Since I’ve started using ZBrush, I have always found it annoying that there has been no real way to organize or group subtools within ZBrush. With the introduction of ZBrush 2019, Pixologic has finally somewhat addressed the organizational issue of subtools with the addition of ZBrush Folders. In addition to being able to organize subtools, the folder’s functions can be used to perform tasks such as moving multiple subtools at once to even being able to boolean separate subtools at the same time. Within this short blog post, I will give you the tips and tricks I have learned about using ZBrush folders.

In this demonstration I will be using the DemoSoldier ZPR file found within lightbox.

Creating a Folder

To get started, creating a folder in ZBrush is easy. Simply go to the subtools menu, click on any subtool you want to group and click on the ‘New Folder’ (or use Ctrl+F) button located in the subtool palette and you will be prompted to give the folder a name.

Upon typing the name, you will get a folder that contains the subtool that you’ve selected.

To add or remove subtools from the folder, simply click and drag the subtool either into the folder icon or out of it.

You can also choose to select the subtools you want to put in a folder directly within the ZBrush canvas.

With the Gizmo tool selected and the ‘Transpose all Selected Subtools’ option turned on you can Ctrl+Shift+Click to select any subtools you want to put into the group. When you have selected the subtools you want, click on the ‘New Folder’ button and all the selected subtools will be put in a folder.

Folder Options

Instead of having to deal with selecting, merging, and splitting multiple subtools that you want to perform the same operation on, you can use the folder options button. By selecting the gear icon next to the folder icon, you will be given a list of options to choose from. Selecting that option will perform the operation on all of the subtools within the folder.

Some useful options for moving all subtools in a folder together include the Transpose Set, Transpose Add, and Transpose Sub options. By using the Transpose set option, all subtools in a folder will be selected and you will be given the gizmo tool to either translate, rotate, or scale all the of tools together.

If you want to move subtools in another folder at the same time you can use the Transpose Add option. This will add the subtools in the other folder to the original selection, allowing you to transform those as well. If you want to deselect a folder of subtools you can simply use the Transpose Sub option under the selected folder.

Another set of options that I’ve found useful are the folder Boolean operations. Let’s say you have a folder filled with subtools that you want to do a Boolean operation in. You can use the normal Live Boolean workflow and then when you have a result you want, use the folder option ‘Boolean Folder’. This will create a new subtool outside of the folder with the Boolean result.

You can also use the ‘Boolean with DSubDiv’ option to reduce tessellation on the resulting mesh. To do so just turn on dynamic subdiv on the pieces you will subtract from the original mesh and then run the folder operation. The resulting subtool will be created outside of the folder.

If for any reason you want to delete a folder but not the subtools that are contained within, use the delete folder option.

As you can see, ZBrush folders are more than just a great way to keep your subtool palette organized and faster to navigate. The folders can be used to make tasks that used to require you to have to merge and then split subtools can now be done with far fewer button presses and in a more organized manner. While folders aren’t absolutely necessary to use in a ZBrush workflow, in my opinion, having folders that are used to properly organize subtools can be very useful in speeding up your ZBrush workflow.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton