Version 3.5 was made available in September the same year, and includes some of the newer features initially intended for ZBrush 4. ZBrush 4 for Windows and Mac systems was announced on Apfor an August release, but was later postponed. The demo version, 1.55, was released in 2003, and version 3.1 was released in 2007. The software was presented in 1999 at SIGGRAPH. ZBrush was developed by the company Pixologic Inc, founded by Ofer Alon (also known by the alias 'Pixolator') and Jack Rimokh. This feature lets users work within complicated scenes without a heavy processor overhead.

Work can then begin on another 3D model which can be used in the same scene. Or, once completed, the 3D model can be projected onto the background, becoming a 2.5D image (upon which further effects can be applied). They can also be exported as a displacement map, although, in that case, the lower poly version generally requires more resolution.

The resulting mesh details can then be exported as normal maps to be used on a low poly version of that same model. ZBrush is most known for being able to sculpt medium- to high-frequency details that were traditionally painted in bump maps. ZBrush uses dynamic levels of resolution to allow sculptors to make global or local changes to their models.

ZBrush is used for creating ' high-resolution' models (able to reach 40+ million polygons) for use in movies, games, and animations, by companies ranging from ILM and Weta Digital, to Epic Games and Electronic Arts. The main difference between ZBrush and more traditional modeling packages is that it is more akin to traditional sculpting. It uses a proprietary ' pixol' technology which stores lighting, color, material, orientation and depth information for the points making up all objects on the screen. Pixologic ZBrush is a digital sculpting tool that combines 3D/ 2.5D modeling, texturing and painting.

Zbrush cost