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Buildup tool
💻 Shortcut: B
🥽 Quick swap: Switch between adding and removing clay.
The Buildup tool is useful for layering form outward in quick successive strokes to create larger forms along a surface. You can also use Buildup in subtractive mode to successively carve away from a surface.
The Buildup tool is part of the Surfacing Tool group. Other Subtools of the Surfacing tool group are the Raise tool and Inflate tool.
Buildup allows you to add or remove clay in strokes or as single instances. The Buildup tool supports the use of textures for fine control over the effect of the brush.
You can import custom textures for use with the Buildup tool:
- Use File > Import Brush textures.
- Navigate to and select the texture.
- Click open.
- With a surfacing tool selected, enable Use textures.
- Use the 3 dots to open the texture selector.
- Select your imported texture.
Buildup tool parameters
Size |
|
|---|---|
Modify the scale of the brush |
Increase or decrease the size of the brush. Very large brush sizes may cause a delay between drawing the stroke and clay being updated. |
| Hardness | |
| Adjust the falloff | Modify the strength of the buildup effect near the edges of the brush. |
| Strength |
|
| Control the amplitude of Buildup tool strokes |
Strength adjusts the amount of clay added or removed. |
| Color intensity | |
| Change how much color is applied along strokes | A Color intensity of 0% will result in no color being applied, while a value of 100% applies color with full opacity where the brush is at maximum hardness. |
| Spacing | |
| Change spacing between individual stamps of the tool | The Buildup tool works by repeatedly stamping a shape, either adding or removing clay. Change the spacing to manage stamp frequency to create a smoother stroke or more noticeable stamps. |
| Pressure | |
| Toggle pressure sensitivity | Pressure sensitivity allows you to dynamically adjust the scale of your stroke as you draw out your strokes.
|
| Single | |
| Toggle single stamping mode | With single mode turned on, hold while applying a stroke to adjust the size and rotation of the Buildup brush. |
| Falloff Curve | |
| Select a falloff profile | Change the falloff curve to adjust how the edge of the brush applies it's effect. This can help create a more or less smooth transition between the stroke and existing clay. |
| Lazy | |
| Toggle Lazy stroke | With Lazy stroke enabled, the stroke is dragged behind the cursor rather than appearing directly beneath it. This helps create smoother strokes and clean curves. |
| Steady | |
| Toggle Steady stroke | Steady stroke takes time to catch up with the cursor. Unlike Lazy stroke, Steady stroke will eventually reach the cursor. This helps create smoother strokes and clean curves. |
| Mode | |
| Select whether the Buildup tool adds or removes clay | By default, the Buildup tool adds clay to the surface, but you can also toggle the mode to remove clay instead. |
| Use texture | |
| Toggle brush alphas |
You can use textures to add more control to the appearance of strokes and stamps. |
When Use texture is toggled on, additional parameters to manage textures become available.
| Select Texture | |
| Change the assigned texture | Different textures can create different effects. This setting displays the currently selected texture. Click the three dots to select a different texture. |
| Tiling | |
| Adjust texture tiling. | Tiling refers to how often the texture is repeated across the brush. A higher tiling value increases the number of times the texture appears, while a lower tiling value can increase the size of the texture relative to the brush. |
| Height position | |
| Change which value is considered to be the texture's zero point | By default, a heigh position of 0% means that black pixels of the texture are considered to be flush to the surface of existing clay when applying a stroke. Adjusting the height position allows you to control which value is considered flush to the surface, allowing to create different effects. A 50% height value means that middle grey will be considered flush, so while the tool is on additive mode, any values from the texture darker than middle grey will subtract from the surface. This can help when textures don't have a fully black background. |
| Height intensity | |
| Control the height of the applied stroke | This value acts as a multiplier to the strength value so you can adjust how the brush applies different textures. Low contrast textures may need a higher height intensity value. |
Adobe MAX
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Adobe MAX
The Creativity Conference
Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online