Before I start, I should point out that this is probably just wishful thinking on my part, but it’s something I desperately hope the wizards at Pixologic will consider.
I’m one of those people who purchased ZBrush quite a few years back but, believe it or not, have barely touched it. The main reason I’ve barely touched it is because (originally) there were quite a few things I wanted to do with it, but couldn’t. Over the years I can honestly say that Pixologic have made ZBrush the best investment I have ever made in software, and one of these days, I’m hoping to knuckle down and use it exclusively as an only tool.
I’m still not ready to do that, though, and you know why?
- We have organic modeling covered.
- We have hard surface modeling covered.
- We have retopology covered.
- We have painting covered.
- We have rigging covered.
- We even have hair/fibers covered.
However …
- We do not have cloth/clothing covered.
With every new release of ZBrush I’m blown away at the ability and the generosity, but always, for me personally there is that bit of disappointment because if anyone can create a mind-blowing way to work with cloth, Pixologic can, so in the end I had to speak out and ask this.
I look at Marvelous Designer for example and think to myself, I wonder how Pixologic would implement a way to create and manipulate cloth? Pixologic don’t copy anyone, they innovate, so how would they innovate a way to work with cloth in ZBrush? They already have us pushing billions of polygons around the screen with silky-smoothness so what on earth must they be able to do with a cloth implementation?
Of course, I’m not talking about a full-on cloth simulator here. I just have this vision where we can paint cloth properties on to a mesh and then use the ZBrush brushes to pull, stretch, bend, stiffen, soften etc. Dragging a peice of cloth over a sphere would do just that - but done in some crazy mind-blowing “Pixologic” way of doing it.
So that’s it, I don’t know how they’d do it, but something for artists to realistically clothe their figures, create furnishings, and whatever else. For me personally it seems to be the only missing thing, and I get the feeling that sooner or later Pixologic will provide something along those lines anyway, but this is just a friendly kick up the arse to say … Pixologic, you rock, but please give us some form of fabric system soon, something purpose made for the ZBrush interface that will allow us to create super-realistic fabric/folds etc, done in an innovative Pixo’ way of doing it, just like you did with retopology and fibers etc.
Regardless, thanks for everything, you crazy wizards - ZBrush is amazing and is easily the best investment I ever made in software 