ZBrush vs Paint Dynamics
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ZBrush
Create professional 3D models and digital sculptures on your iPad. This app offers advanced sculpting, painting, and modeling tools with desktop-quality performance, ideal for artists on the go. Seamlessly integrate with desktop workflows for a complete creative experience.
- Pressure-sensitive sculpting with Apple Pencil
- 200+ digital sculpting brushes
- Advanced 3D modeling tools
- Seamless desktop-iPad workflow
- High-resolution polygon support
- 3D painting without UV setup
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ZBrush for iPad. Create stunning 3D models, digital sculptures, concept art, and detailed characters with ZBrush for iPad—the award-winning, industry-leading digital sculpting app trusted by professional artists across film, AAA games, collectibles, toy design, jewelry, illustration, and 3D design. ZBrush for iPad brings unrivaled desktop-grade digital sculpting and 3D painting power into an intuitive, touch-first mobile environment optimized for Apple Pencil. Take complete creative freedom on the go with high-poly mesh density, proprietary digital clay brushes, procedural detailing, and seamless cross-platform interoperability. Subscribers to Maxon One or ZBrush desktop can download the iPad app and sign in to activate full access instantly. A comprehensive free tier is also available to start sculpting immediately. NEW FOR IPAD • Spotlight Integration: Seamlessly load reference images directly onto the canvas, apply projection painting and texture mapping across complex mesh surfaces, and extract custom 3D geometry from 2D source imagery. • 3D Layers: Store high-resolution sculpting details, PolyPaint color channels, and masking non-destructively. Effortlessly toggle layer visibility, blend sculpt deformations, and refine feature intensity with precise slider controls. CORE SCULPTING & MODELING FEATURES • 200+ Sculpting Brushes: Pressure-sensitive digital brushes engineered for Apple Pencil and Apple Pencil Pro, supporting squeeze, roll, hover, double-tap gestures, and haptic feedback. • Sculptris Pro & Dynamic Tessellation: Add local mesh detail on the fly without manual topology management. • DynaMesh Digital Clay: Re-topologize mesh density evenly during early concept exploration. • ZRemesher: Industry-standard automatic retopology for clean, optimized edge flow. • Live Boolean: Non-destructive real-time union, subtraction, and intersection modeling. • PolyPaint: High-resolution 3D painting directly on vertex geometry without preliminary UV unwrapping. • Advanced Detailing: VDM Brushes, Surface Noise, Retopo Brush, Subdivision Modeling, NanoMesh, and ArrayMesh. DESKTOP INTEROPERABILITY & EXPORT • One-Click GoZ: Seamless transfer of ZTool and ZProject files between iPad and desktop ZBrush. • 3D Print Hub: Direct export for additive manufacturing and 3D printing workflows. HIGH-PERFORMANCE HARDWARE OPTIMIZATION Handles up to 90+ million polygons per mesh on M4 iPad hardware. Optimized for multi-touch gestures, custom hotkey bars, rapid undo/redo touch shortcuts, and real-world photogrammetry base mesh imports for high-end digital asset creation. TARGET CREATIVE USE CASES 1. Game Developers: Hero character modeling, creature design, and environment asset creation. 2. Collectibles & Toy Designers: High-detail prototyping and precise 3D print preparation. 3. Film & VFX Artists: Production-grade concept sculpting and digital asset creation. 4. Industrial & Jewelry Designers: Precision organic detailing for consumer products, apparel, and hardware. 5. 2D Illustrators & Concept Artists: Fast 3D block-outs and visual design expansion. LANGUAGE SUPPORT English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, German, French, and Portuguese (BR).
Paint Dynamics
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Paint Dynamics is a realtime fluid-paint experience powered by Metal. Create flowing streams of color, watch them react to gravity, and shape the movement directly with your touch. Paint sources can be added, removed, moved, recolored, and adjusted live, turning the screen into an interactive digital paint simulation. Whether you want to relax, experiment, explore motion, or simply enjoy colorful fluid patterns, Paint Dynamics gives you a clean and responsive creative playground. Features: • Realtime fluid-paint simulation • Add, move, recolor, or remove paint streams • Interactive touch modes for dragging or disturbing the flow • Adjustable animation speed, stream speed, gravity, wobble, source size, brightness, and contrast • Adjustable bucket height where the paint collects • Optional metallic paint shading for a reflective look • Automatic saving of settings, stream positions, and colors • Clean fullscreen interface with minimal controls • Fully offline — no accounts, no ads, no data collection Paint Dynamics is a playful visual experiment for anyone who enjoys generative art, digital fluids, color motion, and interactive visual effects.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is price: ZBrush at Free against Paint Dynamics's $0.99. Paint Dynamics's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and device support (3 vs 1). On ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
ZBrush is free to download; Paint Dynamics costs $0.99 up front. ZBrush sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Paint Dynamics asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | ZBrush | Paint Dynamics |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | 4.1 (254 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 85.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 254 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.1 GB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MAXON Computer GmbH | Philippe Zay |
In-app purchases
ZBrush
- ZBrush Monthly$9.991 Month
- ZBrush Annual$89.991 Year
Paint Dynamics
No in-app purchases









