Z Brush

This is a bit of a weird program. Weird but good, very good, Even if getting used to how it works takes some time. I'd still rate this as one of the best programs I've ever bought.

Z Brush is a paint program, 3D modeller and texture/mapping program. You could use Z Brush as a paint program using brushes to create strokes much like Corel Painter. These brush strokes can have depth to them giving a 3D, or rather 2.5D look to them, they can be textured to give different looks to each stroke. You can also move, rotate and scale the current brush stroke.

Z Brush can also create models. This can be done in two ways. Either by importing a model from another program, or by making the model from Z Spheres. The second image above shows an example of Z Spheres. When you've created your model using Z Spheres, a skin can be applied to it. Then this skinned model can be worked on further to create an extremely detailed high resolution model.

Z Brush costs $489. Approximately £285.