Completely new to ZBrush, Sculptris and everything..

[Hydros]

I'm very sorry if this doesn't go here...

I'm completely new to anything related to 3D Design and i've always loved this kind of work. I know it sounds weird but i'm thinking on studying 3D Design (Sculpting, Modeling; etc) as a career. And i wanted to give Sculptris a try as i've read it's kinda good for begginers.

The problem i have is all the tutorials i find assume you have some basic-intermediate experience with these kind of software. I was wondering if any of the veterans here could link me to 100% begginers tutorials or step by step examples?

Thanks in advance.

[justadeletedguy]

Ok ... Here's the Basics. A Vertex is an address in virtual space, usually signified by a dot. A connection between two Vertices is considered to be an Edge and is signified by a line. Three or more Edges connected form a Polygon, a virtual surface on which a Texture Image can be projected. The address calculation (mathematics performed by your computer) is done along the X,Y, and Z Axis, usually starting at 0 at the center and moving out +1 or -1 and so on. The Normal is the direction a Polygon, edge, or vertex is facing. You won't need to calculate it, but you should understand that many Sculpting and Moving functions along with Lighting and Shadows are done by calculating from the Normal. Also you may run into the term Normal Map. This is a Texture Image that is used to change the Lighting of a Polygon. They are used to show details that are not in the model mesh, such as a rough brickwall surface can be projected onto a simple rectangular object. These are the basics that most softwares adhere to, and from here out things can change Rapidly. In the last 2-3 years, all of this has grown leaps an bounds and it will be interesting to see what the next 2-3 years holds.


For Gaming, you want to keep your model simple. You need to be careful of your Poly-Count (how many Polygons - Triangles only). A game is calculating speed, trajectory, lighting, other player movement and trying to render 20-50 Frames per Second. So an animated model in a game may only be 500, 1000, maybe up to 12,000 triangles.

For Animation you can go a little higher, maybe a 100K. Daz Studio and Poser models can animate at about 80K (preview only). Final Renders may take 5 - 10 minutes each (used to be WAY LONGER)

Movie Studio's have rooms full of Networked Computers doing Network Renders to get the 144 Frames per Second they need to show you a REAL 3D movie.

Zbrush models go into the Millions of polygons, but then those details are projected onto the Normal Map of a Lower-Polygon copy
which is what is used by another software.

Sculptris is a very good place to start with 3D. Not much to know, push, pull, rough, smooth, and eventually Paint.
Along with Sculptris you should get a good Image Editor. I use Paint.NET, but you could get Gimp, both are Free, or you could use SumoPaint.com .... there's also a Sumo Paint on DeviantArt.com .. when that one is down .....