Maxon releases ZBrush 2025.1
Maxon has released ZBrush 2025.1, the latest version of its digital sculpting software.
The update introduces a new Quick Polygroup Brush, updates the existing Anchors Brush, and improves integration between ZBrush and Maxon’s Redshift renderer.
New Quick Polygroup Brush creates Polygroups automatically
The new feature in ZBrush 2025.1 is the Quick Polygroup Brush, for creating Polygroups.
It enables users to create a group simply by clicking on the surface of a model, with ZBrush creating a Polygroup for the surrounding region based on edge flow.
Updates to the Anchors Brush and the GoZ bridges to 3ds Max and Maya
Other than that, ZBrush 2025.1 is primarily a workflow and bugfix update, updating existing tools.
The Anchors Brush introduced in ZBrush 2023.2 for quickly posing characters gets a new Bend mode, in addition to the existing Move, Rotate and Twist modes.
It enables users to reposition parts of the model using two anchor points, giving “more natural bending”.
There are also fixes to the Chisel Brush and to Lightbox, and the GoZ bridges for 3ds Max and Maya now support 3ds Max 2025 and Maya 2025, the current versions of the software.
Support for AOVs and the OIDN denoiser in Redshift
The integration of Redshift, Maxon’s renderer, within ZBrush has also been extended, and now supports AOV passes and the OIDN (Open Image Denoise) render denoiser.
According to the release notes, interactions are “much faster”, with changes to lights, HDRIs and materials displayed in real time in the viewport.
Redshift was first integrated into ZBrush in ZBrush 2023, and includes CPU rendering by default: rendering on the GPU currently requires a separate subscription.
Price and system requirements
ZBrush 2025.1 is compatible with Windows 10+ and macOS 11.5+. It is rental-only. ZBrush subscriptions now cost $49/month or $399/year.
Read a full list of new features in ZBrush 2025.1 in the online release notes
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Homepage image: the ZBrush 2024 promo image was created by Stephen Davidian.