Deeppaint,BodyPaint or Zbrush

[batzilla]

I use Lightwave and am looking for a program to paint my models.I know that Zbrush has Texturemaster but how does it compare to the other programs out there?Zbrush is impressive but its gotta work with Lightwave in order for me to be able to use it.
Thanks for any info!
Dave

[LWTB]

i have to say that Zbrush is very very awesome and compatible. You can export textures and tools in many formats to suit other programs. Im not familiar with Lightwave so i really dont know that much. You will get most of your answers from the gurus here.

[aurick]

ZBrush will work with any program that is capable of handling OBJ or DXF files. That includes LightWave.

You can import your objects, retaining all grouping and UV coordinates, texture by painting directly on the object, and then export the texture back for use in LightWave. A very good example of the TextureMaster being used to texture a model is Southern's Smokin Orc (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=002888).

So as far as texturing is concerned, ZBrush offers similar functionality to what you'll find with those other two programs that you mentioned. Since I haven't used Body Paint I can't say anything about how it compares, but I feel that ZBrush is much easier to work with than Deep Paint 3D.

But ZBrush also goes way beyond those programs thanks to its other functionality. Its modeling features make it an excellent tool to use in the creation of morph targets, or for modeling from scratch. Many users create new objects in ZBrush using its intuitive clay-like modeling style and export them to their favorite animation software. Another approach is to create a very basic figure in something like LightWave and then use ZBrush to finish the model. Neither Deep Paint nor Body Paint can offer these modeling capabilities.

In short, ZBrush offers more diverse functionality, excellent texturing capabilities, and a lower price tag. And not to be forgotten is the extremely high level of support that you receive -- both from Pixologic directly and from the thriving community here at ZBrush Central (which has often been called one of the friendliest and most helpful places on the web).

[el_pix]

zbrush! definitely!
i tried both other apps you mentioned and seemed to be completely unable to understand the concept of bodypaint at all, whereas deeppaint works fine for me, except the price (!) and the lousy performance (even on my office twin p3/500 w. geforce3). actually i've never been able to achieve any satisfactory custom texturing within a reasonable amount of time ... before Z.
and if you look at the number of polygons it handles, weee.

well, i have *no* idea, how much performance will decrease at larger canvas sizes and how seamless export/import works, but everyone in here says it's a breeze.

the *only* tradeoff seems to be, that there's no support of things like proper bump, specularity, opacity etc... mapping (yet?) and applying textures the *deeppaint-way* .... you be the judge :)

[s o u t h e r n]

As ZBrush works well with OBJs and has good UV capabilities it is a very real choice over the other two for a Lighwave/Maya/Poser user.

Even though ZB doesn't yet support bump, displacement or sepcularity maps (Yet!) you can use Texturemaster to 'make' them for other apps as I am doing today.

You can also import the flat texturemap into a layer (I am using a 2048x2048 image now) and paint on it in 2D. This matches both Maxons BodyPaint and DRH's DeepPaint.


The price is an over riding factor to my mind as well. I have DP and TW now and I will be doing direct comparisons over the next few weeks. I'll keep this thread updated as I think it is important.

My advice though. Go buy ZBrush at todays price. Check out these forums to see what you can do. I notice DAZ3D are selling it so they think it's a winner. ( Aurick ;) )

Glen

[s o u t h e r n]

This guy was modeled in ZBrush, The texturemap was created in ZBrush (and I didn't spend long as it was a test for this thread), the Bump map was created in TextureMaster. The eyes were painted onto the polygons on a ZBrush 3DSphere and turned into a texture map.

The whole kabooty was wacked into little old Poser and here you have it. Wait till I get my hands one one of the big packages and I can use displacement maps with these amazing, low resolution ZBrush Models.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1013415844lnj.jpg