New Training DVD

[aurick]

ZBCImage.jpg (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/aal01.html)

Alex Alvarez, founder of the Gnomon Workshop, has published a ZBrush training DVD called "Head Sculpting and Texturing: ZBrush Techniques with Alex Alvarez (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/aal01.html)". This represents a fine addition to the growing ZBrush library at Gnomon, along with Meats Meier and Zack Petroc's DVD's.

For those who are looking for video training in ZBrush, the Gnomon courses are worth checking out!

[abxy]

awesome! i'm so buying this as soon as i get home.

[acmepixel]

Just bought Meats' Gnomon DVD. Happy birthday to me :D

didn't get the Alvarez (2 hours longer, $20 more) because it includes a lot of Maya stuff. Don't like Maya, (C4D man myself).

Anyone who buys the Alvarez DVD mind sharing what they think about the Maya parts? Especially those who do NOT use Maya. I'd like to know if the Maya stuff fully translates to C4D. I realize Gnomon is a Maya centric shop. But a good instructor should keep external apps as "agnostic" as possible. So I'm hesitant to buy it until I can get some positive feedback from those who get the DVD and don't use Maya.

Would really appreciate it.

I, in turn, would be happy to share my experience with the Meats DVD, once I've gone thru it.

[abxy]

ordered. can't wait to get it next week! :D

[ZB_Artist]

I am with acmepixel. I don't do Maya.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
I like the gnomon workshop training courses. The are very good.

However, I don't get the pricing structure.
The Zack Petroc DVD has 2 1/2 hours of lecture and its $69.00, just like the 4 or 6 hours ones.

This is the first one that cost more or $89.00.
So, I don't think it has to do with the amount of hours on the DVD's.

I wonder why $89.00 on this one?

[Ctrl-Z]

Have you read through the description? The track listing?

The model is created entirely in ZBrush. Starts with ZSpheres, gets refined, UV mapped, high poly details applied in Projection Master, and three different maps (bump, specularity, color) are painted. All in ZBrush. The file is exported with displacement maps.

That's all of disc one, and most of disc 2.
22 of the 24 chapters represented.
92% of the content, or roughly seven hours and 20 minutes are all ZBrush.

So, what's left?

Well, the textures get refined in Photoshop. That's an outside application, but you're probably running it.

And then in the last chapter, the model is imported and a material created, adding the various maps you've created to their respective nodes in the material editor. Lights are placed, and the render button hit.

Does this last chapter translate? Probably not.

But, whatever your 3D application, it has a material editor, and bitmaps can be assigned to it's various slots. So, let me break down the possibilities: Either know how to do that already, you have a manual nearby which describes the process in depth, or you're running pirated software and have a special place in hell awaiting you.

You will have to figure out how to apply a displacement map in your application of choice. But, hey. It's not like we've got a hundred threads discussing that very topic here.
(oh, wait. it's exactly like that...)

Meanwhile, you've got a great artist showing you every step he went through to create a better image than you've ever made, and you're quibbling over maybe a half hour of content you should be able to figure out without even watching.

If you can't afford it, have a personal grudge against Alex, or don't like his work, I can respect that. But this Maya excuse is just nonsense.

Doesn't bother me none, though. I've ordered my copy, and I'll have all that training when we're competing for jobs. If you don't, it just makes my life easier.

Regarding the price:
It costs what it costs. We don't need to know why. Either it's worth this amount to you, or it isn't. If you'd rather buy something else with those dollars, do so and move on. Or buy it and move on. Or save your money and buy nothing -- that's fine. Just, get past this.

[anguyen]

haha yah

i dunno why it is priced at $89, must be a lot of information covered, but imma view it for sure

im not skeptical about the quality of the dvd, cause most of you havent been able to sit in one of alex's class....this guy is a talking horse (not to mean it in a bad way) classes at gnomon are 3 hours long, usually about 2hrs lecture and the rest breaks and checking on student work....but alex's classes are 3+ hrs lectures just straight up him talking...and its not just stories and nonsense....everything he says is related to the subject, not just technical but artistic information ...and its amazing because he never back tracks, hes got to be one of the most articulate person on this earth!


anh

[Mahlikus The Black]

I am getting a bit frustrated with Gnomon.
Its been 11 days sinced the order my wife and I placed and aside from automated emails, nothing yet. I really would like to get my hands on this new DVD but this current order isn't going so well. Has anyone else had problems with with their order?

[A.Alvarez]

I agree that is unacceptable and I will have a talk with our customer service person tomorrow. What was your order number? Orders should be shipped the following business day.

you can email directly if you like: alex@gnomon3d.com

-Alex

[Mahlikus The Black]

The man himself, awesome.
Bravo on the DVD man. The screnes look impressive. I have been hoping/waiting for a dvd with advanced techniques. That Deco scale alpha is out right brilliant. Just that screenshot alone taught me something! Bravo there too. Also, I really appreciate you looking into that order. I can't thank you enough to finally get some assistance with this.
If you require further info from me just drop me a line.

:tu:

[A.Alvarez]

No worries... glad to hear your enthusiasm! :)
We decided that including a lot of screen grabs made sense, due to the length of the lecture. Can't really summarize eight hours with six screenshots... :)

-Alex

[simps]

I'm looking to learn Zbrush quickly. I'm experienced with Maya and Max. I'm looking to get either the pipeline dvd with Meats, or this one with Alex. I just
don't know which one is better for me. I don't care about the price difference. I could get both but do I really need two dvd's of Zbrush? That's probably overkill.
Is there a big difference in these two products?

[A.Alvarez]

Hello..

Well, Meats' DVD focuses on a broader range of pipeline issues as he deals with a full character going from Zbrush to Maya. My DVD gets much more detailed on a specific topic: working on a head... the DVDs do compliment each other, so you will learn unique and useful techniques watching either, or both, DVDs.

-Alex

[Ctrl-Z]

If you can afford both, they are both worth watching. I don't think it's overkill at all. Different artists approach the creative process from different angles; they tackle challenges in their own way.

If all you're looking for is a Maya-to-ZBrush-and-back workflow, the pipeline one does focus more on the technical challenges therein, and spends more time explaining every option. It's also cheaper.

Once you're an expert in transfering models back and forth, I think the head sculpting one is going to have more lasting value -- it's more focused on the sculpting process; the creative decisions and how you might go about implimenting them.

If you weren't a Maya user, I'd know which to recommend. As it stands, I can only say that no, buying both wouldn't be overkill.

[abxy]

I just got the head sculpting one last night. It's almost 9 hours long, so I definately couldn't watch it all. Once i'm done watching in its entirety, i'll try to post a thorough comment about it. So far, it's pretty good.

[sketchMesh]

How well do these DVDs approch the issues of animating a chacacter that has been given a displacement map from Zbrush? The human anatomy DVD seems to address this but the the Pipeline DVD also seems to address this with normal mapping.

Any advice is much appreciated!!!

Kevin

[ZB_Artist]

I agree with Ctrl-Z's comments. That's exactly what I would have said.
Cheers!

[abxy]

Hey Alex,

i've been watching the dvd the last few days, it'll probably be a few more before I get done with it, it's been pretty helpful for me thus far. As i've said before (I think), i'll write up a little detailed post about the lecture when i'm done watching it.

In the meantime, i've heard a few rumors swirling about that gnomon will be doing a dvd focused entirely on zspheres which will also cover the new zspheres in the upcoming release. Does that rumor hold any weight?

[acmepixel]

--In the meantime, i've heard a few rumors swirling about that gnomon will be doing a dvd focused entirely on zspheres which will also cover the new zspheres in the upcoming release. Does that rumor hold any weight?

Well, I would imagine that they are working on something like that since the Alvarez and Petroc Dvd's will be obsolete when the new update ships. For the Meats Meier dvd, they only need to make an addendum. :)

[ZB_Artist]

Howdy Alex!

It would be nice to have a training DVD that focuses on stuff like "techniques in ZBrush" for creating:
-Hair (Head and Facial)
-Clothing
-Hats
-Props, etc.

Creating and putting it all together on a figure.

Do you folks have something like this in mind?

Cheers!

[kurokawa]

Regarding the price:
It costs what it costs. We don't need to know why. Either it's worth this amount to you, or it isn't. If you'd rather buy something else with those dollars, do so and move on. Or buy it and move on. Or save your money and buy nothing -- that's fine. Just, get past this.
Perhaps it has to do with how new it is?

[Nightwolf10]

I have a question either to Mr. Alex or to anyone who has watched the dvd.

My question is not the price anymore, i am more interested in the head modeling itself. Does the model follows the correct topology of a human head? Meaning the facial edge loops that are needed for animation. Mr Alex has the organic dvds which points out the importance of having a good model that has good topology. So i am wondering if that is also true on the Zbrush model that he had built and textured in this dvd?

I asked because most of the zscripts i watched here at zcentral does not follow anything in that order. They have no topology, just strictly sculpting a head from a zsphere or cube. I am more interested in Zbrush where i could model my characters ready for animation. Even if it will never end up being animated, i do want good topology in my models because if i send my demo reel somewhere i dont want my wire frames to look like they are unusable and not built at all with good topology.

Thats all i am really interested in..

Thanks ahead and hope to hear from you soon.

[Nightwolf10]

Nobody seems to want to answer my questions regarding to Alex's new DVD??

Anyone???

[Ctrl-Z]

It would seem that way. ;)

[pixelsoul]

Hmm well im no expert in animation or Z-Brush.. but I have the dvd and watched it, and it does seem to be the way you want, since for every part he uses a zsphere eyes / mouth etc and when he imports it at low res he says it can be animated.


I have a question either to Mr. Alex or to anyone who has watched the dvd.

My question is not the price anymore, i am more interested in the head modeling itself. Does the model follows the correct topology of a human head? Meaning the facial edge loops that are needed for animation. Mr Alex has the organic dvds which points out the importance of having a good model that has good topology. So i am wondering if that is also true on the Zbrush model that he had built and textured in this dvd?

I asked because most of the zscripts i watched here at zcentral does not follow anything in that order. They have no topology, just strictly sculpting a head from a zsphere or cube. I am more interested in Zbrush where i could model my characters ready for animation. Even if it will never end up being animated, i do want good topology in my models because if i send my demo reel somewhere i dont want my wire frames to look like they are unusable and not built at all with good topology.

Thats all i am really interested in..

Thanks ahead and hope to hear from you soon.

[Nightwolf10]

I appreciate your input. I have a question. Could you put a screen shot with a wire frame just showing me the topology please... But dont show me the millions of polygons because that does not help me at all lol...Just the base mesh with the topology ready to be devided for hi-res modeling. The last step he did before he started really detailing. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks ahead...

[pixelsoul]

Sure he uses 2 layers in Maya a high res one for adding Eyes and Teeth, and a Low res for riging and rendering:

http://mech7.net/tmp/gnomon/1.jpg
http://mech7.net/tmp/gnomon/2.jpg


I appreciate your input. I have a question. Could you put a screen shot with a wire frame just showing me the topology please... But dont show me the millions of polygons because that does not help me at all lol...Just the base mesh with the topology ready to be devided for hi-res modeling. The last step he did before he started really detailing. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks ahead...

[chadtheartist]

Well, I would imagine that they are working on something like that since the Alvarez and Petroc Dvd's will be obsolete when the new update ships. For the Meats Meier dvd, they only need to make an addendum. :)

So the new update to the zsphere's are going to automatically sculpt detailed human anatomy and paint color, bump and spec maps? I don't think that's Pixologic's goal for the new update.

I would think a simple addendum would work fine for Zack's DVD, but only if Pixologic makes a shrink-wrap type function for the new zsphere's. If not, don't expect the topology-zsphere's to replace Zack's method completely.

As far as Alex's DVD's, none of the released information of the new update is even remotely indicative that it will replace detailed sculpting and painting. Although I guess a section could be added showing how you will be able to make a better animatable mesh with the new Zsphere's. But it won't replace the other 90% of what's on the discs.

[Nightwolf10]

Hi

Thank you for the images. After seeing the images i really don't like the outcome of the model. The low res has some "nose problems" lol..i really dont like that spherical tip of the nose, and the hi-res definately does not look finished to me either. Looks blobby and not smooth at all. I wanted to see a something in the quality of "grey hulk" which you can find here on this site or zack patrocs DVD.This $90 dollar DVD to me It looks like a beginners work to me. I get to see much, much better work here from some of the guys than Alex's $90 dollar dvd. Sorry Alex, nothing against you, but i think that's one of your lowest quality models you have created. Never the less of course i will be buying DVDs from your site, but i'll pass on this one.

:)

[chadtheartist]

I got the DVD Thursday of last week and have learned quite a lot from it. Since you already have Zack's DVD you should know topology isn't an issue. But if you don't think you can learn from it, then I guess thats that. I wouldn't buy something I didn't feel comfortable buying either.

But I would like to say that the model that was labeled as hi-res above is not the hi-res. The true hi-res model on the DVD goes over 2 million polygons, and shows some rather interesting ways on manipulating them.

As far as comparing Alexs' work to the grey hulk model, both of which I think are great by the way, I think you really misinterpreted something. Alex goes into some incredible detail with his DVD. A lot more than is in the grey hulk model.

[Nightwolf10]

thanks for the info i appreciate it. Yeah i have zack's dvd and he is a great zbrush user, i learned a lot from him, i also have meats meiers production pipeline dvd. Boy he goes into detail. He teaches you everything too..so i dont think i would miss much from Alex's dvd.

Also downloaded the free zbrush video tutorial from Glen Southern. He models a head completely in Zbrush with topology. If you want to see it please go to the
www.kurvstudios.com (http://www.kurvstudios.com). Click on the free tutorial section and click on zbrush 2 tutorials. Glen really works the topology and its great. He does the eyes, mouth, nose, nicely. He also has Silo 1.4 character modeling tutorials there..u should check it out if you ever want to learn that program its great for building base mesh for zbrush. Topology brush is great too if you want to use it on zbrush models to fix topology.

Anyways thanks for the info...

[chadtheartist]

I have used Silo for awhile now, so I'm very familiar with the topology brush. The first model I did using it ended up in Nevercenter's Gallery!

I haven't bought Meats DVD's yet. I'm definitely going to, but for me I am focusing on one thing right now, and that's modeling, so once I get my modeling reel done I will start learning the other parts of Zbrush, like texturing, morph targets, etc... I'm positive Meats DVD are awesome!

[Nightwolf10]

"I am focusing on one thing right now, and that's modeling"

Hi. That is exactly what im doing also. I am also getting ready to do a modeling reel. That is why i asked all these questions about the DVD. I want to do good models with good topology. I dont want a reel with bad topology and bad models under the surface which you might not be able to animate. If i want a job i better have those right because the animation department would definately fire me.

Thanks for the info...can u tell me which silo image is on the silo site?
thanks..

[pixelsoul]

You mean the Mesh i presume since the rendered version with the displacements maps looks pretty cool ;) where is that grey hulk btw ? :)


Hi

Thank you for the images. After seeing the images i really don't like the outcome of the model. The low res has some "nose problems" lol..i really dont like that spherical tip of the nose, and the hi-res definately does not look finished to me either. Looks blobby and not smooth at all. I wanted to see a something in the quality of "grey hulk" which you can find here on this site or zack patrocs DVD.This $90 dollar DVD to me It looks like a beginners work to me. I get to see much, much better work here from some of the guys than Alex's $90 dollar dvd. Sorry Alex, nothing against you, but i think that's one of your lowest quality models you have created. Never the less of course i will be buying DVDs from your site, but i'll pass on this one.

:)

[Nightwolf10]

hey bud...grey haulk is is...

Click this link http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=025900

[chadtheartist]

Thanks for the info...can u tell me which silo image is on the silo site?
thanks..

It's on page 6. The Forest Djinn.

http://nevercenter.com/gallery/index.php?currentpage=6

[Nightwolf10]

That is very nice. I assume the branches and leaves on him are made in zbrush. Did you use the topology brush on the whole character? or just the head...

Where did you finished the rest of the model, arms, body?

[chadtheartist]

I created a sketching model in Silo, detailed the body in Zbrush, then redid the entire body with the topology brush, so it's all one piece. The vines and leaves where done in Silo, but I am now reworking the leaves in Maya using Paint FX. It looks more natural now.

I now work directly from zsphere's. They're pretty versatile once you figure out what you need them to do.

[Nightwolf10]

redid the entire body with the topology brush, so it's all one piece.


how long did it take u to do the whole body with topo brush in silo???

also can u share the settings of your topo brush? i seem to have some trouble with it. it does not come out clean for me. Can u post a screen shot please that would be really helpful...

thanks ahead...u are a wonderful artist. great modeler.

[metalusion]

just bought the alvarez and the meats intro dvd's:D i'm not very technically savvy so i need all the help i can get.
i'm totally new to zbrush with no 3d training whatsoever and really am not looking into getting into working as a 3d artist. i was just so blown away by the zbrush demo and it's abilty to be a 2d and/or 2.5d tool that i just had to try it. i'm also a sucker for findind new tools and this looks like a great one. my background is in 2d animation,design,storyboards. i'm hoping zbrush will be a good visualization/design tool. if down the line, i can learn to make proper 3d models that animate then that's cool too, for now just using zbrush for concept sketches is what i'm shooting for. any other recommendations for training tutorials, etc would be greatly appreciated.

somebody mentioned that alvarez is a good "talker" and that's what sold me. i need an instructor that will get my mind wrapped around the tools, interface, etc. hope i made a good decision. will report backwhen i've had some time with it.

[Nightwolf10]

somebody mentioned that alvarez is a good "talker" and that's what sold me. i need an instructor that will get my mind wrapped around the tools, interface, etc. hope i made a good decision. will report backwhen i've had some time with it.[/QUOTE]

Yes Alex is a great instructor. If you are a beginner than you will love his way of teaching because you will not get lost at all. You made a good choice...
cheers