Zbrush Clay Tubes vs Clay Build Up

technokill

Hey guys!

I'm trying to figure out the differences between the clay tubes and clay build up brushes.

Usually I use the move brush for bigger shapes. Then, dam_standard, hpolish, inflate, pinch and clay for details or specific situations.

However I'm not sure which one to use when creating mass to define my shapes. Both clay tubes and build up seem to perform equally but every time I see someone using one or the other, I think that one is best.

Would you guys have any recommendations or considerations regarding these 2 brushes?

cryrid

The only difference between the two is the Brush: Samples: Buildup option. This makes zbrush sample the surface of the model underneath your brush stroke including the height of the current stroke. When its off (regular clay tubes), the current brush stroke is ignored from the samples.

This means clay buildup does the same thing, it just builds up the mass a lot quicker. It's useful if you want to make larger changes to the form, while clay tubes is useful if you want a bit more control at the cost of a few extra strokes. To preview this, hold down the stylus/mouse button, and just repeatedly draw over the same area without lifting the button/pen.

technokill

cryrid wrote: »

The only difference between the two is the Brush: Samples: Buildup option. This makes zbrush sample the surface of the model underneath your brush stroke including the height of the current stroke. When its off (regular clay tubes), the current brush stroke is ignored from the samples.

This means clay buildup does the same thing, it just builds up the mass a lot quicker. It's useful if you want to make larger changes to the form, while clay tubes is useful if you want a bit more control at the cost of a few extra strokes. To preview this, hold down the stylus/mouse button, and just repeatedly draw over the same area without lifting the button/pen.

Hey awesome explanation! Thanks!

Which one do you think is most used in production workflows by industry professionals?

Mr.Moose

That really depends on your workflow
Could implement both in and get the same results and speed
Claytubes for building up larger forms like Cryrid said, and buildup for other forms that want to retain its detail of whats underneath etc.
I personally just use buildup the entire time, I find it faster even for larger forms than tubes.

ETA: I am no pro though~

Nam.Nguyen

technokill wrote: »

Which one do you think is most used in production workflows by industry professionals?

They're different brushes and should be use in different situation.
What is used by professionals doesn't matter. Just try it yourself and see how they work, Clay brushes aren't just to built up, by changing stroke, alpha, focal shift you'll surprise how much they can do.

CheeseOnToast

You can really improve the feel of the clay tubes brush with a couple of tweaks. Try changing the roll distance (in the stroke palette) all the way up to 10. Also blur the square alpha that it uses. This gets rid of the stair-step artefacts that it normally makes.