Rosemary has Zbrush

[RosemaryDarling]

I've finally got a copy of zbrush, which I had been after since I first heard about it a couple of months ago. It's ZBrush 2, not the latest version, but I'm still happy. I had a little bit of experience with 3D during my animation degree(3DStudio Max) but didn't enjoy the modeling aspect, it was so stiff.

I'm playing around with ZBrush now, and I've hit a snag. Once I leave the EDIT mode, to use the simple brush and do my sculpting, I can't go back to change the angle at which I'm viewing the object, so I can sculpt from another side. Kinda frustrating.

Anyone know a bit about this program? Or know where I could find tutorials for this version?

Cheers,
:geekg:

[Akitsu]

Here's a thread that I think will help you with your problem. My only experience is tooling around with 3 though (and then only once), so I'm not an expert.

Thankfully, even if this isn't exactly what you need... I'm sure checking their forum will help you figure things out.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=15941

[zogthedoomed]

Rosemary,

As was pointed out zbrushcentral is THE best resource for zbrush. But theres loads of stuff there and its easy to get overwhelmed. For a starter check out Ryan Kingslien, he's a tutor and is very generous. You might also want to look at Intervain, Aurick, Skull_Monster, DarthWayne and cannedmushrooms.

If you need any pointers then PM me and I'll help as best I can. I'm probably only a few months ahead of you but I can find my way round zbrush.

Patrick

[bartdeco]

Rosemary, I don't know how far you've gotten with zbrush, here's some good places to look.

All for 3.x
Basic + free tutorials:
http://www.pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/
http://gnomonology.com/group/29

zogthedoomed has pointed you in the right direction by mentioning Ryan Kingslien and cannedmushrooms

Ryan Kingslien's Tutorials (both free and pay): Ryan does a great job of presenting and simplifying zbrush's (3.1) interface - he's done some of my personal favorites, especially his zsphere ones:
http://gnomonology.com/inst/11804

Cannedmushrooms (Jason Welsh):
http://www.youtube.com/user/cannedmushrooms

Also recommended + free:
nickz (Nick Zuccarello):
http://www.veoh.com/users/nickzucc
http://nickzucc.blogspot.com/

Meats Meiers also puts out an excellent series available (pay, but it's pretty good) at gnomonology:
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/mme01.html

I have ZB2 on my craptop (because it can't handle ZB3), but I haven't found much in the way of video tuts for it.

If you're using ZB2 because you're on a Mac, Version 3.12 is available for the Intel Mac (no PowerPC support in 3.12).

Otherwise, the upgrade to ZB3 is free - and highly recommended.

HTH,
bart

[DeadlyFreeze]

The simple answer is that your working a 2.5D canvas. Once you drop your tool(model) down to the canvas you can't 'pick it back up' by going back in to edit mode. You will have to re-draw your tool(model). So simply stay in edit mode as long as your actually editing on your model.

[RosemaryDarling]

I've finally got ZBrush 3 and am having a much better time with it. I made this a moment ago.
524224
524225
I should have used a few more zspheres for the eyes but not bad for a first attempt.

Thank you all for the tutorials, I've looked through a few already.

[RosemaryDarling]

Oh, I've got a question.

It seems far too easy to make ugly wrinkly things in zbrush, why is that? What if I wanted to make a fine-boned girl?

[Hybrid_75]

you just gotta do things with care if you want fine details. I personally don't use zspheres cause I allready know how to make a base mesh in maya and so it's just faster to do it that way for me. But you can definitly get fine stuff done even with zspheres I think. You really gotta make sure the base mesh has geometry in the places where you need it to be. More detail needs more goemetry. you'll get there I started zbrush at the start of the year, granted I have been doing 3d on and off for a few years, but I got up to speed pretty fast just off of the video tutes on their site.

[DeadlyFreeze]

If you step up your mesh and refine each sub-d level your going to have an easier time on a undefined mesh. The less geometry you deal with the more it will smooth out over higher subdivision levels.

[Majenkus]

Hi, I have just started in zbrush as well so it is nice to see someone else in the same boat. I bought the introduction DVDs from workshop and they were very good, but I think, if you can piece it all together, you can get pretty much the same thing for free at zbrush headquarters.

I'm sorry to butt in on your thread, but maybe the answer could help us both. Do the rest of you folks think it is better to start with a mesh created in Maya or 3ds Max rather than zspheres? Especially considering non-organics and even the fine boned female. The geometry created by the zspheres doesn't always seem flow as precisely as it should.

[Hybrid_75]

It depends on what you are familiar with, for me I know Maya so I start in maya and do most retopology in maya. I think you can acheive the same things with zspheres and even retopology with zspheres. So If you are famliar with a 3d package allready it's probably going to be easier to start there then import. You do have to be aware of some things like vertex order and some other settings depending on your 3d package if you go back and forth between zbrush and another app.