Released earlier this year, ZBrush for iPad is the highly anticipated tablet version of the renowned digital sculpting software, commonly used in concept art, game development, and visual effects. It offers core features of the desktop version, including over 200 of the most popular sculpting brushes, bringing ZBrush’s powerful tools to a mobile platform for artists on the go.
Other key features of ZBrush for iPad include the Sculptris Pro dynamic tessellation system, as well as DynaMesh, which allows for clay-like sculpting and real-time logical modeling. The tablet version also integrates ZBrush Dynamics, a set of tools for simulating fabric and applying soft-body dynamics to sculptures. For texturing sculptures, users gain access to Polypaint, a 3D painting tool for adding detailed colors and textures directly to the model.
ZBrush 2025.1 for iPad significantly enhances texturing capabilities by incorporating new features from the desktop version. These include additional palettes for Texture Map, UV Map, and Displacement Map. The new tools enable users to apply raster textures to sculptures, convert Polypaint data into exportable textures, unwrap models in UV mode, and import models with existing UV maps. Additionally, the Surface Noise feature has been added to apply procedural noise to sculptures, a functionality also found in the desktop version. One standout feature for the iPad version is the ability to use iPad camera photos as a source for surface noise, which provides a convenient and creative method for adding unique textures directly from the real world.
The ZBrush 2025.1 for iPad update introduces several user interface and workflow enhancements. Notably, users can now add any control elements from the software to customizable bottom toolbars, not just brushes, materials, textures, and labels. Additionally, the Apple Pencil scroll function is now supported to adjust the values of the four primary brush sliders. Tooltips are displayed when hovering over items on devices supporting hover functionality with the Pencil.
The iPad version now supports the same language set as the desktop version, with new localizations in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.
ZBrush for iPad is compatible with iPadOS 17.0 and higher, and requires an iPad with the A12 Bionic chip or later. The basic app is free but has export functionality disabled. To access the full suite of features, a subscription is required, priced at $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. This version is also included with the desktop ZBrush subscription, which now costs $49 per month or $399 per year, following price increases in September.