Using Z Brush to learn lighting?

[nicehighs]

So at the moment I'm getting better at drawing but my rendering as far as environments go is pretty crappy and it's frustrating. What are your thoughts on using zbrush to learn lighting on various shapes and what not?

[m@.]

Well personally I know I learned a lot about lighting, shading, materials by doing lighting and rendering in 3d. 3d is like a little virtual laboratory where you can test stuff and see how it looks :) Im not sure if Zbrush is the best for that though, I think it's better to use more realistic render solutions for that with global illumination, radiosity, etc, and more control on the shaders (like mental ray, vray, maxwell, etc..).
But anyway, its always good to try different things.. all those disciplines just reinforce each other :)

[Derek the Usurper]

Just don't use matcap shaders and you'll be fine. Matcap is lit based on shape rather than position relative to the light source. Use and edit the old default grey shader from zbrush 2.0 to different levels of matte and specular surfaces and position the light how you want it.

I personally think zbrush is ridiculously easier than messing with mental ray. If you need the higher end things that mental ray provides like caustics and whatnot, you can save time by just drawing from life.

[nicehighs]

THANKS! has helped me a lot. I really appreciate it. mental ray, vray, maxwell, etc.. ok, but which one is the best one? Will I only need one of these?