Maxon recently announced exciting updates to the Maxon One product line – including major upgrades to ZBrush and Forger, and key performance updates to Red Giant Trapcode. The latest update to ZBrush, the industry-standard digital sculpting software, delivers dramatic developments that give artists the ability to create high quality renders with first steps integration of Redshift, explore new and enhanced sculpting workflows, as well as architectural changes to take advantage of the power of M1 and M2-powered Macs.
Forger continues to expand creative capabilities on iPad beyond sculpting with a complete modeling toolset including subdivision surfaces and symmetry. Red Giant Trapcode brings key performance improvements for artists to create dramatic particle simulations in Adobe After Effects.
“The integration of Redshift into ZBrush brings artists a level of power and flexibility that was previously unimaginable. This is a major milestone for Maxon and achieves our goal of making Redshift accessible to all artists and creators. This update also brings with it a host of new features and workflows that will help artists push the boundaries of their creativity and bring their visions to life,” said Maxon CEO David McGavran.
Here are the latest ZBrush features in action as the Maxon team presents a series of special live-streaming events throughout January. The first event kicks off 11 January, 2023 at 11am PST.
Redshift in ZBrush:
Maxon’s development team is bringing world-class rendering directly within ZBrush. This first step of Redshift integration delivers new and exciting workflows to render high-quality images with subsurface scattering and emissive light generation. Redshift for ZBrush supports Standard, Matcap and Redshift materials for increased realism when creating metal surfaces and caustics for glass. Maxon One subscribers can take advantage of the full power of Nvidia and Apple GPUs for rendering, while all subscribers enjoy pixel parity when using CPU on any compatible system.
New and Improved Sculpting Tools
Slime Bridge- Now artists can use the power of the ZBrush masking system to create complex geometric connections and designs from one masked island to another. Controls for Tension, Bridges, Calipers and Branches make it easy to instantly create sinewy, slimy connections between any two surfaces.
Sculptris Pro- The latest additions to this already robust tool allow artists to use a slider to increase mesh density in desired areas while also reducing the size of triangles.
Dynamic Symmetry- Local Symmetry utilizes the Gizmo inside ZBrush to provide the opportunity to keep symmetry within the ZBrush workspace while moving models off the center axis. Users can also control the symmetry line of action while manipulating placement of assets anywhere in the ZBrush world space.
Mask Region- Mask complex shapes with ease thanks to Auto Region. Simply paint indicators in simple or complex shapes to determine areas that should be filled and mask multiple areas with the push of a button.
Apply Last Action- The Apply Last Action to All SubTools function allows for application of material attributes, color information and any other “undoable” operations to multiple subtools inside the ZBrush Tool Palette with the click of a button.
ZRemesher Retry / Keep PolyPaint- The industry’s best automatic retopology gets even better with options to store and compare the results of different settings. Optimize meshes at any point in production with the new option to Keep PolyPaint – seamlessly projecting the existing color onto newly constructed meshes.
Crease Edge UV Unwrap- Crease Edge automatically detects the most efficient hard edges and “creases” where UV seams should be placed for UV map generation.
Forger:
Subdivision Surfaces- Artists can create anywhere as Forger capabilities on the iPad continue to expand beyond sculpting. Artists gain access to a complete polygonal modeling toolset including subdivision surfaces and symmetry.
Red Giant Trapcode:
As part of an ongoing focus on performance, Maxon has made some moderate improvements to Particular. A new optimized workflow allows linking an emitter to any 3D layer in AE comps, making particle system setup more efficient. Performance has also been optimized when using animated Physics Time Factors and memory-management has been improved for Form particles.
Maxon Capsules:
Maxon continues to deliver great Capsule content on a regular basis, giving subscribers a creative kick-start and helping hand, with over 75 Redshift-optimized models, 30 Redshift Wood, Metal and Liquid materials plus an additional 30 exclusive Maxon One materials. With a new Wave Spline primitive created in partnership with Rocket Lasso, Maxon One subscribers can simulate oscilloscopes, sound forms and other animated waveforms.