Sneak peek: ZBrush’s new Retopo brush and photogrammetry tools
Day 2 of ZBrush Summit 2025. The sneak peeks of upcoming features in ZBrush start at 07:53:10.
Maxon has previewed some of the upcoming features in ZBrush, its digital sculpting software for desktop and iPad, at its ZBrush Summit 2025 user event.
Both editions will get a new Retopo brush for creating clean, low-res geometry from high-resolution sculpts, while ZBrush for iPad will get a new photogrammetry system.
The new features are due in a public release before the end of the year.
Desktop and iPad: new Retopo brush creates low-res geometry over high-res sculpts
Both the desktop and iPad editions of the software will get the Retopo brush: a new tool for generating clean, low-resolution geometry from a high-res sculpt.
Unlike many of ZBrush’s existing retopology options, it isn’t an automated system: instead, you draw the new geometry over the surface of the sculpt, as you can in DCC applications like Maya, or in specialist tools like TopoGun, providing more precise control over the results.
The new geometry can contain both tris and quads, and can be created as a new Subtool, leaving the original sculpt intact.
There are a number of ways to add or adjust geometry, ranging from placing new vertices individually to drawing out entire new sets of faces around the edges of existing patches.
According to Maxon, ZBrush will also ship with a set of over 200 readymade patches, ranging from simple quad grids to topologies for entire characters, or for body parts like eye loops.
iPad only: new photogrammetry system
In addition, ZBrush for iPad will get a new photogrammetry toolset, making it possible to generate 3D models of real-world objects scanned using the iPad camera.
The feature will provide a new way to create base assets that can then be refined or customized using ZBrush’s existing sculpting tools.
A new Capture button in the UI begins the capture process, with ZBrush displaying a real-time preview as the scan is built up, plus automatic notifications to guide the process.
According to Maxon, it takes a “couple of minutes” to process the data and generate a 3D model, which comes in as a triangulated 3D mesh complete with textures.
Examples shown during the livestream included a tree trunk, a rock and stone sculptures, which generated mid-resolution meshes of around 10-12k vertices.
iPad only: new search system and viewport rendering options
ZBrush for iPad will also get a new search system, making it easier to find tools and settings.
The search UI can display control sliders for key settings, making it possible to make quick adjustments to a sculpt from directly within the search results.
Other upcoming changes include the option to crop and frame viewport renders, to render at up to 4K resolution on iPad, and to import multiple alphas simultaneously.
Which version of ZBrush will the new features appear in?
Maxon didn’t give an exact release date for the new features, but said that they would be available in public builds of the software by the end of the year.
If the company sticks to its current release schedule and version numbering, that probably means ZBrush 2026.1 and ZBrush 2026.1 for iPad next month.
Price, system requirements and release date
The new features covered in this story are due for release by the end of 2025.
The current public release, ZBrush 2026.0, is compatible with Windows 10+ and macOS 14.0+. It is rental-only. ZBrush subscriptions cost $49/month or $399/year, and include ZBrush for iPad.
ZBrush for iPad is compatible with iPadOS 17+, and is available on iPad models with A12 Bionic or later processors.
The base app is free; access to the full feature set requires a paid subscription, which costs $9.99/month or $99.99/year.
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