Making Time For Art #3 - "Clay Time"

[Mahlikus The Black]

Food for thought:

As mentioned previously in this forum...
~~~
...will be like drilling shapes or scooping out shapes using 3d volumes.

The following is my opinion as a user who has seen a decade of development...

Within is a global problem: - Want over need over callowness.

You may blame me for being bold but here in lies one's conundrum-

Gasoil has done a beautiful job of currently estimating what might be required by a creative artist as well as what might be sought by today's creative professional.

The beauty of Pixologic's image/design drive: To tackle both the artist's and professional's desires while maintaining the freedom of pure creativity.

Pixologic's job is to make creative expression free. Easy. NATURAL!
That being said, as of late (a decade in wait) Pixologic has fought to do their part to listen to both artist and professional.

They do what they do for creativity and the artists whom follow suit. They also happen to do what they do for the sake of industry, understanding the balance of flow and ease of CREATION.

The sooner you realize the positiveity that motivates creation, the better you will be...for YOURSELF. The rest is personal issue. Please realize that you are blaming software for your own inabilities.

I myself would then spend a large amount of time in figuring out what it is that draws me toward the negative aspect...then I realized...It was me at fault and not my creative environment.

Yeah people, its a huge step..but!..don't be proud...be enlightened.

It takes time, it takes thought, and above all, it takes positive thought.

Of course Z isn't developing by traditional 3D standards...but such a developmental drive requires hope, promise and the support & dreams of it's users!

Be open...be forward...and above all, be what you hope to be!..even if you find your creative home outside Z. That's okay. Just don't hate me or Pixo when you find Creativity lives here...It is what they do!
Hate us or not...we do it for you...

The Artist!


~MAH~

[fleabay]

I own 2 Wacoms.

Surprisingly, my mouse wheel zoom works in every other program that is designed to work with tablets. In ZBrush its just sits there and does nothing.

Lets all go to Mudbox forum and let them know that no one uses a mouse to sculpt and they should remove MMB zoom.

[gasoil]

@ Fleabay

Well if you need MMB zoom why not... i personally would have no use at all for that...im sure is not difficult at all to implement but at least to me and every single other guy i know they dont touch their mouse at all while in Zbrush
its a very specific and very personal request i guess :)

I am absolutely thrilled to know that Mudbox users have MMB zoom :lol:

[Mahlikus The Black]

I own 2 Wacoms.

Surprisingly, my mouse wheel zoom works in every other program that is designed to work with tablets. In ZBrush its just sits there and does nothing.

Lets all go to Mudbox forum and let them know that no one uses a mouse to sculpt and they should remove MMB zoom.


Shhhhhhh.....

[Mahlikus The Black]

use the +/- keys...

[Zeddicus]

I'm sure there are a lot of artists whom use a mouse. I did for a long time in the beginning. It took quite a while to get used to a tablet, and there are still things I prefer a mouse for. I too have thought it odd that the MMB doesn't do anything, considering it could be doing a lot more when combined with a keyboard.

- Draw size.
- Focal shift.
- Z intensity.
- RGB intensity.
- Brush modifier.
- Zoom.

It could also be an easy way to give finer control over sliders, of which Zbrush has many. Just hover over one and scroll. All these things would be faster and more efficient to use than current methods, and probably easy to implement. Just my two cents anyways.

[MealeaYing]

use the +/- keys...That just zooms the canvas right?
Actually the buttons for that are something I'm going to remove as I have never used them.

[Oli4D]

looks really awesome :)
HOWEVER, I'm not a fan of videos that are played so much faster.
They make the process look easier and less complicated than it maybe is in reality.
Everything looks very intuitive because you can't see how many things have to be clicked or selected to get the result...
So, sure, it's looking great, but only the final version of ZBrush 4R2 will show if this stuff is really as great and intuitive as the video wants us to believe.

[Mahlikus The Black]

looks really awesome :)
HOWEVER, I'm not a fan of videos that are played so much faster.
They make the process look easier and less complicated than it maybe is in reality.
Everything looks very intuitive because you can't see how many things have to be clicked or selected to get the result...
So, sure, it's looking great, but only the final version of ZBrush 4R2 will show if this stuff is really as great and intuitive as the video wants us to believe.

:lol: You're funny. It's not a magic trick. It's keyboard shortcuts.

[DObringer]

So it is Labor Day weekend here in the USA. Most of us have Monday off. I think you should save us from boredom with another sneek please.

[Mahlikus The Black]

I'm sure there are a lot of artists whom use a mouse. I did for a long time in the beginning. It took quite a while to get used to a tablet, and there are still things I prefer a mouse for. I too have thought it odd that the MMB doesn't do anything, considering it could be doing a lot more when combined with a keyboard.

- Draw size.
- Focal shift.
- Z intensity.
- RGB intensity.
- Brush modifier.
- Zoom.

It could also be an easy way to give finer control over sliders, of which Zbrush has many. Just hover over one and scroll. All these things would be faster and more efficient to use than current methods, and probably easy to implement. Just my two cents anyways.

Love this idea!

standard mouse wheel/pen click: Zoom.
with shift: Focal Shift
with ctrl: Draw size
with alt: Z Intensity

[Francis Bezooyen]

@Mahlikus The Black and Zeddicus:

Nice suggestions. I've also often thought it a waste to have nothing assigned to the middle mouse button.

You may be interested to know that I've added your idea to a list of suggestions I'm keeping in this thread: http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?p=886321#post886321

[p-snk]

woah! 'Clay Time' coool:D

[Mahlikus The Black]

@Mahlikus The Black and Zeddicus:

Nice suggestions. I've also often thought it a waste to have nothing assigned to the middle mouse button.

You may be interested to know that I've added your idea to a list of suggestions I'm keeping in this thread: http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?p=886321#post886321

:tu: :tu: :tu:

[tomaszlanski]

looove it

[nicko mcnicko]

I have a suggestion for ZBrush 4r2!!!
Why not have a front and side view running at the same time for sculpting?? I have found that if I had both views I could do sculptures of peoples portraits much faster if only I could see front and side at the same time.
Also, the claytime will be kind of cool to play with, like sculptris. But the one thing I didnt like about sculptris is the inability to go up and down in subdivisions to move larger masses of clay. This is a function of ZBrush that I love!

[nicko mcnicko]

Oh yes and also, the retopological function is anoying to use in the sense that the new retopo mesh on the backside of the sculpture interferes with the mesh on the front side of the sculpt. Shifting the transparency levels doesnt help the problem either. This function needs to be looked at a bit. Maybe retopo using paint functions rather than specific mesh verts.

[Oli4D]

:lol: You're funny. It's not a magic trick. It's keyboard shortcuts.sure ;), that's not the point.
I just wanted to point out that you don't get a feel for how complicated or not complicated a process is when it is played 20x faster.

[BUSNISMANPATRIOT]

I'm doing the same type of speed modeling for a long time ,using unify skin.
And i get 1 h of work on the full body character..but i gues that this will improve 5 min from my time laps (i hope the they will keep the unify skin to..)

[TheCelt]

I'd love to see a re-vamped draw/focal/intensity display. Since some of the Sculptris-ESQUE stuff (DynaMesh) is making it's way into zbrush, it would be nice to see that kind of simple all-in-one display. I know it's there using the spacebar (same as Sculptris), but the Sculptris one just feels much nicer to use.

Edited for clarity. ;)

[cherub_rock]

Correct me if I'm wrong by didn't a certain ZBC staff member point out that dynamesh has nothing to do with sculptris? Ok, I'm really here to say that this is awesome, hope it's as good to use as to watch :tu:

[Mahlikus The Black]

sure ;), that's not the point.
I just wanted to point out that you don't get a feel for how complicated or not complicated a process is when it is played 20x faster.
Guess I'm in a different perspective. I've played it frame by frame to the point of seeing it at normal speed. That and I've been modeling organically like that in Z since '02 so I know exactly what's going on. Rest assured, it's not complicated at all.

[MealeaYing]

Guess I'm in a different perspective. I've played it frame by frame to the point of seeing it at normal speed. That and I've been modeling organically like that in Z since '02 so I know exactly what's going on. Rest assured, it's not complicated at all.
GRIN!!!!!
That makes me rather happy!

[gnareffotsirk]

How do you guys think the topology of that thing in the video look like?

Is there an option to like paint to mark groups and create equal amount of polygons per group?

Say we have a plane, create two bumps, paint those bumps each with a number, then create a new mesh out from that with new topology based on the groups we just marked.

[cuffi]

Correct me if I'm wrong by didn't a certain ZBC staff member point out that dynamesh has nothing to do with sculptris? Ok, I'm really here to say that this is awesome, hope it's as good to use as to watch :tu:

sure it is NOT Sculptris BUT what else should DrPetter do at Pixo than things like Dynamesh? ;) I think Dynamesh goes far beyond what we expect by seeing this video. If you watch the previous sneek peek video #2 closely there is a auto UV-Creation going on while Dynamesh sculpting. I think this means there have to be an underlying auto retopo function. I saw a thread in sculptris forum where DrPetter talks about autoretopo:

Post by DrPetter (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=96408)

Now imagine what this algorithm can do in conjunction with Dynamesh... :tu:

I'm curious...

my 2 cents

[Artistic0ne]

So with this new release of ZBrush & Dynamesh does this make Sculptris obsolete??

[MealeaYing]

So with this new release of ZBrush & Dynamesh does this make Sculptris obsolete??No, Sculptris is a fantastic program in its own right, it is also something that leads rather naturally to Zbrush. Weather Pixologic and Dr. Peter keep developing it remains to be seen. In my opinion not doing so would diminish the chance that people like me who loved Sculptris would go and buy Zbrush.
I am reasonably sure that I am not the only person who has gotten Sculptris and needed more.
This is just a guess on my part but if I am wrong I would be rather surprised.
I think I referred to Sculptris as the ultimate gateway drug leading to Zbrush in this thread a while ago, and for me it is, I still use both.
Sculptris you can learn with no experience in about an hour, Zbrush is to put it simply, not.
Its funny that I have had Zbrush for eight months now and stil cannot do most of the things I can do in Sculptris in it, dynamesh looks like it might be the tipping point for that but I bet I still use Sculptris a lot because its fast, easy and most important to me FUN.

[dargelos]

I watched the video 100 times and I am pretty sure that Dynamesh doesnt work exactly like sculptris... and the difference is not only that it works with quads. I have the feeling that dynamesh creates a very regular topology with quads of the same size, I think that is really a great idea and very different aproach to free sculpting than sculptris

If dynamesh works like i think, its perfect for sketching the overall proportions, define the planes and shapes, then subdivide and make the details.. while in sculptris you can add the details from the begining..different ideas, both of them very cool, but i think dynamesh is going to be the best.

[gasoil]

Retopo:

i think there are some misconceptiosn about this...you can "retopo" as in create new topology to allow further deformations or you can "retopo" for a particular flow or for optimization purposes

Auto Retopo in the first context will be something like what remesh does: a retopology on the fly with evenly distributed quads....but this resullt doesnt gurantee neither a specific edgeflow nor an optimized density

optimized density=more polys were more curvature is needed and less where its flat or straight opposed to evenly spaced quads everywhere.

This is what explains the general misunderstanding about topology since a "good topology" will always be a compromise...a personal choice, a pipeline compromise and a technical limitation.

an evenly spaced mesh is less optimum in desnity than an uneven one...a mesh made of only quads is less optimized too...tehrefore if you want evenly spaced and all quads you will end up with much higher res meshes and if you rather have optimized meshes you will end up with, in its more extreme form, a triangulated mesh.You can actually witness this while using Decimation Master which using a curvature based algo is capable of representing a surface why identical detail using a very small fraction of the original mesh density

[TheCelt]

Here's a quick 3dtotal interview at Siggraph 2011 with some info:
http://www.3dtotal.com/siggraph_diaries/exhibitor_pixologic.html

Pixolator: Where's Making time for Art #4 ??? *hint hint* :)

[Mahlikus The Black]

Yeah yeah! *starts chanting* Time for Art 4! Time for Art 4! Time for Art 4! ;)

[bucanero32]

Please, give us more. Even if it is a mouse dot gliding through an empty canvas :D

[MealeaYing]

Mahlikus; I thought you were making Time for Art 4 and releasing it on the 21st.
Once again I have been misinformed...
Curses.
Mojo Jojo will be pissed.

[Teyon]

I just broke my Cintiq....talk about bad timing.

[MealeaYing]

I just broke my Cintiq....talk about bad timing.That is seriously horrible, Im very sorry to hear that....

[Teyon]

Yeah, I am sending out for repair. I'll probably miss all the fun of the R2 release. Enjoy it for me guys! I will live vicariously through you all.

[Mahlikus The Black]

Mahlikus; I thought you were making Time for Art 4 and releasing it on the 21st.
Once again I have been misinformed...
Curses.
Mojo Jojo will be pissed.

Ironically, you are not far from the truth....Kind of...

See, I just bought a new laptop.

Toshiba Satellite
:b1: Intel® Second Generation i7-2630QM processor 2.0GHz (2.90 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology)
:b1: 6MB Cache, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit, SP1
:b1: 8GB DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM (4096MBx2)
:b1: 500GB (7200 RPM); Hybrid 4G Serial ATA hard disk drive
:b1: 750GB 2nd HDD (5400rpm, Serial-ATA)
:b1: 17.3" diagonal HD Backlit TruBrite™ display
:b1: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M & Optimus Technology with 1GB GDDR3 memory
:b1: Blu-ray Disc RE with SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Double Layer drive
:b1: Glossy Black LED Backlit Tile keyboard
:b1: Lithium Ion Battery (12-cell)
:b1: Fusion® X2 Finish resists fingerprints and smudging.
:b1: Sleep & Charge!

:eek: :D :cool: :tu:

Should be here in time for Z4r2. Can't wait to see how Z plays in this new environment. I will be releasing some videos and other assets (Materials, Alphas, Brushes) shortly there after. All new, fresh goodies for Z4r2 and this community!


Cheers,

~MAH~

PS - This is my doing and in no way connected with Pixologic and Ofer and their/his Sneak peeks. It's just something I do. I love this software and company. An unauthorized proxy if you will.... :lol:

PPS - Mojo owes me twenty bucks...he can wait! ;)

[idlemind]

that was the BLADE!
It was all amazing but still I remember the part where I actually had the biggest grin was where he slashed the mesh into a bust dragged the lower torso away and deleted it. that and then where he dragged out the mouth and ears were cut adjusted and then merged like butter. I will be honest with you My creative output in zbrush has slowed down way down last few weeks and my friends and family are all concerned and it is because I am building up a creative reserve for when this revision releases. I swear I am setting aside serious time to learn all the new tricks. WE LOVE PIXOLOGIC thanks for making this free this time us hobbyists really really appreciate your efforts.
:tu:

[michalis]

optimized density=more polys were more curvature is needed and less where its flat or straight opposed to evenly spaced quads everywhere.

Agreed gasoil.
There's a problem though, a zb particular issue. It uses vertex painting system not a direct texture painting. This method prefers evenly subdivided meshes -tris and/or quads. Was never a good friend of optimized density. You can't decently paint on very sharp tris or stretched quads.
A trap LOL.

So, it's more complicated now. A request for better retopology tools, another one for direct painting on maps. (3dcoat, even sculptris, blender MB and other decent expensive massive packages-apps)
BTW the old projection master is broken in zb4, have you tried it?

[MealeaYing]

T Minus Nine Days And Counting.

I wonder if Mahlikus would loan me that nifty new computer..... gee that would sure be spiffy.

GRIN!!!!

[Mahlikus The Black]

It uses vertex painting system not a direct texture painting.

Not true. Z makes texture too.


T Minus Nine Days And Counting.

I wonder if Mahlikus would loan me that nifty new computer..... gee that would sure be spiffy.

GRIN!!!!


She's tasty! Should be here Friday! It's almost as exciting as the new Z!

[michalis]

Not true. Z makes texture too.
I can't see how, except of baking in UV maps or using projection master for direct painting. (but as I already mentioned, the last one is broken)

[Mahlikus The Black]

I can't see how, except of baking in UV maps or using projection master for direct painting. (but as I already mentioned, the last one is broken)

My apologies.
Ran some tests and found some things broken (not the way they used to work).
That or I am remembering the process wrong.

Not sure whats going on but we only have 9 days left before we work with the new version so c'est la vie.

[gasoil]

@Michalis

I agree that retopo and "direct" Uv painting will be nice or fix what is broken...so i definetely second that.

This said just keep in mind that it is prefectly possible to vertexpaint tris (as seen in Sculptris for isntance)
Also this is not so important but keep in mind that painting on UV is actually "indircet" painting as pixel painting between UV coord implies a interpolation...also painting on UVS is Indirect because u cant paint on later displaced shapes causing smearing ...also when painting on a "low poly" cage this can cause subdivison strteching as well...as incomplete or not so production friendly as vertex painting might appear vertex painting relies exclusively on what exists allowing you things like dry brush techniques since What you see is what you get and not a on rendering displacemnet effect.

When you paint on vertex you are painting on the limit surface no cheating, no guessing and no compromise
As you might be aware UV coords is already a half assed attempt to establish a relationship between a 3d volume and some 2d Map...
Again teh way i see things is...we can have retopo and UV painting and have what other softs have...or we can have what NO ONE else has...teh uniqueness of Zbrush approach is what makes it so powerful...and also keep in mind that sooner or later you will ahve to jump to another soft (for rendering, rigging or even for texture painting)
Bottom line is that vertex painting is truely amazing and without compromise and i would imagine rather the competition demanding to have a vertex painting option since there are hundreds or apps out there form free to expensive that do UV painting etc...

Again im more than happy to see Pixo improving this but i am quite happy that yet again they deliver never seen before techinques and paradigms rather than just another flavor of the same thing

[holyenigma74]

If you had Ptex you wouldn't have those problems that uv's have with stretching and smearing..

it seems that Ptex would be easy enough to implement since zbrush uses quads..

[Mahlikus The Black]

What about this? (http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/UV_Mapping)

[gasoil]

Im not sure Ptex allows dry brush techniques as in color being aware of deformation but what i am sure is that Ptex does not tolerate any changes to the topology after you have painted the Ptex files wich on teh other hand destroys all chance of editng or updating your mesh after the fact so not really ideal at the concept phase at all...
In practical terms you cannot add resolution in teh mesh or add a limb or any other detail in your mesh after Ptex while using vertex paint you can sculpt and paint at any stage without worrying of breaking anything also notice that Ptex only allows 3d painting with proprietary tools and you wont be able to bake to UVS for further Photoshop editing (so u need a full 3d painting and editing solution to use it as well)

in real life situation in Zbrush u can start sculpting then painting then sculpt some more...u can chaneg the topology totally (remesh or Dynamesh or Goz) and the vertex paint will still be there (with the eventual touch up in teh areas of new topo) then u can create a new new topology and reproject the painting back into thsi one too at any level or any density and any flow...u can also redo your uvs at any point and if you dont have enough painting/editing tools u can bake to UVS and paint in photoshop and back again and reproject and it still will be there...Also notice taht you can locally subdivide (and tehrefore have more vertices to paint on( locally wich will be teh equivalent of selecting faces in Ptex and upresing locally...

Using Ptex forces you to absoultely lock your topology so it is definetely a final production model tool (and very final)

This said Ptex is an awesome tool while dealing with productionpipeline i.e Maya/Renderman in wich case yes we rather have it than not...what id like to see is more Texture artists being able to use vertex painting as it has a nice potential

[Zeddicus]

Polypainting isn't perfect either, and I can think of several limitations it suffers from off the top of my head. For what it's worth, PUV/GUV/AUV Tiles in Zbrush aren't the same as ptex at all. As far as I know, Mudbox has no trouble dealing with subdivision changes after the mesh has been painted (ptex was designed with this in mind). Don't know about major mesh changes though. Whatever the case, I strongly suspect we'll see ptex support in all of the major 3d apps long before we'll see any of them supporting Zbrush's polypainting, if ever. Oh, and dry brushing isn't a limitation of ptex, but rather the paint engine being used (if I understood correctly).

Don't get me wrong. The system of painting in Zbrush, even though it's still not quite perfect yet, is quite good and a step in the right direction. If you're the type of user who has no plans for rendering/animating in a third party app or game engine, then the current implementation of polypainting is probably all you'll ever need. Working outside Zbrush requires more adaptability though. Ptex, UV's, polypainting... they all have limitations and it is up to the artist to decided from the start which method will best suit their project. That said, I don't think it would hurt Pixologic to implement one more. It keeps Zbrush competitive in a market that is clearly getting harder to dominate in.

[gasoil]

Hi zeddicus

I totally agree that better have Ptex than not for sure!!
Never said PUV or any uv tiling in zbrush is like Ptex don't know where u got that :)
Ptex won't break with subdiv levels (x4) catmull iterations but will break if arbitrary topology is added like dynamesh or shadowbox (remesh) or more everydays situation like let's say your favorite rigger decided to change the flow of something last minute in which case u can start your painting again
Again having Ptex will be great but all this fantastic mesh creation engine that
Zbrush is is mainly focus on concept and free sculpting which requires on the fly solutions like vertex painting until someone comes with another solution
Basically at this point is kinda paradoxal ... You can't ask zbrush to break new ground with tri dynamic tessellation or dynamesh in one hand and then ask why is not playing nice with outdated tools (not talking about Ptex here)
Also keep in mind that many meshes contain for the sake of simplicity and optim the occasional tri yet not sure Ptex will like that
Last but not least remember that the game industry which is today probably the biggest client for a sculpting soft has little if no use at all for Ptex as it currently exists (game engines)
The only reason I think we should get Ptex is deffo for the sake of having another option for those who would need it nothing wrong with that....keep in mind that we will need an entire dedicated pixel painting core with it too which is not a small request.

[Mahlikus The Black]

One more week! This is a weird form of torture! :p

[Trist]

I know! this will be the longest week so far this year for me. :lol:

[Mahlikus The Black]

Oh, happy day! I just scored an Intuos4 small for $140! That and the new laptop will be here the 19th! Thank you Univrse! You kick ass! Look out Z, Big Papa's coming to play hard! :D Longest...wait....ever!

[Zeddicus]

Never said PUV or any uv tiling in zbrush is like Ptex don't know where u got that...the game industry which is today probably the biggest client for a sculpting soft has little if no use at all for Ptex as it currently exists (game engines)You misunderstood me in a few places, and not all of my comments were directed specifically at you.

Mahlikus posted a link to the UV mapping page of the Zbrush wiki which talks primarily about textures and UV tiles. A lot of folks don't fully understand what PTex is, so it often gets confused with the tiling in Zbrush which isn't really the same. With Ptex, each polygon gets its own texture map, of which each can have its own resolution that can be changed at any time. All the resulting texture maps are stored in a single .ptx file. PTex also does some nifty filtering which prevents seams from becoming visible. The way Zbrush does tiling is to break each polygon into a rectangular shaped traditional UV, with all of the individual UV rectangles fitting on one single texture. It is possible to run out of resolution this way, and it doesn't render very well outside of Zbrush (especially displacements).

Regarding game engines, I was talking about the needs of artists who work outside of Zbrush versus those who don't. I know that PTex isn't really suited for real-time rendering, at least until graphics technology improves. Zbrush is being used in 3D workflows everywhere these days (cinema & television, video game assets, printing, etc), and not just as a simple illustration tool. This is why we've seen so many export-centric additions since ZB 2.0. As I said before, if you're not straying outside of Zbrush, polypainting is all you should ever need. For those who use it as part of a larger workflow, UV's are an important aspect regardless of type, outdated or not. The idea behind PTex is to do away with traditional UV's and all their inherit problems. And yes, it works with non-quad geometry too (with subdivision).

Polypainting is basically vertex painting, is it not? Zbrush is already doing some behind the scenes calculations/tracking to make sure all that paint stays where it's meant to, which is especially important when making mesh modifications. The same thing can be done for Ptex as well. The only limitation is the amount of coding work the developer is willing to do. There is really no reason why an artist cannot make major modifications without screwing up their various paint layers when using Ptex (normal, specularity, diffuse, reflection, and so on). At least that is the impression I got from what I've read thus far. I have no idea how big of an undertaking this would be for Pixologic, but the competition doesn't seem to be having too much difficulty. PTex, which is open source, is still under development as far as I can tell, meaning it should continue to improve as time passes.

This page (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=6650963&postcount=97) has some interesting information posted by someone at Pixar. I should point out that the "can't paint them flat" comment they made isn't 100% accurate. I recently watched a video (http://area.autodesk.com/siggraph2011/demos/datasets?KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=650&width=650) showing Mudbox passing Ptex texturing off to Photoshop and then back again, very similar to what ZAppLink does. Not technically flat, but close enough and better than nothing. You can find more interesting info on this page (http://arstechnica.com/software/news/2010/07/ptex-3d-texturing-becomes-a-reality-at-siggraph.ars) as well, which talks a little bit about its goal and capabilities. Finally, there is this site (http://groups.google.com/group/ptex) where you can talk with Disney employee Brent Burley, the developer of Ptex. Some of the other comments (mostly by other developers) are worth a read too.

In all honesty, polypainting and Ptex are two sides of the same coin. Whereas polypainting works best with high poly meshes, Ptex works best with low to mid density meshes (though from what I've read, million poly meshes might be workable too). As I said before, we'll see Ptex support in all the major 3D apps long before we see something akin to the polypainting Zbrush does. When it becomes feasible to animate and render multiple million poly meshes in programs like Maya and 3ds Max, then we'll probably see vertex painting take off. For now it is only useful to Zbrush. Unless you're baking textures of course, in which case mapping of some sort will still be required, bringing us back to square one. Semi-automatic unwrapping algorithms (i.e. UV Master et al) are great, but all are still far from perfect. PTex solves all of that very simply, plus it truly is a huge time saver. Endless hours of tweaking UV's can now be spent creating art and producing assets. Who won't be grateful for that? ;)

[gnareffotsirk]

Got that right man. I'm losing sleep actually.

[Deo85]

OK wait what is the difference from D-Mesh and just taking a sphere and creating a sculpt off of that? All I see you doing is simply taking a pre generated primitive like a sphere and using the clay brush...

Easily my most favorite brush for roughing out shapes btw I <3 play brush!

So how is this new?

[Zeddicus]

Besides an attempt to make it feel even more like real clay, the primary benefit will be the prevention of stretched polygons while sculpting, also known as running out of polys. I'm sure all of us have run into that at one time or another. We won't really know if dynamesh is the same as any other ztool, or if it's in a class all by itself, until we can get our hands on it come Tuesday. I suspect it is the same, and all pressing the dynamesh button does is turn on dynamic retopology, the price of which being an ever increasing polycount as you sculpt much like Sculptris. That is probably why we see the cut tool used in this video; to get rid of the excess polygons that have built up during the sculpting process.

[Deo85]

I agree and have been there many a times while sculpting in my free time. You want to add that one row of rivets and some tears near them but find "Hey I need to subdivinde yet AGAIN hope I have not hit my cap yet..."

You hit Divide... Zbrush stuters... and Down goes your project file and ac rash report to just rub it in your face. :mad:

Yep been there felt that hate it and why I try and keep a eye constantly on my mesh count before I hit my divide button. It looks like a tone of fun and I am looking forward to using it but I am a bit tiered of having 30 tools to scan though and only using maybe 5 of them 90% of the time then maybe only the other in spot moments...

It would be nice if you could customize the tools that are brushes as a drag drop onto the interface so you can swap between them quickly with out having to populate a giant menu.

[dobbie]

the amount of artistic freedom this provides is just insane. pixologic is gonna have a hard time topping this ;-)