Sculpting with mouse or tablet?

#1

Hello everyone :slight_smile: I am wondering what are the differences between sculpting in Zbrush with a mouse and tablet. Note, I am not a professional, just an intermediate in sculpting. So I would like to know if tablet makes sculpting more awesome and easier. Is it really worth the money or should I prefer mouse? Please give me your personal opinion with arguments. Thank you in advance and Happy New Year! :slight_smile:

#2

It comes down to preference but most people are going to tell you that a tablet is a must.

I’m in my early days of Sculpting too I personally find that creating the base shapes with the move tool is much easier with a mouse, but whenever sculpting any sort of finer detail i’ll always use the tablet for precision. It’s not impossible with a mouse though and features such as Lazy Mouse will always help you get more accuracy.

It also takes time to adjust. I avoid using the tablet for blocking out because i’m more familiar with, and quicker with a mouse, but I bet if I spent long enough working with a Tablet only I would find it just as easy.

#3

The main differences (aside from ergonomics) are in pressure sensitivity. A mouse is either on/off depending if the button is pressed. A stylus and tablet has hundreds of levels of sensitivity, meaning that if you press hard you’ll get a much “deeper” sculpt that if you press lightly. A mouse can’t replicate that.

Personally for my workflow ZBrush is unusable with a mouse. With a stylus and tablet I feel like I can finely craft details in an artistic, intuitive and fluid manner, with a mouse it’s like painting with a brick.

Takes a few days to get used to a Wacom, but once you’re familiar with it you’ll never look back.

My top three hardware recs are replacing your boot drive with an SSD, adding an additional monitor, and purchasing a Wacom tablet. All essential!

#4

I agree with this.
The monitor and stylus did a world of difference to me also.
The mouse is never as accurate in doing fine details and controlling your model.

At first using the stylus would feel awkward until you get the feel of the pressure.
I recommend that you allow some extra but small pressure sensitivity on your wacom settings for Zbrush, so that you dont over press your stylus because that would wear out your tips too.

#5

I have a little XP-Pen Star G640 Graphics Tablet . I love it for sculpting and texture painting. Vertex modeling I still prefer to do with a mouse.

Of course, a full 3d scene needs a decent amount of 2d work, and the tablet comes in handy there.

I use Artrage by the way also, for painting painterly backgrounds for my Zbrush sculpts.