Alex Alvarez, founder of the Gnomon Workshop, has published a ZBrush training DVD called “Head Sculpting and Texturing: ZBrush Techniques with Alex Alvarez”. This represents a fine addition to the growing ZBrush library at Gnomon, along with Meats Meier and Zack Petroc’s DVD’s.
For those who are looking for video training in ZBrush, the Gnomon courses are worth checking out!
awesome! i’m so buying this as soon as i get home.
Just bought Meats’ Gnomon DVD. Happy birthday to me 
didn’t get the Alvarez (2 hours longer, $20 more) because it includes a lot of Maya stuff. Don’t like Maya, (C4D man myself).
Anyone who buys the Alvarez DVD mind sharing what they think about the Maya parts? Especially those who do NOT use Maya. I’d like to know if the Maya stuff fully translates to C4D. I realize Gnomon is a Maya centric shop. But a good instructor should keep external apps as “agnostic” as possible. So I’m hesitant to buy it until I can get some positive feedback from those who get the DVD and don’t use Maya.
Would really appreciate it.
I, in turn, would be happy to share my experience with the Meats DVD, once I’ve gone thru it.
ordered. can’t wait to get it next week!
I am with acmepixel. I don’t do Maya.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
I like the gnomon workshop training courses. The are very good.
However, I don’t get the pricing structure.
The Zack Petroc DVD has 2 1/2 hours of lecture and its $69.00, just like the 4 or 6 hours ones.
This is the first one that cost more or $89.00.
So, I don’t think it has to do with the amount of hours on the DVD’s.
I wonder why $89.00 on this one?
Have you read through the description? The track listing?
The model is created entirely in ZBrush. Starts with ZSpheres, gets refined, UV mapped, high poly details applied in Projection Master, and three different maps (bump, specularity, color) are painted. All in ZBrush. The file is exported with displacement maps.
That’s all of disc one, and most of disc 2.
22 of the 24 chapters represented.
92% of the content, or roughly seven hours and 20 minutes are all ZBrush.
So, what’s left?
Well, the textures get refined in Photoshop. That’s an outside application, but you’re probably running it.
And then in the last chapter, the model is imported and a material created, adding the various maps you’ve created to their respective nodes in the material editor. Lights are placed, and the render button hit.
Does this last chapter translate? Probably not.
But, whatever your 3D application, it has a material editor, and bitmaps can be assigned to it’s various slots. So, let me break down the possibilities: Either know how to do that already, you have a manual nearby which describes the process in depth, or you’re running pirated software and have a special place in hell awaiting you.
You will have to figure out how to apply a displacement map in your application of choice. But, hey. It’s not like we’ve got a hundred threads discussing that very topic here.
(oh, wait. it’s exactly like that…)
Meanwhile, you’ve got a great artist showing you every step he went through to create a better image than you’ve ever made, and you’re quibbling over maybe a half hour of content you should be able to figure out without even watching.
If you can’t afford it, have a personal grudge against Alex, or don’t like his work, I can respect that. But this Maya excuse is just nonsense.
Doesn’t bother me none, though. I’ve ordered my copy, and I’ll have all that training when we’re competing for jobs. If you don’t, it just makes my life easier.
Regarding the price:
It costs what it costs. We don’t need to know why. Either it’s worth this amount to you, or it isn’t. If you’d rather buy something else with those dollars, do so and move on. Or buy it and move on. Or save your money and buy nothing – that’s fine. Just, get past this.
haha yah
i dunno why it is priced at $89, must be a lot of information covered, but imma view it for sure
im not skeptical about the quality of the dvd, cause most of you havent been able to sit in one of alex’s class…this guy is a talking horse (not to mean it in a bad way) classes at gnomon are 3 hours long, usually about 2hrs lecture and the rest breaks and checking on student work…but alex’s classes are 3+ hrs lectures just straight up him talking…and its not just stories and nonsense…everything he says is related to the subject, not just technical but artistic information …and its amazing because he never back tracks, hes got to be one of the most articulate person on this earth!
anh
I am getting a bit frustrated with Gnomon.
Its been 11 days sinced the order my wife and I placed and aside from automated emails, nothing yet. I really would like to get my hands on this new DVD but this current order isn’t going so well. Has anyone else had problems with with their order?
I agree that is unacceptable and I will have a talk with our customer service person tomorrow. What was your order number? Orders should be shipped the following business day.
you can email directly if you like: [email protected]
-Alex
The man himself, awesome.
Bravo on the DVD man. The screnes look impressive. I have been hoping/waiting for a dvd with advanced techniques. That Deco scale alpha is out right brilliant. Just that screenshot alone taught me something! Bravo there too. Also, I really appreciate you looking into that order. I can’t thank you enough to finally get some assistance with this.
If you require further info from me just drop me a line.
No worries… glad to hear your enthusiasm! 
We decided that including a lot of screen grabs made sense, due to the length of the lecture. Can’t really summarize eight hours with six screenshots…
-Alex
I’m looking to learn Zbrush quickly. I’m experienced with Maya and Max. I’m looking to get either the pipeline dvd with Meats, or this one with Alex. I just
don’t know which one is better for me. I don’t care about the price difference. I could get both but do I really need two dvd’s of Zbrush? That’s probably overkill.
Is there a big difference in these two products?
Hello…
Well, Meats’ DVD focuses on a broader range of pipeline issues as he deals with a full character going from Zbrush to Maya. My DVD gets much more detailed on a specific topic: working on a head… the DVDs do compliment each other, so you will learn unique and useful techniques watching either, or both, DVDs.
-Alex
If you can afford both, they are both worth watching. I don’t think it’s overkill at all. Different artists approach the creative process from different angles; they tackle challenges in their own way.
If all you’re looking for is a Maya-to-ZBrush-and-back workflow, the pipeline one does focus more on the technical challenges therein, and spends more time explaining every option. It’s also cheaper.
Once you’re an expert in transfering models back and forth, I think the head sculpting one is going to have more lasting value – it’s more focused on the sculpting process; the creative decisions and how you might go about implimenting them.
If you weren’t a Maya user, I’d know which to recommend. As it stands, I can only say that no, buying both wouldn’t be overkill.
I just got the head sculpting one last night. It’s almost 9 hours long, so I definately couldn’t watch it all. Once i’m done watching in its entirety, i’ll try to post a thorough comment about it. So far, it’s pretty good.
How well do these DVDs approch the issues of animating a chacacter that has been given a displacement map from Zbrush? The human anatomy DVD seems to address this but the the Pipeline DVD also seems to address this with normal mapping.
Any advice is much appreciated!!!
Kevin
I agree with Ctrl-Z’s comments. That’s exactly what I would have said.
Cheers!
Hey Alex,
i’ve been watching the dvd the last few days, it’ll probably be a few more before I get done with it, it’s been pretty helpful for me thus far. As i’ve said before (I think), i’ll write up a little detailed post about the lecture when i’m done watching it.
In the meantime, i’ve heard a few rumors swirling about that gnomon will be doing a dvd focused entirely on zspheres which will also cover the new zspheres in the upcoming release. Does that rumor hold any weight?
Well, I would imagine that they are working on something like that since the Alvarez and Petroc Dvd’s will be obsolete when the new update ships. For the Meats Meier dvd, they only need to make an addendum.
Howdy Alex!
It would be nice to have a training DVD that focuses on stuff like “techniques in ZBrush” for creating:
-Hair (Head and Facial)
-Clothing
-Hats
-Props, etc.
Creating and putting it all together on a figure.
Do you folks have something like this in mind?
Cheers!