[ZB Learning Blog] A person who found ZBrush so fun they gave up on touching their Switch 2

While I had some fairly heavy work to get through, my Switch 2 arrived — and I completely ignored it, because ZBrush is just too much fun right now.

In a previous post, I wrote about finishing one Coloso course all the way through.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-to-learn-136446135

Now I’ve taken another course. This one is more on the beginner side, teaching everything from the basic operations. I also watched this one all the way through.

Running into a version compatibility wall with ZBrush right out of the gate — but resolved

After finishing all the lessons in the new course, I thought, “Alright, let’s actually try making something,” so I fired up ZBrush — only to find I couldn’t load the base model file.

┃Running headfirst into a file version compatibility issue

I was like, “Seriously?!” — turns out the course used ZBrush 2022.08, while I had 2022 installed.

I had bought a perpetual license back in the day (before the Pixologic → MAXON transition), so the latest version I can use is 2022.08. Since the course was using 2022.08, I decided to update — but I had completely forgotten the login password for my ZBrush ID page.

You’d think the “Forgot Password” button would let you reset it, right? Nope. No matter how many times I sent the reset email request, nothing ever arrived. Is that system broken or what?

I thought I was screwed, but then I remembered I used to use a different browser. Checked to see if it had the password saved — and it did. Lucky me.

So I managed to log in and download the update.

Looks like anything older than that is no longer downloadable — the oldest available now is 2021.07.

Either way, that solved the file compatibility issue. For a moment I panicked and thought I needed to download it via the MAXON app, but of course, since I didn’t buy it there, even if I installed it, activation failed and it wouldn’t launch.

I wasted about an hour being tricked by that, but let’s just call it a happy ending.

Even making a ribbon is a struggle — but it’s fun!

Good evening. Here’s a ribbon. Still in progress.

If you’ve seen Takatori-san’s course, you’ll know what I mean: I’m reviewing gizmos, masks, and toggling visibility. It reminded me how clunky the controls felt at first.

Working along with the videos is stressful at first — especially with ZBrush’s unique handling. You try to follow exactly what’s on screen, and it behaves totally differently. Try smoothing the same way, and suddenly the polygons collapse and you have to redo it. But I keep reminding myself: that’s just how it is at the beginning.

At one point, for no reason, the material turned all shiny and blindingly bright — I literally went “Whoa, that’s dazzling” for a while.

Couldn’t work like that, so I looked it up and only later found out you just need to lower the Material → Brightness A slider.

Honestly, at first, getting your time eaten up by mysterious behavior like this is kind of the essence of ZBrush.

But actually working while watching the videos has real benefits:

• You can rewatch unclear parts as many times as you want

• Real-time operation tips and explanations make it easier not to get stuck

• You can easily see where brush size changes or smoothing are being used

One personal “aha” moment while making this ribbon: adjusting the Standard brush size to create wrinkles.

The course didn’t explain that part specifically, but I realized if you think about how fabric wrinkles form and sculpt accordingly, you can make incredibly convincing shapes.

Sometimes discoveries and excitement come from places that totally shouldn’t matter — and that’s what makes it fun.

It took me about three hours from updating ZBrush to getting this far. I should really be assembling garage kits, but no regrets. Sculpting is just too much fun.

Feels like I’ve found a toy more fun than gaming — at least for a while.