ZBrush SubTool Management 2 — Questions and Answers

Question 1: What is the purpose of the Solo button in the SubTool palette?

Locks the active SubTool from sculpting
Hides all SubTools except the active one (Correct answer)
Exports only the active SubTool
Isolates the active SubTool on a separate layer

Correct answer: Hides all SubTools except the active one

Solo hides every SubTool except the one currently selected, giving you an unobstructed view for detailed sculpting without visual clutter from surrounding pieces.

Solo mode is toggled with the Solo button (or the hotkey). It temporarily hides all other SubTools, making viewport interaction faster and reducing distraction. When you exit Solo, all previously visible SubTools reappear. It does not affect which SubTools are exported — it is a viewport display toggle only.

Question 2: How do you reorder SubTools in ZBrush?

Drag the SubTool row up or down while holding Ctrl
Use the Move Up and Move Down arrows in the SubTool palette (Correct answer)
Right-click and choose Reorder
SubTools cannot be reordered after creation

Correct answer: Use the Move Up and Move Down arrows in the SubTool palette

The Move Up and Move Down arrows inside the SubTool palette shift the active SubTool one position up or down in the stack, controlling draw order and organization.

SubTool draw order matters for transparency and layering. Move Up and Move Down let you organize SubTools logically (skin below clothing below accessories). For large stacks, repeated clicking can be tedious, but it is the standard ZBrush method. Third-party plugins can automate batch reordering.

Question 3: What does the Extract function in the SubTool palette create?

A flat UV map of the active SubTool
A new SubTool based on a masked region with adjustable thickness (Correct answer)
A 2D image of the SubTool silhouette
A decimated copy of the active SubTool

Correct answer: A new SubTool based on a masked region with adjustable thickness

Extract generates a new mesh from the masked area of the active SubTool, with a user-defined thickness, ideal for quickly creating clothing or armor pieces that conform to the underlying form.

Extract reads the current mask and produces a shell mesh (with thickness controlled by the Thick slider) as a new SubTool. This is a cornerstone technique for hard-surface costume design — mask the chest area, Extract, and immediately have a breastplate conforming to the body. The result can then be sculpted, subdivided, and detailed independently.

Question 4: Which button in the SubTool palette removes the currently selected SubTool?

Delete
Remove (Correct answer)
Clear
Detach

Correct answer: Remove

The Remove button deletes the active SubTool from the ZTool stack permanently. It is labeled 'Remove' rather than 'Delete' in ZBrush's UI.

Clicking Remove in the SubTool palette instantly eliminates the selected SubTool and its geometry, polypainting, and layers. There is no undo for this action after certain operations, so best practice is to duplicate or save a ZTool backup before removing important geometry.

Question 5: What is a SubTool folder in ZBrush 2021+?

A folder on disk that stores ZTool files
A group container inside the SubTool palette for organizing related SubTools (Correct answer)
A UV atlas grouping
A BPR render pass folder

Correct answer: A group container inside the SubTool palette for organizing related SubTools

SubTool folders introduced in ZBrush 2021 allow artists to group related SubTools into collapsible containers within the palette, dramatically improving organization for complex characters.

Before folders, a character with hundreds of SubTools resulted in an unwieldy scrolling list. Folders let artists create named groups (Head, Torso Armor, Accessories) and collapse or expand them. Operations like visibility toggle and merge can be applied per folder, speeding up complex pipeline management.

Question 6: What effect does changing the SubTool Color swatch have?

Changes the polypainting colors on the mesh
Sets a display color used to identify the SubTool in the palette thumbnail (Correct answer)
Alters the MatCap material applied to that SubTool
Defines the diffuse color exported with the mesh

Correct answer: Sets a display color used to identify the SubTool in the palette thumbnail

The SubTool Color swatch assigns a display color to the SubTool's palette row thumbnail, making it easier to visually distinguish SubTools at a glance. It does not affect actual polypainting or materials.

For projects with many SubTools, color-coding is a simple organizational tool. You might color all skin SubTools orange, armor blue, and props green. This color appears in the SubTool list thumbnail and has no impact on the geometry's actual surface appearance, vertex colors, or any export data.

ZBrush SubTool Management 2

What is the purpose of the Solo button in the SubTool palette?