ZBrush Tip: Surface Noise Workflow for Realistic Skin Pores

Surface Noise is a fast, controllable way to add believable skin pores without destroying your forms.

Prep for pore detail

• Subdivide until your head or face reaches at least 6–12 million points. Surface Noise bakes to geometry, so resolution matters.
• Store a Morph Target and create a new Layer before adding noise. This keeps the edit reversible and lets you blend intensities later.
• Mask out thin areas (lips, eyelids, inner nostrils) to avoid over-inflation. Use Mask by Polygroups, or paint masks manually.

Open NoiseMaker

• Tool > Surface > Noise, then click the Noise thumbnail to open NoiseMaker.
• Pick your mode:
  • 3D: Procedural, UV-independent noise—great for quick uniform pores.
  • UV: Uses your UVs and a tileable pore alpha for art-directed patterns and scale control.

Dial in pore character

• For natural pores, start with small Scale and low Strength. Nudge Relief and Offset until peaks sit just above the surface without ballooning forms.
• Load a tileable pore alpha in UV mode. Turn off “Mix Basic Noise” to use only your alpha, or keep it on for a subtle break-up.
• Use the curve in NoiseMaker to compress mid‑tones and protect highlights/shadows, keeping pores crisp but not spiky.
• Vary scale per region: smaller for nose/forehead, slightly larger for cheeks. Save presets for reuse.

Apply and refine

• Click Apply to Mesh at your highest SubDiv. Because you stored a Layer, you can reduce intensity after the fact.
• Use the Morph brush to erase pores selectively on lips, eyelids, and cartilage edges.
• Lightly HPolish or Smooth with low ZIntensity to knock back any overly sharp peaks while keeping the pore pattern.

Advanced control

• Stack multiple Layers: one for overall pores (broad scale), one for T‑zone micro pores (finer scale), and one for subtle noise breakup.
• If UV seams appear, verify with Tool > UV Map > Morph UV. Switch to 3D mode or use seamless tileable alphas to eliminate artifacts.
• Match real-world scale. If your model is extremely large/small, pore Scale values will feel off—normalize before detailing.

For baking and export

• Apply to Mesh before using Multi Map Exporter; preview-only noise will not bake.
• For film/print, favor 16‑bit/32‑bit displacement. For real-time, bake crisp 8–16‑bit normal maps and keep Strength conservative to avoid shading noise.

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