ZBrush Tip: Curve Brush Best Practices for Creating Ribbons, Straps, and Cables in ZBrush

Curve-based brushes are the fastest way to lay down clean ribbons, straps, hoses, and cables that conform to your surfaces and stay editable until you commit.

• Pick the right curve brush
  • CurveTubeSnap: circular profile that snaps to the underlying mesh—ideal for hoses and cables.
  • CurveStrapSnap: flat, ribbon-like profile—perfect for belts, bands, and layered armor strips.
  • CurveMultiTube: drop multiple parallel tubes in one stroke for bundled wiring.
  • Draw Size directly controls diameter/width; set it before laying the curve for predictable results.
• Path control and editing
  • Sketch your stroke on the target SubTool; ZBrush converts it to a live curve you can reshape.
  • Click-drag along the curve to nudge its path; move anchor points to refine tension and spacing.
  • Stroke > Curve Functions: use Lock Start and Lock End to keep endpoints pinned while you edit the middle.
  • Click on empty canvas to commit; tap the curve to remove it if you need to restart.
• Taper, thickness, and surface fit
  • Stroke > Curve Modifiers > Size: add a falloff to taper ends—great for believable strap terminations or cable tips.
  • Brush > Depth > Imbed: push the ribbon/tube slightly into the surface to avoid floating intersections.
  • For snug contact, prefer “Snap” variants (CurveTubeSnap/CurveStrapSnap) to follow your form precisely.
  • Enable LazyMouse when sketching the initial stroke to reduce kinks on long paths.
• Clean, production-ready geometry
  • Create ribbons/tubes on their own SubTool so you can isolate, subdivide, and render them independently.
  • Auto Groups or Group by Normals to organize polygroups; then ZRemesher with KeepGroups for even polygon flow.
  • For crisp strap edges: Crease PG, enable Dynamic Subdiv for preview, or add support loops with ZModeler.
  • Use Backface Masking when sculpting thin straps to prevent unintended deformation of the opposite side.
• Iterate fast
  • Stroke > Curve Functions > Snapshot duplicates along the same path—useful for coaxial cable layers or decorative banding.
  • Vary Draw Size before Snapshot to stack widths (e.g., thin wire riding a thicker hose).
  • Store a Morph Target before committing; you can blend or clean transitions later with the Morph brush.
• Common fixes
  • Curve drifts from the surface: verify you used a “Snap” brush and reduce extreme bends; adjust Imbed.
  • Uneven thickness: set Draw Size before drawing; if needed, re-taper via Size curve instead of resculpting.
  • Twisting artifacts on ribbons: keep the path smooth, avoid abrupt normal changes, and minimize sharp directional flips.
• Pipeline notes
  • For game/animation: retopo with ZRemesher or external tools, keep polygroups, then unwrap with UV Master.
  • For print/vis: consider Decimation Master after finalizing to reduce file size without visible loss.

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