We’ve got a few ideas for the next group of DVD’s and most of them will have some detailed info on rendering out using differnt engines as part of the workflow. Although obviously I’m not allowed to go into too many details at this stage. 
Wayne…
Dear Darth (I just loved writing that)…
…
…
…I want to say that I learned quite a bit watching both vids, then visiting your site and perusing. Very nice indeed. Like you, I am self-taught and have been working in the VFX industry for 10 years as a senior artist and animator (which is to say: I’ve been around the block several times). So I thought I’d point out a couple items I felt were a bit awkward in the vids.
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I know you’re smoking and drinking copious amounts of coffee and your neighbor is banging down your walls (and I think a baby is crying in the distance), but slow it down a little. You fly by important issues on several occasions. I had to actually import the quicktime into FinalCut and listen at half-speed just to understand what you were saying. And, no, I don’t have a problem with your accent, but slow it down a bit. Also, before sitting down for a session please map out where you’re going and what you want to say. Sometimes you seem all over the map and I’m feverishly taking notes trying to keep up. It all just gave the impression of, well, that your presentation was messy (but let’s stay friends and I’ll call it “organic”; how 'bout that?)
And I’m guessing that’s your work-flow: organic…it comes to you as you’re doing it. Which is great. It’s how I work. I often have no idea which direction or technique I’ll use until I use it…but…but…in an instructional video things need to be a little more structured I think. No? Yes? I’m just offering a suggestion. -
In the second volume I felt a little cheated. You had a great deal on modeling with Zspheres (where you create the “banana-man”) and then suddenly you jump to a section where the “bananas” have suddenly altered into realistic limbs and sculpted muscles. I felt like I was missing a chapter where you go from the “banana-man” to that sculpted figure (where’s the missing-link?). On the disc you end the Zspheres segments with a file called: “003 - Adding Zsphere hands.mov”, then vids 004 and 005 are about the interface (which you covered in volume one, so I skipped them) and pick up with “006 - Changes and muscles.mov”. I explored the disc to see if I’d missed anything. Nope. Nada. Okay, I understand there’s only so much time on a disc, but later you seemed to really linger on the texturing sections (segments 013 through 015), and I feel much of that could have been trimmed to make room for a “Going-From-Banana-Man-To-Pretty-Sculpture” segment. Again, just a suggestion. If you happen to have that recorded anywhere (as you said on the disc, you had 9 hours recorded) it would be a really nice post for your web site…maybe? Possibly? I’d love to see it.
Anyway, Wayne (you may call me Steven, if you wish), I don’t want to sound harsh, and to anyone reading this: I am not writing this post as a caution. I’m certainly not saying: “don’t buy these videos!” No. No at all. These vids are great and important and offer an amazing amount to information. I would buy them again (except that would just be silly). I would just like to see a little more time spent on your next vids, where the content feels more deliberately mapped out…which I will be buying as soon as you release them. Overall, nice job and amazing work. You are a very gifted artist.
Cheers,
Steven
P.S. Maybe consider a video on how Zbrush sculpters work with TDs. I’m noticing a lot of videos where folks make amazing sculptures but without regard to how it will rig, or move, or morph. I mean I can’t tell you how many sculpts I’ve seen where the lips are closed, sealed shut. If I were handed something like that I’d say, “Wow! Great sculpture. But I can’t really do anything with it unless I spend a great many hours ‘fixing’ it.” When working in a production pipe-line (film or television) where these things are going to need to be speaking and animated, shouldn’t these issues be worked out early…like, say, during the sculpting process? Anyway, it would be interesting to see somebody make a “pipe-line” video (and it wouldn’t matter if the end tool was XSI or Maya or MAX or Lightwave or Cinema 4D…it would be interesting to see…because that is the world where I live, work, and breathe). Just another thought.
As a golden rule I never usual comment on threads about my articles DVD’s or other projects unless it is a technical query. But as some ‘facts’ are in danger of becoming’ internet myths’ I’ve got to reply to some of them I feel.
RE ‘baby crying’:
I never have and never will record with my son or any other person in the room while I record. So if there is indeed a baby crying (and I have to admit I’ve not had time to check) then the noise it isn’t him (as he was 8 miles away at the time of recording with my parents for the day). So I’m assuming its some ambient noise that I didn’t notice while checking the footage over. If I had it would have been a simple matter to re-record the vocal track again.
Re ‘neighbour banging on the walls’:
This was added more as an explanation of the cut in that section, because the noise isn’t on the DVD as I edited the sound track before sending to Kurv. I didn’t just want to put an unexplained ‘cut’ as that just didn’t seem right. Obviously my ironic humour does not travel well. (Note to self: you are not a funny man lol’)
Re: accent etc…
All companies that sell tutorial DVD’s put up sample videos for a whole host of reasons including making sure that not only do you find the tutors style something you like, but also that you can understand them. There are samples from DVD vol 1 for users to check out before they buy.
(Although I do find it rather amusing that I’ve had emails for people in Poland, Italy etc who don’t speak a work of English complaining via ‘bablefish’ email that they can’t understand me.) If you have trouble understanding me, then dont buy the dvd’s as the last thing I want is unhappy customers.
Re: ‘video appears to be missing’
Once I hand over the footage to Kurv that side is out of my hands, but there indeed was a chapter missed out (Steven this is why it jumps dramatically as a crucial chapter was missed out. Contact Kurv along with your purchase details and they will give you a link to the missing chapter.) I can’t say I was happy about a missing chapter as I’ve had an amazing amount of emails on the subject on what to be frank is not my responsibility and totally out of my hands. But the bottom line is it is my name on the front of the DVD’ so any mistakes not only reflect on me but make me ‘responsible’, whether in reality I am or not.
There was a huge amount of stuff to fit on these videos especially vol1, as whereas all other companies just covered the V3 updated features, I covered everything. So as such these DVD’s aren’t meant to be just watched ‘once’ but as a point of reference. So although there is more footage length wise than most other Zbrush DVD’s there still was times that things had to be rushed a little to get over the basic concepts for everything. Did this work in the long run? Maybe not judging by opinion in this thread, although the idea I had was to give people ‘vol 1’ that could tell them all they needed to know about how to work with Zbrush from purely interface point of view. (So they wouldn’t have to buy numerous DVD’s each covering part of the interface …)
Re: ‘Cofee smoking etc…’
I chain smoke while I work and as there is little danger of passive smoking by listing to me smoke I do not see a problem when recording long dvd’s such as these. The same thing goes for the coffee. 3D is a caffine fueled industry, so I’m sure people can overloook a few sips of coffee on a 5 hour DVD?
I wanted to cover some of the more important points before it gets into being an ‘accepted fact’. At soe point there may well be an announcement… but I can’t say anything right now.
Wayne…
Wayne:
Man, look, I’m really sorry if my post sounded unduly harsh. It was not intended as such. I was simply offering a couple suggestions…just things I’ve noticed along the road where tutorials were involved. Actually, I found a lot of your asides amusing, insightful, and humorous. Please don’t change on my account. As I stated, I learned VOLUMES of great information and tips I’d not see or hear anywhere else. The comment about smoking and coffee was meant to be funny (note to self: I guess I’m not as funny as I thought; lol). Yes, caffeine is key to visual effects. Don’t be apologetic for it. I’m drinking a Coke right now. And I’ve already had my morning cig. So we’re even.
As I said in the earlier post, I don’t have a problem understanding your accent. Not in the slightest. It was just a comment that sometimes slowing down (not your speech, but the content) would help those less initiated with the software. And I understand it’s meant to be watched more than once. I’ve watched several sections two or three times, running on one screen while I Zbrush’d along on another. It works quite well if you have a two monitor setup.
Thanks for the tip on contacting Kurv for the missing chapter. I will do so. I’m happy to know it exists. To that point, though: Kurv should be letting you know what is (and is not) included on a disc that has your name all over it. I was originally a professional writer by trade (still publish about one story a year) and if an editor altered or excised something without my knowledge I’d pull the rights and sell it elsewhere. But that’s in a writer’s world, where I own the rights (unless I’m whoring myself and sell it outright). In the future you should demand (or ask nicely) that Kurv give you a “final cut” approval. I don’t know if that’s possible, but you may want to check into it.
As for the baby crying, neighbor banging, etc…to be fair, I’m listening with a pair of studio-monitor headsets. I can hear a pin drop with these suckers, so that comment was unfair.
Bottom line: I’m sorry if I sounded like a total a**hole. Not my intent. After listening to you for hours and hours I kind of feel like I got to know you and wrote that post with a sort of familiarity…which, of course, doesn’t work on your end because you have no idea who the hell I am. So I fear you have taken it in the worst possible light. And I hate to think that. I’m kicking myself now. If you feel my comments may harm your sales or future video projects or become internet lore (by way of others misunderstanding my intent as you have) I’ll happily remove or alter the post. Just let me know. Please forgive, and know I hold you in the highest regards as an artist…and, from what I glean from the vids and your site, your a stand-up / all around nice guy.
Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Regards,
Steven
The majority of the post wasn’t directed at you Steven, more to put the record straight about a number of things that have been mentioned in this thread since last year. If it came accross as to ‘full on’ I apologise and it wasn’t intended as such at all.
As I’ve just finished 2 months of 7 day weeks each full of 12-18 hour days so I do admit to being a might touchy at the moment lol. (I’ve had so much caffine the last month that I look like charles manson on a bad day. :d ) I sometimes get some flack due to my regional english accent from certain quarters, maybe it’s due to the majority of DVD’s being recorded with west coast USA accents thse days… I honestly have no idea. It does tick me off when on occasions people with who english isn’t their first (or even 2nd) language send emails etc giving me grief. Which to be honest is the reason I put that part in.
Yeah the caffine / cigs part really annoys some watchers and not others. The way I see it is I am paid to teach on DVD / articles / books etc and not be a rolemodel… for gods sakes I hope no one ever see’s me as that! I’m probably the worst person on earth to have as a role model…keith richards would make a better one lol. 
There is no need to apologise for your oppinion and advice, I take all advice on board for the next time I record. (although granted I don’t always mention that…I sort of take it as read that peolpe realise I DO take on board all oppinnions wether I agree with them or not, as they buy the dvd’s…)
Although sometimes some users want me to do something one way and others a direct opposite. But again thats a judgement call I’m paid to make, you can please some of the people some of the time , but not all of the people all of the time.
Being a professional writer for the last 20 years (19 actually but who’s counting… 
) I can totally see where your coming from. The missing chapter was from as far as I can tell a production error. Although my contract forbids me going into details on the production side etc. I got a whole world of flack due to the missing chapter, but as I care about customers feeling good about any purchases with my name on them I try my best to help where I can. But when things got hectic there was only so many emails I could answer in one day lol. But I’m a big beliver that as my name is on the cover ‘the buck stops here.’
If you liked the vol 1 and 2 dvd’s you’ll love what is next coming up on the horizon with my name on it. Not dvd’s this time…(for the moment) but the clues are in this post for those that care to look.
Again Steven if I came across as picking on you in any way you have my humblest apologies. Your post simply gave me a chance to clear up a few misconceptions from earlier in this thread.
Wayne…
Hi Wayne,
I’m working my way through both of your ZBrush discs and I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying them. Together they have answered many questions that have been nagging and holding me back in ZBrush for quite some time now, so thanks for that. I personally can’t attest to any of the above mentioned problems, the speed is fast but thats what a pause button is for. The missing file is easily retrievable from Kurv’s website.
I don’t have a techincal question, just a work flow question. In the ‘ZProjecting a head’ vid you use a prebuilt head from a sphere to ZProject onto the Orangaman sculpt. Not having a prebuilt head I tried sculpting it on the stand-in head I’m following along with. I tried the same thing on a model I’m building parallel to this and lets just say the results were pretty poor due to the limited polys available in the face.
Is it possible to straight sculpt on the mesh or will it always be necessary to ZProject the head from an outside sculpt using your methods from the disc? Its not a problem, it just threw me off last night not having a head model to work with. I shall try again tonight building the head separately.
Second question, do you know of a good tutorial that would explain the polysphere head process? If not I will work it out tonight hopefully, I’m just getting great momentum following along with you and I’d like to keep it up.
Thanks for the great job,
Wyatt
Wyatt:
First up I’ll answer the questions:
Sculpting the head from a sphere is something I can describe in a sentence or two. It’s a combination of getting the main forms of your idea correct in the early stages and going with the flow of the sculpture. Sculpting from basic geometry is a great way to improve your skills, as it forces you to think in terms of forms and not just details etc… BUT… it takes time to perfect for you to get used to working with pure form as opposed to relying on a base mesh with good topology. I’d recommend just watching as many spherehead time lapses as you can and slow them down a bit and practice as much as you can. Its a proven method I’ve used with a lot of my private pupils.
The reason I imported and ZProjected the head is simply because as DVD Vol 2 was primarily aimed at a Zsphere base workflow, topology was never going to allow as much freedom as a one with better topology. While you can of course retopologise, space was running short on the DVD as it was and let’s face it watching someone retopologise for ½ hour – 1 hour is about as interesting as watching paint dry lol. Plus the retopology workflow was covered in Volume 1. But it’s worth bearing in mind that your polygon count increases to the power of 4 each time you subdivide so it is a good idea to work out if you will be able to subdivide without using local subdivision to the polygon count you feel you’ll need. So sculpting to medium resolution and them retopping would probably be the ideal workflow for this sort of thing.
Now for the important notice:
Last week I handed my notice in with Kurv studios.
So as such I cannot from now on provide technical support on any of my DVD’s produced with them. Why is this? Simply put I have had an offer from another company that would forbid me from doing so (in the same way as any contract with any company would do.) I can’t go into specifics about who and what etc… right now as mainly I don’t want to promote a new series of DVD’s in a thread for my Kurv DVD’s. (It would be a little bit impolite in my view to do so.) But suffice to say there will be a lot more DVD’s available stating a little later in the year, I’ll provide more information as I’m allowed to discuss it.
So I would advise anyone with tech support queries to aim them either at the Kurv forum or contact the directly. Although I can’t provide technical support about the Kurv DVD’s I obviously will continue to help any Zbrush users with any workflow questions I can answer in broader terms. We’re heading into sort of unknown ground really, because as far as I know, no ‘DVD’ guy has ever changed companies before, so I hope the change doesn’t jar users too much I can promise it will be worth it though.
Wayne…
Thank ya sir. That gives me the direction to proceed in.
Good luck to you.