ZBrush Tip: Smooth-Border Extract for Production-Ready Clothing

Fast, clean clothing from masks: Extract with smooth borders gives you production-ready shells with minimal cleanup.

• Prepare a precise mask
  • Block the garment silhouette with MaskPen or MaskLasso. Enable BackfaceMask on your brush to avoid bleed-through on thin areas.
  • Refine edges: Ctrl+Click on the masked area to blur; Ctrl+Alt+Click to sharpen. Alternate a few times to get a crisp-yet-natural transition.
  • Use Mask by Cavity or Mask by Smoothness to capture seams and panel breaks before extraction.
• Configure Extract for smooth borders
  • Tool > SubTool > Extract: set Thickness based on scene scale (typical 0.02–0.10). If scale is unknown, Preferences > Initialize > Unify the mesh first.
  • Enable Double if you need a closed shell (front and back). For draped cloth that sits on top, leave it off and push thickness outward (positive values).
  • Increase S Smt (border smoothing) for cleaner, anti-aliased edges; start around 10–25. Use Extract to preview, Accept to commit (new SubTool is created; original remains intact).
• Post-extract edge control
  • Polygroup the result: PolyGroup > Group by Normals (low angle) so borders become their own groups.
  • Add support loops: Geometry > EdgeLoop > GroupLoops (1–2 loops, low Polish) to stabilize edges for subdivision or smoothing.
  • Polish by Features for quick clean-up, then HPolish and TrimDynamic to refine planes where needed.
• Keep it light, then detail
  • If the extract is dense or uneven, ZRemesher with KeepGroups On and target a modest Polycount. Project details back if needed.
  • Preview with Dynamic Subdiv: QGrid 1–3 and Coverage 2–4 for a soft tailored roll on borders without baking bevels.
  • Use Move and Move Topological to shape cloth volumes without tearing seams between polygroups.
• Thickness and stability
  • For garment realism, vary Thickness slightly per panel: extract base, then use Deformation > Inflate or ZModeler QMesh for local adjustments.
  • Crease by PolyGroups (Crease PG) before subdividing to protect hems; relax later with CreaseLevel and SDiv transitions.
• Detailing pass
  • Lay seams with Dam_Standard or Slash brushes along polygroup borders; add subtle Inflate for piping.
  • Mask by Features, then Surface Noise or NoiseMaker presets for weave hints; keep intensity low and vary scale per panel.
  • For small hardware, drop IMM stitches or buttons along a Curve with Snap and Lock Start/End.
• Quick QA and export
  • Solo and PolyFrame to verify consistent shell thickness and clean loops.
  • For real-time, Decimation Master or ZRemesher guides, then bake maps. For print, check watertightness (3D Print Hub).

Pro tips:

• Mask symmetry first, then break symmetry after Accept for natural cloth variation.
• Use Layers for wrinkle passes so you can dial intensity per garment zone.
• Store a Morph Target pre-detailing; the Morph brush becomes a precision wrinkle-eraser.

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