ZBrush 2
by Ajari Wilson · in General Discussion · 09/09/2005 (3:23 am) · 4 replies
I'm currently learning how to model with 3D Studio Max. I've been interested in creating 3D art for years now and my girlfriend has always been pushing me to learn from her (when are you gonna learn max, when are you gonna learn max??) but have always been put off by the odd nurbs and extruding and editable meshes ect... I feel like I'm writing a 10,000 word essay with a pen being held by chop sticks on the end of a broom handel connected to a pulley system that I have to operate by remote with a Nintendo Power Glove. It's a very indirect approach. Progress is being made and I am learning but it's very frustrating that I can't just go in there and mold an object like I would if it was clay.
I'm wondering what's up with ZBrush. Has anybody tried it? I watched a tutorial on it and it's almost as if you are molding a piece of clay (still with the Power Glove though but I guess I can live with that). I was pretty impressed but I wonder how widley it's used by game studios. It says on the site that id used it for Doom 3 (read the interview with Kenneth Scott). Can it convert to 3DSM, Maya, and Milkshape formats? Can you do low polly? And if so, how easy is it to do low polly? Everything I've seen from it so far is very high polly count. I'm sure I have questions I don't even have the knowledge to ask yet. Bottom line, what do you artists think of Z-Brush compared to traditional modelling methods and programs?
-Ajari-
I'm wondering what's up with ZBrush. Has anybody tried it? I watched a tutorial on it and it's almost as if you are molding a piece of clay (still with the Power Glove though but I guess I can live with that). I was pretty impressed but I wonder how widley it's used by game studios. It says on the site that id used it for Doom 3 (read the interview with Kenneth Scott). Can it convert to 3DSM, Maya, and Milkshape formats? Can you do low polly? And if so, how easy is it to do low polly? Everything I've seen from it so far is very high polly count. I'm sure I have questions I don't even have the knowledge to ask yet. Bottom line, what do you artists think of Z-Brush compared to traditional modelling methods and programs?
-Ajari-
#2
However, I would suggest learning Max first, if you want to make game art. Zbrush is NOT for lo-poly modeling. It works real well combined with Max. You can make a lo-poly model in Max, then add detail and sculpt it in Zbrush, then re-import it back into Max and generate normal maps and such that make your lo-poly model look like the hi-res Zbrush model, more-or-less.
09/09/2005 (6:09 am)
Zbrush is killer, and is now being used at lots of game studios. It's also a real pleasure to use, once you get over the learning curve.However, I would suggest learning Max first, if you want to make game art. Zbrush is NOT for lo-poly modeling. It works real well combined with Max. You can make a lo-poly model in Max, then add detail and sculpt it in Zbrush, then re-import it back into Max and generate normal maps and such that make your lo-poly model look like the hi-res Zbrush model, more-or-less.
#3
It integrates well with Max, Maya, etc and you can go back and forth between the two quite easily.
For now I create the mesh and normal map in ZBrush, rig and animate in Max. The next version of ZBrush
will support all of this. ZSpere just plain kicks ass; you can set up a base figure mesh in under 5 minutes.
Check www.zbrushcentral.com for some awesome stuff people are doing with it. Mind blowing compared
to how long things take in Max to get the same results.
Do yourself a favour and download the demo.
~neo
09/09/2005 (6:38 am)
Downloaded the demo, bought it 10 minutes later... its just WAY ahead of anything else out there.It integrates well with Max, Maya, etc and you can go back and forth between the two quite easily.
For now I create the mesh and normal map in ZBrush, rig and animate in Max. The next version of ZBrush
will support all of this. ZSpere just plain kicks ass; you can set up a base figure mesh in under 5 minutes.
Check www.zbrushcentral.com for some awesome stuff people are doing with it. Mind blowing compared
to how long things take in Max to get the same results.
Do yourself a favour and download the demo.
~neo
#4
-Ajari-
09/09/2005 (4:09 pm)
Cool. I'm glad I am partly resonsible for someone upgading their art programs (if I did). I've already downloaded the demo and have begun to mess around with it, though I have no clue what I'm doing right now. I'll check out the tutorials and get deep into it asap. If I get far, I may have to make a purchase and try to learn both Max and ZBrush at the same time. Thanks for your replies everyone.-Ajari-
Torque Owner Roland Stralberg
Rimfrost Software
- Modelling with ZSperes is just so good. Check for that in their hompage.
- You may modell with up to seven steps of details at the same time
and switch between them with a click. A change in on level of
details will reflect in all levels of course.
- Use your multi-level detailed modell (from lo-poly->very hi-poly)
to create both normal maps and displacement maps inside
ZBrush just with a click, and the export hour lo-poly to wavefront obj-format.
- import formats are obj and dxf
- export format is obj
Works very nice together with both Blender and gameSpace.