Hello Pixologic!
My name is Karl and I have been using ZBrush since 2010. It was the first 3D-software that I started learning and it is now my favorite software ever. It’s more of a favorite toy, actually.
I think it’s the best modeling-software out there, but I’d like to be able to call it the ultimate modeling-software. You are on a steady path to get there (holy baby Jesus, how sweet won’t box-modeling be in R7?! How I have longed…), but
I think I’d give you guys some advice on how to get there a little bit quicker.
I also feel I’ve got to say that Pixologic is my favorite group of software-wizards out there. I get the feeling that the staff listens to their users (I am not just saying this to lube you up for my suggestions, I’m being sincere). You guys don’t just
fart out annual, redundant and costly updates, but release stuff when you’ve got something to release. And thanks for not rushing R7 by the way, a lot of companies (Dassault spring to mind…) could take a leaf from your book.
And also, compared to other softwares, a ZBrush license is dirt-cheap. God damn it I love you guys.
Anyway, here’s a list of what I think might be improvements to your software. The numbers are just there so there’s something for you guys to reference when responding. They’re not in a particular order, I just wrote them down
as I came up with them. I’m sure I’d come up with more if I just took the time, but seeing as the document I was writing in got quite wall-of-textly I thought I’d just post it now and add stuff to this thread as they come to me.
If anything is uncertain, please let me know and I’ll try to rephrase or illustrate it. English is my second language.
1. A way for zsphere connector/local mesh to maintain its orientation relative to the zsphere chain when rotating.
This is something I felt the need for when I started to build mannequins, and I used cubes for fingers instead of cylinders. When rotating the hand the finger cubes would not maintain their original orientation along the z-axis.
Cylinders work decently though, but I’d like to be able to use thin cubes for palms for example, or even more complex geometry that would not work if not oriented correctly.
If this couldn’t be achieved automatically, maybe a magnet-sphere could be used by the connector mesh to relate its orientation to. Only problem is there would be ****loads of floating magnet-spheres to accidentally move (think fingers…
each phalanx with its own magnet-sphere. I can see how that would become chaotic).
2. An appendable retopo-tool that works like zsphere subtool retopo, only with less clicking for vertex creation.
Zspheres are wonderful, but I feel they could let some other tool take over the retopo-process. The new tool would be more like click & drag and automated edges, like Topogun.
Topogun is great… but it does not do symmetry as well as ZBrush, and as far as I know it does not even have radial symmetry (quite a while since I worked with Topogun though so they might have added it).
Also, it feels kind of… I don’t know the word for it, but it feels like a hindrance in the workflow and a dip in motivation to have to switch between applications and all the import/exportation that comes with it.
GoZ for Topogun could alleviate that feeling though, but I’d still rather do my retopo-work inside of my main modeling-software.
3. I want a more exact way to do UV-unwrapping inside of ZBrush.
UVMaster is alright I guess, but it could be greatly improved. What I’d like is a way to select edges to cut shells along (the current painting option is not exact enough and I don’t like to rely on automatization when it comes to unwrapping which
is all about optimization). Creating shells from polygroups works great though, keep that.
When in flatten-mode, maybe bring up another interface designed specifically for that task. In that interface you could have the option for auto-masking by polygroups (enabled by default) and operations for cutting and stitching shells etc.
When in flattened mode, lock the camera so that the user doesn’t accidently rotate the view (no biggie if it happens thanks to ZBrush’s genial shift-snapping to views, but there is no need for 3D-orientation when working in 2D).
Also automaticly disable perspective when in flatten-mode (might not have an effect on a front-facing 2D plane though so not too sure about that one).
Using smooth on a shell should not shrink it, but rather relax it and maintain its size (if possible).
4. A separete transpose-line for measuring.
It’s great that you can measure with the regular transpose-lines, but it’s not so great that you have to switch between draw and transpose constantly in order to see how far you need to go to get to your measurement when doing proportions.
If you are doing the changes by transposing, you’ll constantly have to redraw the line in order to measure.
Options for the measuring line: user-defined ratio and segments, the option to show or hide when it’s not active and also geometry-snapping on/off. Calibration distance too, of course.
5. This is something that I haven’t had a need for very often, but the ability to ctrl+shift open palettes that are in the same tray would be nice (the same way you can open a sub-palette without closing the last active one).
Is there a way to rename custom palettes? You can rename custom sub-palettes with ctrl, why not the same for custom palettes?
6. When hotkeying something and ZBrush prompts the user that the hotkey is already in use, show in-use hotkey’s interface path in case the user don’t know what it’s overriding.
7. I have all my main brushes hotkeyed. When going from transpose to a brush via hotkey (without first going to draw-mode) the brush weirds out. The active brush icon is not of the brush I wanted to go to, but of the transpose-line,
and if I try to draw on a surface it acts as the standard brush. A workaround for this problem is just to double-tap the hotkey and you’ll get to your brush from transpose. It’s just a bit of a nuisance.
The brush that I used for that stroke was actually supposed to be my move brush.
8. A palette will unexpectedly close when browsing through it via the menu-bar and opening a subpalette.
I think I might have figured out what’s causing this. A palette will close when the mouse strays from it, right? The palette also shrinks/expands depending on the amount of content of the sub-palette being opened.
If I click Decimation Master while the palette is expanded like on the screenshot, the palette will shrink and my mouse will no longer be hovering over it, and it closes. UPDATE: That’s not why. Palette may close
even when mouse would still be hovering over it after shrinking / expanding.
9. I want an extra color-modifier with HSV-sliders.
I’ve never really liked the original color-modifier in the default interface. Always takes me more than a couple of tries to get the color I want. But with HSV I know exactly what dials to use in order to get to where I want to be.
I want a way to enter numerical values for HSV as well.
That’s all for now, toodles!
EDIT: I’d missed aurick’s announcement about unexpected behavior-posts, so I added some screenshots.
Computer specs:
Windows 8.1 (my problems were the same when I had Windows 7 installed)
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T @ 3.30 GHz
4x Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 4GB CL9
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