How to Make a ZBrush Speed Sculpt Timelapse Video

Posted on Apr 22, 2018 (last modified May 7, 2021)

A timelapse video, also known as a “Speed Sculpt” video, can exhibit your entire sculpting session in a time-compressed format that’s fascinating to watch and very popular for sharing on video sites like YouTube. Here’s a procedure to setup ZBrush and record such videos. A ZScript, which automates the same procedure is also attached.

Note: You might also be interested in reviewing the video ZBrush – How to Record a Timelapse by Jared Michael, which demonstrates this procedure.

Procedure for Timelapse Recording in ZBrush

  • Document > New Document
  • Go to Document menu and turn off Pro, because that constrains the aspect ratio.
  • In the same spot, set width and height to 1920 x 1080 (a good resolution for sharing on YouTube)
  • In the same spot, click Resize. This will stretch pixols you may already have on the canvas, so…
  • Press CTRL + N to clear the document (if necessary).
  • Draw a new sphere by just clicking and dragging to get a new clay ball (or any SubTool) on the canvas that now has the new resolution.
  • Slide on the Zoom icon over at right to get the whole canvas in view; that’s the screen space that is going to be recorded.
  • Select Movie > Doc (if the selection is grayed out, you may have to Delete a movie that’s been started) This is going to record just the document space rather than the entire ZBrush app window.
  • Movie > Modifiers > Frame Size 1 (sets a 1 to 1 resolution)
  • Movie > Modifiers > On Mouse (should be selected) / 24 fps (Every time you click, you record 1 second)
  • Movie > Overlay Image > Opacity: 0
  • Movie > Title Image > Fade In Time : 0
  • Movie > Title Image > Fade Out Time: 0
  • Now, you can activate the Movie > Timelapse button to start recording.
  • You can click the Pause button to pause.
  • You can Play whatever you’ve got so far, export, share it with the web, etc.
  • Click T to go into Edit mode (or click on the Edit mode icon).
  • Now you can click B for the Brush palette, plus C (clay) and B (build-up) and start whippin’ shit out.

Download the ZScript

You can also download and use the attached ZScript, which automates the procedure above.

Download: cdb-InitSpeedSculptTimelapseRecording.TXT

  • Since the ZScript is in text format, you can edit the settings in any text editor. To use the script in ZBrush:
  • Click to open the ZScript menu (palette).
  • Click Load and browse to select the downloaded script.
  • Expand the drawer below the canvas at the very bottom of the ZBrush UI.
  • You should see a Play button, which you can click to execute the script.

Reference Resources