Today, Maxon has released ZBrush for iPad: a complete, mobile version of the digital sculpting software. With the release comes a change to ZBrush’s pricing, which sees the new iPad version as an accessible option for the professional software.

ZBrush’s new iPad version comes with its impressive collection of over 200 digital brushes, up to 92-million polygons per mesh (depending on your model of iPad), and other features that have made the software stand out among organic 3D modeling software.

“It needed to be full ZBrush,” Dave McGavran, Maxon CEO, told All3DP. “It’s the perfect application for iPad.”

In addition to being a fully capable version of ZBrush in terms of options and capabilities, ZBrush for iPad will have a few new tools to make the software fit into its new platform. Namely, custom buttons and other controls, such as the ability to customize the Apple Pencil’s double tap or Pencil Pro’s squeeze functions.

Desktop ZBrush users will benefit from the two versions of the software’s ability to “talk to each other” on the same network by using Maxon’s GoZ utility to transfer files between the two mediums, with ZTool and ZProject files both transferable. “We know the workflows people want to use and we’re going to support all of them,” McGavran said.

Beta testers have already had ample time with the software, and we’ve heard positive things from those users. “I love being able to twist and zoom,” said Tomas Wittelsbach, a long-time ZBrush user and 14-year veteran sculptor for the film industry turned boutique jeweler and craftsman. “It’s much more like having a space mouse in the sense that you have control over rotation and stuff, a little bit easier than you do on the keyboard or using your stylus.”

One of Wittelsbach’s principal applications for ZBrush is sculpting jewelry models to then 3D print in wax on their 3D systems MJP ProJet wax 3D printer, which are then cast in a lost wax process. The results are incredible, producing small, intricately detailed jewelry.

Wittelsbach purchased their first iPad to test the software and said they were “utterly impressed” by the software’s handling of models with 40 million poly sub tools. Other testers with higher-RAM iPad models have told Wittelsbach they’ve achieved 60 to 80 million polys.

Overall, Wittelsbach is thrilled with ZBrush for iPad. “I was skeptical because, let’s face it, ZBrush can be a hog. It’s a RAM hog, it’s a chip hog – it’s a hog,” they said. “And, every time they’ve added something, I was just blown away. It is wild how much of ZBrush they got into the iPad.”