ZBrushCentral

Basic Tutorials (?)

Seeing as how Z3 was just released, and there is going to be a bit of a flood of new people coming to the forums, I was wondering if we could get a sticky for Basic Tutorials.

I’m new to ZBrush, and while I appreciate all the great tutorials here, they are way over my head (for now).

Anyone have anything for a Noob?

Here you have a Rapid Start link:

http://www.zbrush.info/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Andreseloy

I think a lot of the Practial Guide is still valid. Parts of it at least.

While these tutorials may be very good for people coming from ZBrush2, I - as an absolute ZBrush beginner - have a hard time completely following the instructions.

I am with the thread starter here, a set of fundamental tutorials would help a great lot.

Currently I am using the excellent ‘ZBrush 2 Practical Guide’ with ZBrush 2 :rolleyes: hoping that will help me coming to a better understanding of ZBrush 3 :wink:

http://thegnomonworkshop.com/comingsoon.html


Introduction to ZBrush 3
Tools and Workflow with Meats Meier

D:

I’ll definitely get this one when it comes out.

Hmm seems a bit odd that you’d need to buy a third party product in order to find out how your program works.

You don’t strictly need it. However having it in video form makes it so much easer and faster. Also, Meats did a great job with the first one, so I have no doubt that this one will be worth every penny.

… Do you know Meat Meiers?
I’ve been using zb2 for quite some time, so the basic how to use the application isn’t the reason I was excited about this DVD at all… It’s the fact that you’ll get to see how Meat works.

The documentation is very patchy. Although many people say “it’s all there if you look for it” I have found that I have spent much too much time attempting to discover how very basic functions work due to lack of comprehensive documentation. As much work should be put into providing a truly comprehensive manual as is put into creating the program itself. It is counterproductive to frustrate people new to the program due to lack of basic information in a unified form.

Robert

I would have to agree with Roberte here. post release of ver3, i have been ground continually to a halt by vague and generalized documentation on how new implemented features are being used…

I think the documentation should be written more towards someone who needs to be lead around the zbrush envirnment, then the “as we all know” style that i am running into constantly…

needless to say reguardless of how great and fantastic the program is, if i cant even get the basics on how to use it effectivly, it just another frustrating encounter…

i cant wait to get the video

shadowrunner

Documentation has always been the weak point in ZBrush. Needs a manual, not a string of tutorials gleaned from the website and z-scripts.

So, I am a complete newbie also. Tried Z2.x ages ago and couldn’t get past the ackward interface and gave up. Now I want to learn Z3 full-on.

Are the Gnomon 2.x vids still relevant to Z3? i suspect Gnomon will release Z3 vids (seeing that they are unloading v2 vids at a discount), so what shall I do in the meanwhile?

Z3 interface is arcane. I need all the help I can get :slight_smile:

danke!

The thing that strikes me about the Z3 videos I’ve seen is that they seem to be aimed at showing us just how clever some folks are with the product and don’t really show how you the mug user can do the same. The online tutorials are a tad dissapointing as it’s a case of … set this now change that setting and hey presto everything is wonderful. I sat a friend down at the computer today with a very basic tutorial and after half an hour the screen was black apart from a sphere. This very frustrated friend then told me what I could do with Zbrush and ended up saying to me… “these are the worst tutorial docs I’ve ever read.” Hard to disagree - back to Z2 for the time being.

I have to agree with everything thats been said here

Bottom line: This is a commercial product, not an Open Source freebie !!

I don’t think it is asking to much for proper documentation instead of some artists saying “Look how great I am , I don’t care about you newbies”

:evil: :mad:

I started, originaly, with Z2 about a year ago and ran into the same problems–the documentation was not so great, even the all-exaulted Practical Guide was a tad hard to follow in some places (and I learn better by watching vids anyway). I still haven’t been able to do jack-crap with ZB2, other than a really unspectacular turtle-head, so I’m not going anywhere near Z3 until the parent company figures out that–hey, these guys actualy PAID for this progam, maybe we should provide them with a consistant and acurate knowledge base for learning.
Everything I’ve come across really is in that “as we all know” style mentioned earlier, almost as if ZB doesn’t want new customers and are just catering to those who already use the program.

Of course…on the other side of the coin, those who are excellent with the program might not want us poor newbies learning it so well to keep thier competition down… it’s a conspiracy! :wink: