Sculpty Program Advice.-ZBrush?

about to spend anywhere from 500.00 usd -750.00 usd on a sculpty program..any suggestions?....I went to the ZBrush website and viewed a few movies ..they made it look easy..well i mean the interface..I've also been told about some free ones.

I wanna learn.
I wanna be self sufficient.
I am an artist.

I understand there are issues with exporting UV maps after the model is complete. I have a few friends that work with Zbrush..wondering if anyone else does..and if so..did you buy the CD?..or Simply the iso.

I mean i've downloaded wings..Rokuro..mudbox(demo)..I've messed with a cube and sphere..stretching polys but it seems sortve...restricted?

I've seen where some have said they actually had to dumb down their original model..or the fact that their model is so good really didn't matter cause of SLs engine..so. I don't even see the point in saving for Maya.

I'm very impressed by Pumpkin Tripsas work. I love the idea of a ten prim Gargoyle..I have a feeling ill be going in that direction..so all that being said..any advice?..Oh and I have Vista. When I went to Zbrush site and read their forums it seemd there were people waiting for a vista friendly version.

Thanx in advance for any helpful replies.

~Lana Tomba

I will not say too much about ZBrush's appropriateness for making sculpted prims except to say that while you can get it to work, you will absolutely have to make simpler sculpts than ZBrush is capable of.

Having said that, I use it as part of my process. Once I get the base shape in a more traditional modelling program, I may take it into ZBrush for some touch-ups.

I also use Vista. Pixelogic's customer support is absolute crap, one of the worst companies I've ever had to deal with, but the forums are good. Took me over a week to get ZBrush running initially, but no problems at all now.

[EDIT] I purchased the downloadable version with the backup CD option, btw.

seems like alot to pay for a "refiner" program..I guess you use it to refine poly faces and such?

is it easy to export a uv map from that proggy say to wings?

~Lana Tomba

I use Zbrush for making sculpties from start to finish. I love it. It is true that you can create so much detail in Zbrush that you would never be able to get into SL. Still it works for me.

See my tutorial on how to do texture bakes in Zbrush at
http://www.throughlinedesign.com/ZbrushBakeTut/page1.html

Thanx..so you think its a good investment?..your stuff looks good.

~LanaTomba

what OP do you run?

I've not tried it yet, but I've been meaning to look into this:- http://www.archipelis.com/


ZBrush is good, but it's not so great for baking lighting and shadows.

I hear that AC3D is a relatively inexpensive program that has a decent sculpty convertor that can be used for converting ZBrush models. Other than AC3D the only other decent convertor for ZBrush models is the one that Qarl made for Maya.

There's also Wings3D's convertor, but it has limitations. It requires that you export a Wings sphere into Zbrush for sculpting. This means that you can't use ZBrush's own shapes like cubes and stuff.

The Wings convertor also insists that your model has a fixed number of faces. But this isn't necessarily a problem, depending on your workflow.

Thanks. For me it was a good investment. I have been working towards making a rl life living in SL and have invested a lot of time and hard work and study. When sculptie prims were first released I knew I wanted to make them and I researched modelling software. Blender gave me a headache. I just had a good feeling about ZBrush and bought it.

It was the right choice for me, but every situation is different.

I'm on the mac so I'm using Zbrush 2. Zbrush 3 for the mac has not been released.

I disagree.. this IMO is what Z brush is best at.. in fact many professional 3d artists use z brush for only this and do thier modelling elsewhere.

-w

Maybe you misunderstood me.

I think the typical workflow of a professional 3D artist that uses ZBrush is to make their model in 3D Studio or Maya then take their model into ZBrush for detailing and painting then finally back into their main application for rendering/baking.

Very few pros would attempt to bake their lighting in ZBrush because they'd be fired for being a spaz.

But I'm sure neither of us have statistics on this matter. So let's not bicker.

Also just posted this in the textures section but this thread is very relevant and it seems most
of the sculpties related texture issues wind up in here.

Very cool program

http://www.crazybump.com/


Get quick and easy maps for displacement, normals, specular and bump!

Sure.. i understand the final results will always have to be rendered in the main 3d app, this would be for a high poly movie or scene..

My experience with low poly modelling is that z brush is exceptional at creating some fake shadows and specular materials that are quite suitable for SL, as opposed to the proffesional workflow which most likely uses a combination of fake detail shadows and real scene shading - raytracing etc..

I just wanted to make sure the OP didn't think Z brush would suck for 'baking' static shadows etc..

-w

in either case..I messaged a guy in world whose work really impresses me..and wouldn't you know..he uses Blender of all things with an open source exporter for the maps...nothing more...so..that combined with an aussie friend willing to voice me for about a month while i fiddle with zbrush i believe will give me every oppurtunity and fair chance at learning.

I've had my eye on Zbrush for a few months now..and have heard great things about it..I've also heard that blender plus zbrush for different things and varying work flows works nicely as well.. I really appreciate you peebles opinions.

~Lana Tomba

cool.. sounds like you are on your way!

I use blender pretty much extensively (and also teach a class how to use it... *nudge nudge wink wink*)

I am always happy to have a chat inworld for anyone who wants to talk Blender..

-why

yes yes yes! Il'l message you but initially you'll find i have a different way of seeing and interpreting things..so please be patient. once I catch the learning curve wave i'm usually on my way though..very cool!!

~Lana Tomba

But I just wanted to make sure that the OP did think that ZBrush would suck for 'baking' static shadows etc.

I use Zbrush, but I'm begining to think I want a different program for texturing the sculpts. Zbrush seems to work alright, but I am itching for better results and I know it's possible...

OK I see where you are coming from.. the Projection master and lighting system at least for z Brush 2 are not exactly 'one click' and bake kinds of tools.

It depends on where you are coming from and what other software you have available. If I had Maya, Cinema 4d etc at my disposal as it appears some lucky folks here do I might have a different opinion.

For me Zbrush does some things in baking that Blender cannot do.. namely specularity and a very good level of detail using the rich materials toolset that is available. I am not saying it is easy to get a bake with the projection master working right.. but it is possible and, the results are worth it IMO.

-C

I Bought this program resently and I looking for to using z brush......Thank you for the help here..

Usagi

BTW anyone using CINEMA 4D Studio?

Not sure why you think Blender won't do specularity.. You'll need to light the sculptie and do a full bake but there's a wide range of specular shading styles possible with Blender.

Blender Underground have just done part 5 of their tutorial series, which just happens to cover setting up materials in Blender http://blenderunderground.com/2008/02/07/blender-basics-part-5-material-foundations/

Thanks Domino.. i will check this out.

This is something that I have had alot of difficulty with and have found workarounds using other apps like zbrush or PS to get some 'fake' specularity happening.

Do you know for sure that is works? IE I am quite familiar with materials lighting etc but when I bake with a full render it does not take in the specularity.. I have read documentation from Blender that also says the same. I may be missing something that could really help my workflow

-w

Heres a link to a post on Blender Artists I have found that is sort of a hack: http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=102416


Video was quite well done, liked the sections on color ramps..

-whyroc

Ooops.. No, just realised my specular highlights tend to come from using an AO pass with "Both" add and subtract.. So faking it too

Hey thats a good tip.. i will try the AO bake ty!

-whyroc

Zbrush cannot do texture baking in global illumination.

Zbrush is best at ... sculpting. It is what I use it for. But when it comes to advanced lightbaking... Zbrush cannot do it one shot to uvmaps.

Zbrush simply does not do irradiance caching (final gather) or ambient occlusion.

That being said, you can still get a really good result out of Zbrush. But you wont have irradiance caching or ambient occlusion. Doesn't exist. But nothing beats Zbrush for normal maps and displacement mapping, and I use that constantly in Zbrush.

When I went looking for a program that could do texture baking, and do it well, and do the 3d painting and occlusion baking that I also wanted - and not cost a small fortune (under 1k) ...

I fell to modo.

I still use zbrush, but just for sculpting

Thank you for the clarification Hypatia.. seriously. I admit I have only dabbled with Z brush but have managed to get some very good results with it but I have no idea of its limitations. I dont know if the effects i can acheive are limited due to AO or global lighting but I find it is an enjoyable program, especially the 2.5 d painting techniques can be rewarding

My comment was based on examples and comments I see on the Zbrush central website and in thier forums.. i guess they are biased maybe i dont understand thier workflow correctly.. I have looked for ways to get a certain shiny or wet look to my sculpties so have explored quite a few options ..and was able to acheive this in Zbrush with the projection master scripts..

On a side note, I would just like to thank you for your contributions to the Sl sculpty community... Your wikis and posts have helped me immensly

-whyroc

ok well dabblin with Zbrush the first couple of days I really like the ease to the sculpting itself..was able to save the object and import it(take the .obj file from my desktop and open it in Blender) to Blender and get a UV map(the pretty little rainbow colored map that i upload into second life.) for my model.

What suggestions does anyone have on a proggy for making the texture..adding light and shadows etc?

~Lana Tomba

Someone has informed me that what I thought was a uv map isnt one..and i actually exported nothing from ZBrush and imported nothing into Blender..and it was in fact a displacement map. Please exscuse me for slaughtering the terminology with my poor symantics...any suggestions on a program i can use to make a texture for my model?