I’m following along with the course: Blender 4 Sculpting Brushes: Create Amazing Sculpts Quickly
I just wanted to toss this out there for anyone having the issue with the VDM brushes missing the preview in the brushes tray, or if the preview is there at first but once you click the brush it disappears.
The best solution I could come up with is the following:
- Install an add-on called VDM Brush Baker.
- Using the brush baker, create a sculpting plane.
- Sculpt the VDM brush to fit in the middle of the plane.
- Name it in the tool panel under VDM Brush Baker.
- Click Render and Create VDM Brush.
- Take a screenshot of the VDM brush on the sculpting plane for the thumbnail
- Duplicate the Draw brush and name it.
- Add a new texture to the duplicate brush and set it to the exr output from brush baker.
- Set Mapping extension to Extend.
- In the Brush Section of the Tool Settings, set strength to 1.000
- Set Hardness to 0.900
- Scroll down to the Texture section in Tool Settings. Double check that Mapping is set to Area Plane and check the box for Vector Displacement to enable it (if it is unchecked).
- Just below the Texture Section, set Stroke Method to Anchored.
- Scroll back up to the top and click the down arrow next to the generic Draw preview.
- Click Edit Preview Image and set it to the screenshot you took of the VDM brush.
- Optionally click Edit Metadata to set a custom folder to save the brush, or set which tab you want to store the new brush on the brush shelf.
- Save Changes to Asset.
You should now have the VDM brush saved locally and the preview shouldn’t disappear anymore.