Back to Zbrush and Photoshop ?

gnoop · Dec 2025

Some times ago I suddenly noticed how really good my assets and materials looked back at the time when it was simply Zbrush sculpt +vertex paint + a few subtle Photoshop touches . A workflow I abandoned around 2008. Zbrush forces you to make art decisions , to evaluate your every touch carefully . Super inconvenient micro mesh scattering in Zbrush forces you to think out every step too.

Substance Painter in contrast gives you an easy feeling , sort of relaxing freedom . And you gets lazy subconsciously . Your artistic selection for details gets sloppy . Instead of analyzing your steps , hearing your deep instincts and senses, those that defines your art taste you start to rely on random procedural details noise. So an asset starts to appear super tiny detailed on its own while giving that typical "procedural" look at the same time. Simplistic edge curvature masks adds to this rather dead look too.

You try to persuade yourself you still have manual tools to make conscious decisions yet sliding slowly into that look nevertheless : a supper neat tiny noise details looking like fine sewing yet ok during close static inspection. A certain neat tidy dry style. But ones in a game you feel the lack of individual uniqueness and recognizable character instantly . Any opinion?

Eric Chadwick · Dec 2025

I think you just need to be more careful as you work, and less “instinctual”. More conscious and professional, less subconscious and loose.

If you want to specific look, then it takes focus to achieve it.

gnoop · Dec 2025

Yes. maybe. I saw fantastic job people do in SPainter sometimes but Painter sort of rules your hand. While in Zbrush you goes from general low-res form , through mid-frequency details to tiny details and it it makes you select what to do and how smooth vs how sharp. Since the detailing needs extra time you test in game frequently before adding more details.

And if you need them you add them consciously where they perceptively necessary. It's classical workflow . In Painter you drop something that looks fine at close inspection and forget about mid-frequency details or they look too "procedural " too obviously fake unsupported by initial sculpt.

The fact that Painter doesn't have true vector spline instruments , editable later ads another barrier to get rid of that procedural close up look + sloppy manual mid-frequency mask paint . Zbrush doesn't have it either yet still feels much more real when you use rolling out long masks , not just small square shifting dabs with switching ID and has lots of extra controls that makes it feels "instinctual " That instinctual approach is actually how great art is created IMO. There always should be room for that provided by a tool.

SDesigner does have all the same drawbacks. I miss instinctual approach there so much. It makes the result look same super detailed and dry like 16 century portraits of Elizabeth I. Decades have gone and we still have nothing to fix it there. Can't even import svg splines there from Blender. Bitmap node brush is awful.

poopipe · Dec 2025

you have correctly identified that doing things by hand leads to a more deliberate and (assuming appropriate skill level) more pleasing results than slapping a filter on and leaving it at that.

gnoop · Jan 1 2026

poopipe said:

than slapping a filter on and leaving it at that.

It's sot of hard to resist , a subject somehow looks ok at close inspection that way. Same issue you have when draw something on a canvas up close and often need a few steps back and try to catch an impression your work lefts in a corner of your eye.

While Zbrush does it automatically since you go from low res to high. Also trim brushes and automasking makes your edge touches look subtle where necessary or very bold if needed instinctively contrary to curvature based masks in Painter where you move sliders to death or non stop for minutes at least and still doesn't feel its right because the velocity , direction and contact physics at the edges are missing. You have to combine lots of extra masking approaches where it just stroke mechanics in Zbrush and you often even don't need to think about it.

Still much quicker workflow in Painter makes the back step to Zbrush a tough choice.

I am thinking about subscribing to current Zbrush , still on 2022 version currently , and wonder if it has something improved regarding vertex paint, brushes , auto-masking and layers ? Started to feel I am falling into that dry micro-detailed "uncanney" style SPainter nudge me to IMO.

Back to Zbrush and Photoshop ?

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