Setting up custom alpha textures
The default shape of each brush is a circle. This circle can be customized with the falloff settings that we learned about in the Using custom falloff section of this chapter. However, we can create much more intricate shapes for our brushes through the use of Alphas. Alphas are textures that influence the shape of the brush. They are useful for creating highly detailed patterns such as cracks, scales, and skin pores.
Because alphas are used to produce high-frequency details, they are most effective in the late stages of the sculpting workflow when we have many subdivisions to work with. We learned how to add subdivisions to our sculptures in the Using the Multiresolution modifier section of Chapter 5, Learning the Power of Subdivision and the Multiresolution Workflow.
Blender does not come with any alpha textures by default, but we've got you covered! This book comes with three alpha textures for you to use. In this section, we'll try...