Why this pack?
Although a quick google search on ‘skin alphas’ will give you plenty of good results, most of what can be found online are brushes with a very specific alpha (for a very specific region of the face/body). This pack contains brushes that let you ‘sculpt’ and add details like you would with any other sculpting brush.
The brushes on this pack are designed not only as a way to speed up the detailing process of skin in ZBrush, but also to help you create your own custom ‘Alpha-based’ brushes.
Some examples
Below are some examples showing the combination of a few skin brushes over a ZBrush subdivided Plane (the colour/texture is a quick Polypaint pass).
Resource insights
Below you'll see a reference for the different types of brushes in this pack. The effect of some brushes comes from the alphas so you can jusy click and drag to create the details but most brushes behave like sculpting brushes, meaning you can literaly draw a stroke in the direction you want to add details.
The 'double-action' brushes in this pack uses pressure and speed on the stroke to modify the beahviour of the brush, so with the same brush, you can create a set of pore and the pressing lighlty to smooth them out in a single motion!
Pack overview
The brushes in this pack have different uses. For instance, a brush to add imperfections can create those ‘bumpy spots’ on the skin, but if you hold the ‘Alt’ key, you’ll invert the effect and ‘carve in’ the details instead. A brush like the ‘Lip Detailer’ can be also very helpful to create wrinkles around the eye or forehead by simply changing the intensity and size of the brush.
The example sketch on the left, has been detailed 100% with the brushes in this pack. Even the polypaint was done using the brushes with the Zadd disable and the RGB enabled.
Breakdown
- 1. The ZBrush SKIN brushes pack comes with 69 custom SKIN brushes for ZBrush (All brushes created with ZBrush 2019). The type of brushes in this pack include, ‘Double Action’ brushes, ‘AlphaDrag’ brushes, standard detailing brushes and a specific Smooth brush.
- 2. A Quick Start Guide in PDF format, with a short description of what each brush does, and tips on how to use them to achieve the best results.
Some of the brushes in this pack have a generic effect and others are for very specific purposes.The best way to approach the detailing of skin using these resources, is to use the sculpting layers and ‘stack’ the effects of each brush on its own layer. Using sculpting layers to mix the different effects of the brushes will give you a lot of control over how the details are applied and the contribution of each layer (brush effect).
It was very satisfying working with the new skin pack from Zbrushguides thanks to the variety of skin brushes it offers. The skin has so many imperfections, as a Character Artist, one of the most important points is about having a big library in terms of alphas. The fact you have them already implemented in brushes and ready to use made..."
