VDM Brush Baker

This is a small add-on that makes it easy to create vector displacement map (aka VDM) brushes in Blender. Sculpting setups and the brushes can be created with one click.

Activation

  • Open Blender and go to Preferences then the Add-ons tab.

  • Switch the category to « Baking »

  • Enable the « VDM Brush Baker » addon.

Interface

Located in the 3D Viewport ‣ Sidebar ‣ Tools.

Utilisation

Use the « Create Sculpting Plane » button for an optimal startign setup for sculpting your own VDM brush.

Use the « Render and Create VDM Brush » button to covnert bake the plane into a new brush. The brush will be added with all relevant options and a vector displacement map is saved near the blender file as an Open EXR file (or a “tmp” folder if the blender file wasn’t saved). New brushes can be found as Draw brushes in sculpt mode. The add-on won’t create any preview images for these brushes.

Astuces

  • While Sculpting make sure to mask the borders of the plane for a better result.

  • If your VDM brush gets cut off at the corners, you can increase the size inside the texture panel of the brush settings to 1.1 or 1.2 for each axis.

  • A vdm-resolution of 512 px or lower is usually enough. Unless you have extremely detailed sculptings