Datasheet

Unpacking Our Toolkit ■ 13
Z Intensity controls how fast you will reach those limits. If you set Z Intensity to 100,
then your brush will be at full intensity right from the start. If you set Z Intensity to 5, then
it will take some time to reach full intensity, and you can be more subtle about it.
A lot of other factors determine the maximum distance the brush will push or pull
the form, such as Alphas, Tablet Pressure, Zadd, Zsub, Samples, and Stroke Type. Depth,
though, could be considered über-Depth. It controls where the center of your brush’s
power is coming from.
A good example of the use of Depth is in the Skin brush. Its depth is set to –74. In
combination with the Alpha and small circular strokes, the Skin brush will lay down an
amazingly detailed skin texture without destroying your form or adding too much new
volume. Try lowering and raising the Depth value to understand the effect better.
If Depth is über-Depth, Depth Mask is the squash and stretch of your brush’s outer
limits. While DrawSize controls the circumference of your brush, Depth Mask allows
you to narrow in on a specific slice of the sphere for your brush to take effect.
A great example of Depth Mask is the PlanarCutThin brush. Try setting Depth to 14
and turning off MRGB to get some interesting results. This brush also does wonders for
creating rock striations when used with the Spray stroke.
So how does Depth relate to the Clay brush? It determines how far outward or inward
the Clay brush will push form. To see it in action, set Brush
➔
Depth
➔
Imbed to 100 and
make one stroke. Set it to 3 and make another stroke.
In general, I leave Imbed at default settings unless I am creating softer forms. In that
case, I set Imbed to 3. If you feel the need to increase it above 10, consider using the Move
brush instead.
Depth = 15
OuterDepth = .2
InnerDepth = .2
Area of influence
Figure 1.14
Depth Mask limits
your effect to a
cross section of
your model.