Brushes

This is a list of all provided ‘Essentials’ brush assets that come with Blender. These are based on various Brush Types which are mentioned for each brush..

Add/Subtract Brushes

These brushes generally push vertices outwards and inwards and are the most customizable to achieve a wide variety of effects. They typically don’t use a color in their thumbnail.

Draw

Brush Type: Draw

Shortcut: V

The standard brush for pushing vertices inwards and outwards from the surface direction.

Draw Sharp

Brush Type: Draw Sharp

Shortcut: Shift V

Same as Draw but with a much sharper Falloff. Useful for creating creases and sharp angles.

Clay

Brush Type: Clay

Similar to the Draw brush but with a flattening effect and subtle smoothing. Useful for polishing and building volumes.

Clay Strips

Brush Type: Clay Strips

Shortcut: C

The same as the Clay brush, but more aggressive with a square falloff. A common standard for building rough volumes.

Clay Thumb

Brush Type: Clay Thumb

The same as the Clay brush, but specifically for emulating the effect of running your thumb over surfaces. Pushes geometry in and sideways.

Layer

Brush Type: Layer

Draw with a fixed height. Useful for adding flat layers to a surface.

Inflate/Deflate

Brush Type: Inflate

Shortcut: I

Moves the mesh in multiple direction. Useful for inflating or shrinking surfaces and volumes.

Blob

Brush Type: Blob

Magnifies the mesh as you draw. Useful for an additional inflation effect on the stroke.

Crease Polish

Brush Type: Crease

Shortcut: Shift C

A Draw brush with a pinching effect. Useful for polishing existing creases or carefully creating new ones.

Crease Sharp

Brush Type: Crease

Much sharper and stronger Crease brush. Great for creating thin and deep pinches.

Contrast Brushes

Recognizable by their red thumbnail and cursor. These brushes generally flatten or heighten the contrast of the surface.

Smooth

Brush Type: Smooth

Shortcut: S

Smooths out irregularities in the surface and shrinks volumes by averaging the vertices positions. An essential brush that is frequently used.

Flatten/Contrast

Brush Type: Flatten

Pushes vertices to an average height to create a flat surfaces. Alternatively pushes them away from the center for more contrast.

Plateau

Brush Type: Flatten

Similar to Flatten but with a locked orientation and depth to create a consistently flat surface.

Fill/Deepen

Brush Type: Fill

Pushes surfaces upwards towards a flat plane. Useful for filling in holes and crevices. Alternatively deepens existing holes when holding ‘Ctrl’.

Scrape/Fill

Brush Type: Scrape

Shortcut: Shift T

Pushes surfaces inwards. Alternatively fills surfaces while holding ‘Ctrl’. This is the most common brush for flattening meshes.

Trim

Brush Type: Scrape

Pushes surfaces inwards toward a locked direction. The depth can be defined by going deeper towards surfaces along the stroke.

Scrape Multiplane

Brush Type: Scrape Multiplane

Scrapes the mesh with two angled planes at the same time, producing a sharp edge between them.

Transform Brushes

Recognizable by their yellow icon and cursor. These brushes generally move, pinch and magnify the mesh.

Pinch/Magnify

Brush Type: Pinch

Shortcut: P

Pulls vertices towards the center of the brush. Useful for polishing angles and creases. Alternatively pushes them away from the center.

Grab

Brush Type: Grab

Shortcut: G

Moves vertices along with the mouse. An essential brush for building shapes and adjusting proportions.

Grab 2D

Brush Type: Grab

Similar to Grab but with an infinitely projected falloff. Useful for grabbing broader shapes and giving a similar feel to using Liquify tools in image painting applications.

Grab Silhouette

Brush Type: Grab

Similar to Grab but only affects vertices with the normal facing sideways away from the view. Very useful for adjusting outer silhouettes of thin objects.

Elastic Grab

Brush Type: Elastic Deform

Used to simulate realistic deformations from grabbing of Elastic objects.

Elastic Snake Hook

Brush Type: Snake Hook

Similar to Elastic Grab but rotates affected geometry based on the stroke direction.

Snake Hook

Brush Type: Snake Hook

Shortcut: K

Pulls vertices along with the stroke to create long, snake-like forms. Geometry is rotated and magnified to allow continuous pulling. Much more useful while having Dyntopo enabled.

Pull

Brush Type: Snake Hook

Iteratively picks up and lets go of geometry like the Snake Hook, but much softer. Useful for subtle small scale deforming over longer strokes.

Thumb

Brush Type: Thumb

Same as Grab but moves vertices along the surface direction. Useful for preserving specific surfaces.

Pose

Brush Type: Pose

Simulating an armature-like deformations. Useful for quick posing and transformations.

Nudge

Brush Type: Nudge

Similar as Thumb but dynamically picks up vertices like the Snake Hook. Useful for nudging something along the mesh surface.

Twist

Brush Type: Rotate

Rotates vertices within the brush in the direction mouse.

Relax Slide

Brush Type: Relax Slide

Slides the topology of the mesh in the direction of the stroke while preserving the geometrical shape of the mesh. Alternatively smooths the mesh on ‘Shift’. Also useful for redistributing topology where it is needed.

Relax Pinch

Brush Type: Relax Slide

Similar to the Relax Slide brush but pinches/relaxes geometry instead.

Boundary

Brush Type: Boundary

Transform specifically mesh boundaries with various deformations.

Utility Brushes

No clear color assignment. These brushes are general purpose brushes or specific.

Density

Brush Type: Density

Cleans up geometry by collapsing short edges. Specifically for use with Dyntopo.

Mask

Brush Type: Mask

Shortcut: M

Paints a selection on parts of the mesh to be unaffected by other brushes.

Draw Face Sets

Brush Type: Draw Face Sets

Paint new, smooth or extend existing Face Sets.

Erase Multires Displacement

Brush Type: Erase Multires Displacement

Remove displacement information on a Multiresolution modifier.

Smear Multires Displacement

Brush Type: Smear Multires Displacement

Smear displacement information on a Multiresolution modifier.

Painting Brushes

Recognizable by their blue thumbnails. These brushes are used for painting color attributes within sculpt mode.

Paint Hard

Brush Type: Paint

A simple hard round falloff.

Paint Soft

Brush Type: Paint

A soft round falloff with pressure sensitivity for only the strength.

Paint Hard Pressure

Brush Type: Paint

A hard round falloff with pressure sensitivity for the brush radius.

Paint Soft Pressure

Brush Type: Paint

A soft round falloff with pressure sensitivity for both radius and strength.

Paint Square

Brush Type: Paint

A hard square brush falloff.

Airbrush

Brush Type: Paint

A soft round brush that builds up over time instead of stroke distance.

Blend Hard

Brush Type: Paint

Similar to Average brushes in other modes with a hard round falloff. Used to blend colors along the stroke.

Blend Soft

Brush Type: Paint

Same as Blend Hard but with a soft round falloff.

Blend Square

Brush Type: Paint

Same as Blend Hard but with a hard square falloff.

Paint Blend

Brush Type: Paint

A mix of a Paint and Blend brush. On low pen pressure the brush averages colors and with high pen pressure it paints colors.

Smear

Brush Type: Smear

Smears colors along the stroke.

Sharpen

Brush Type: Smear

Pinches the colors inwards to create sharp edges or points.

Simulation Brushes

These brushes are similar to regular brushes but with an additional cloth simulation applied. These are ideally used on a relatively low resolution, since the mesh density defines the size of cloth dynamics.

Drag Cloth

Brush Type: Cloth

Nudges the geometry along the surface while minimally affecting the overall shape of the object.

Push Cloth

Brush Type: Cloth

Pushes geometry inwards or outwards.

Grab Cloth

Brush Type: Cloth

Grabs geometry within the brush radius firmly, while surrounding geometry is being simulated to follow.

Grab Planar Cloth

Brush Type: Cloth

Similar to Grab Cloth but with a line as the brush radius instead of a circle.

Grab Random Cloth

Brush Type: Cloth

Similar to Grab Cloth but with a noise texture applied to create more random variation.

Inflate Cloth

Brush Type: Cloth

Inflates the geometry outwards or inwards.

Expand/Contract Cloth

Brush Type: Cloth

Creates compression or stretching on geometry.

Pinch Point Cloth

Brush Type: Cloth

Pinches geometry to the center point of the radius, creating folds from all sides.

Pinch Folds Cloth

Brush Type: Cloth

Pinches only from two perpendicular sides along the stroke direction, creating parallel folds along the stroke.

Bend/Twist Cloth

Brush Type: Pose

A pose brush that rotates geometry.

Stretch/Move Cloth

Brush Type: Pose

A pose brush that translates and scales geometry.

Bend Boundary Cloth

Brush Type: Boundary

Bend only open boundaries of the mesh, folding the surrounding geometry in the process.

Twist Boundary Cloth

Brush Type: Boundary

Twist open boundaries of the mesh, creating twisting folds.