Sculpting Brush Texture Editor - Blender Add-on

Create or load vector displacement and height map sculpting brushes easily in one click.

Previews are created automatically and all necessary settings are set. You can continue sculpting with your new brush immediately.

Blender 3.5 Update:

• Added vector displacement (VDM) brush baking
  (I have a free add-on that only renders VDM brushes but without previews and fewer options. My free add-on is also bundled within the VDM demo file of Blender's 3.5 release)
• Better previews
• Load exr files to create brushes quickly in a batch process
• And more

More info can be found below in the update section.

Sculpt brushes manually from a plane:

Vector displacement maps:

These maps can have overhangs, unlike height maps.

Height map brushes:

Height map brushes only displace in surface normal direction but can use multiple objects for rendering.

Load brushes from image files (exr or png):

(Using dragon brushes from NSDesign)

Brushes that are loaded from image files can be manipulated before import. There is a settings panel inside the file browser where you can swap color channels, resize the textures, and more.
(Brush images that come straight out of ZBrush have a different up-axis than Blender. So if you want to migrate your brushes to Blender, this might come in handy. Just set swizzle Y to Z, swizzle Z to Y, and multiply both (Y and Z) by 2.)

Edit any brush:

Every brush with a texture can be edited. Brushes from loaded images get a geometry nodes modifier to quickly change some settings.

How to access
The add-on can be accessed from within sculpt mode in View3D -> Properties -> Tools. Panel 'Brush Texture Editor'
Add-on version 1.1.0 and up needs at least Blender 3.5
Add-on version 1.0.1 works with Blender 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

How does it work?
‘Create new brush’ opens a new scene and workspace (if desired) and adds a plane to sculpt on.
Once you’re done sculpting, hit ‘Render brush and close’. The add-on will render a VDM or height map (depending on your setting), create a new brush, and a preview automatically. It will also return to your primary scene and switch to the brush you’ve just created.

I hope you like it. Please share it if you find this add-on useful. 😁

What can it be used for?

There are many possibilities for textured sculpting brushes and the new vector displacement feature (that allows for overhangs) makes them even more versatile!

Examples might be horns, scales, scars, cloth, and much more

A few tips for working with the addon

• Set up your default Blender workspace to use sculpt mode. That way you can continue sculpting immediately after you’ve created a brush. If you use the sculpting workspace, this is pre-set.
• Use the displacement eraser to flatten the plane and correct sculpting mistakes
• If your brushes get cut off at the corners you can either increase the size for all axes (to 1.1 or 1.2) in the texture panel of the brush or decrease the brush 'hardness' value.
• (1.1.0) The texture resolutions can be changed among other things inside the add-on preferences.

Why would one need height maps and VDMs?
- They serve different purposes. See the example GIFs below. The first uses a height map. The second a vdm.

• VDMs can move vertices in all axes. Depending on your use case, you might prefer one or the other map type. Once you made a brush, it can easily be converted between height and vector displacement map. Just edit the brush from the add-on panel and then select a different map type and hit 'Apply changes to brush and close'.
• For height map brushes you can use multiple objects for rendering.

Behind the scenes

The reason a new scene gets created in the add-on is the render setup that is needed for making height maps and previews. A scene can have its own render settings so it won't interfere with your own render settings.
The scene will also collect all meshes that are relevant only to your brushes. So, it doesn’t clutter your default scene.
The scene setup also contains several cameras. One will render the plane using a mist pass (for depth information used by a height map) and the other cameras will produce previews of your brush.

Plus, it does some more things:

Automated brushes: It creates a brush with all relevant settings to use in anchored mode. As well as creating the texture and applying the brush map as an image. And all settings that come with it.

Relevant for height maps only:

• Mist settings: Automated mist settings that are calculated by the bounding box of all rendered meshes.
• Sample bias: You can have negative and positive heights in one height map easily. The addon calculates the sample bias, meaning the amount the texture values are shifted down or up. It will put the plane back to zero.
• Brush memory: The addon remembers all objects you’ve used for rendering. You can edit a brush you’ve created and it will make mesh objects you used to render visible, and hide others.
• Brush strength: Your brush will have the correct strength applied on creation. Meaning, it will have the same height as your sculpture. Usually, this isn't a problem when your brush is lower than one Blender unit. The strength will be set to 1.0 and values from your height map can be used directly. If it is higher than 1.0 there is a problem. You can see it illustrated here if you're curious.

Need support?

If you have any problems with the add-on please don't hesitate to ask for support via mail. I'm happy to help you.
You can also reach out on the Blenderartist forums here and start a discussion. I'm also happy to hear about feature requests. And I am more so thankful if you report bugs if you encounter any. 🙌

Updates:

v 1.1.3 - 01/21/2024

• Fixed height map baking issue in Blender 4.0
• Added import options for brush hardness, sample bias, and preview displacement intensity
• Added brush hardness to preferences

v 1.1.2 - 05/01/2023

• Exr and PNG can now be loaded to create brushes in a batch process quickly
• Any brush with a texture can now be edited
• Loaded brushes can be manipulated easily (swapping color channels, changing texture resolution) before import
• Images are now saved with the correct compression
• Color depth can be changed in preferences

v 1.1.1 - 04/12/2023 (Needs at least Blender 3.5)

• Fix: Height and vector maps didn't load correctly when Blender is reopened

v 1.1.0 - 04/10/2023 (Needs at least Blender 3.5)

• Added vector displacement map (VDM) baking
• Better previews in three types: Flat, on a sphere, or tilted
• Customizable sculpting plane resolution
• Added add-on preferences (Set texture sizes among other things there)
• Avoid crash that happened sometimes when exiting sculpt mode
• Made preview image file paths relative
• Less mode switching for better performance

v 1.0.1 - 09/18/2022 (works with Blender 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3)

• Added support for Blender versions 3.0 and 3.1
• Don't set rendered brush as tool in brush editor. Do so only in default scene when sculpt mode is active.
• Added checkbox to enable/disable preview image rendering
• Don't overwrite mapping mode and stroke method when applying changes to brush

v 1.0.0 - 09/11/2022

• Initial release