop CC: export BPR render passes to Photoshop for post-production
The first plugin, ZBrush to Photoshop CC, exports render passes from Best Preview Render (BPR) mode, importing them into Photoshop as a structured layer set.

By default, you get beauty, shadow and depth passes and an object mask, as shown in the video above.

On top of that, there are options to export standard albedo, AO, object and tangent space normal, specular, SSS and wireframe passes, plus a number of passes more specific to ZBrush.

These include passes corresponding to the software’s Best and Preview render quality settings; and ColorBump and Structure passes, which show the model with a bump or grey MatCap material assigned.

The plugin can also generate a set of lighting passes, using a pre-made – but editable – lighting rig.

To help select elements of the render in Photoshop, users can generate ID passes on a per-SubTool or per-Polygroup basis; or select up to five separate materials in the ZBrush sculpt and generate passes corresponding to each.

Each pass is imported into Photoshop as a Smart Object, making it possible to edit it non-destructively.



Scale Master: set sculpts to real-world scale units
The second plugin, Scale Master, is designed to streamline workflow when working with data with real-world scale: for example, scan data, or models created for 3D printing.

Users can set the scale units of imported meshes to mm, cm, inches or feet; resize the meshes or bounding box to given real-world dimensions; and export the results at the scale units specified.

The plugin can also generate cubes one unit in size, to act as guide objects when modelling to scale.

3D Print Hub: export ZBrush sculpts for 3D printing
Finally, Pixologic has released 3D Print Hub, a new plugin replacing the 3D Print Exporter in ZBrush 4R7.

As well as overhauling the UI, the new plugin includes a direct link to Formlabs’ 3D printers, with more manufacturers due to be supported in future.

Availability and system requirements
ZBrush to Photoshop CC, Scale Master and 3D Print Hub are available free for ZBrush 4R7 P3 running on 64-bit Windows or Mac OS X. Not surprisingly, ZBrush to Phototoshop CC also requires Photoshop CC.


Download ZBrush to Photoshop CC, Scale Master and 3D Print Hub from Pixologic’s website

Read the Readme files for the new plugins in Pixologic’s online knowledge base