ZBrush Tip: Targeted Reverts with Project History

Use Project History to surgically revert parts of your sculpt or polypaint without rolling back your entire session.

When this shines

• Fixing over-smoothed forms while keeping fresh detail elsewhere.
• Restoring crisp edges or panel lines after broad edits.
• Rolling back only a face, hand, or accessory instead of the whole model.
• Recovering polypaint in targeted areas following color tests.
• Comparing and blending earlier design decisions non-destructively.

Core workflow

1. Prepare history
   • Sculpt normally with Undo History enabled (default).
   • Scrub the Undo bar to the earlier state you want to recall.
   • Ctrl+click the desired tick on the Undo bar to set it as the History Target (the tick turns white).
2. Return to now
   • Scrub back to your current/latest state.
3. Revert locally with a brush
   • Select the HistoryRecall brush (Brush palette > HistoryRecall).
   • Paint over areas you want to restore; the brush pulls geometry and/or polypaint from the anchored state.
   • Use masks to confine the effect, and adjust ZIntensity/RGB Intensity for subtle blends.
4. Revert broadly with a command
   • Optionally mask areas to protect, or hide geometry you don’t want affected.
   • Go to Tool > SubTool > Project > Project History to project the anchored state onto visible/unmasked areas.
5. Include color when needed
   • Enable Colorize on the SubTool and turn on RGB if you want polypaint projected as well.

Pro tips and caveats

• Topology changes: Project History works even if topology changed (Dynamesh/ZRemesh), but you’ll get cleaner results by subdividing to similar density first.
• Masks and visibility: Both HistoryRecall and Project History respect masks and hidden polygons—use this to isolate tricky areas.
• Projection hygiene: If you see artifacts, relax the surface slightly, inflate by a small amount, or project in stages from low to high subdivision levels.
• Performance: Hide other SubTools to speed up projection and reduce visual clutter.
• Compare rapidly: Reassign the History Target at any time by Ctrl+clicking a different undo tick—great for A/B testing.
• Keep files lean: Before archiving, click DelUH on the Undo bar to remove stored history and reduce file size.
• Layers vs. History: Use Layers for planned variations; use Project History for surgical rollbacks and quick recoveries.
• Sculptris Pro: Disable it before projecting to avoid unpredictable tessellation during recall.

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