ZBrushCentral

Where, oh where, to begin?

Community
#1

Dear friends,

I come to you with a callow mind, eager for the advice of those whom have come before me. For many years I’ve yearned to get into the field of 2d/3d digital artwork, yet… many things have worked in concert to prevent me from doing so. Relationships, parental health, home ownership, business… the works - I’m sure some of you can relate.

Finally, I am able to forge ahead. I am 23 years of age (as of Wednesday, in fact) and I am just now about to enter college. I’ve been working as of my graduation from High School so many years prior, and I’ve now established a solid footing with which to pursue my scholarly and artistic goals.

So here I am. A complete and utter novice, whom looks around and finds himself immersed in works of intense glory. It’s almost blinding, in fact. Shaders and Mapping, Bumping… XSI, Zbrush, Lightwave, Modo, and thousands of other boggling diversions.

Where do I start? Where can I go from here?

I would like to set myself on a path with the least resistance to progress. Which programs should I familiarize myself with first, and start with as a foundation for most things to come? Which toolsets in particular are “accepted” as the most suitable for given needs? (Rendering, Modeling, Texturing, so on and so forth). What are the best ways of learning? Practice and experimentation of course, will be foremost, but aside from that?

Classes? Books? Advanced schools for visual arts? So on, so forth.

I’ve always had rather potent talent for the arts. I’ve been drawing since I was a child, yet I’ve never had formal training. My eye continues to absorb visual “feeling” as I age, and it is nigh time I put it to the grinding stone, and fashioned it in to a gift, rather than mere potential.

I appologize for being long winded.

Thank you for reading.

  • Matsim
#2

short answer:

start small. pick one thing i.e. animating a bouncing ball, making a basic zsphere model and work your way out from there.

don’t worry about what you don’t know yet and focus on what you’re trying to learn at the moment.

download the demos. i started w/ the ZB and Maya PLE demos and both supply enough info. to get things rolling.

right click/save target or bookmark everything you can find that will be useful (tutorials, guides, pictures, photos).

basic stuff but a good start.

#3

One of my concerns was what software I should start with in order to establish a good baseline. Most people on here seem to use Zbrush in concert with 3dsMax more than anything else. I’ve heard that Modo has more advanced modeling capabilities, however… that is just hearsay I’ve caught, though.

What are the pro’s and con’s of the various software suites out there?

#4

browse the site, find video tutorials and scripts for zbrush.
that will show you the basics of zbrush.
start by learning the basics of zspheres, so you can create your own models to work with.
Imo, i, and alot of others would much rather create the basic models in maya or 3dS max, and then using zbrush to perfect the detail.

ive played with 3dmax and maya both, alot. At first, i was a 3dmax fan, i liked it so much that i didnt bother learning much about maya.
but now that ive learned as much as i have about maya, i like maya better, quite alot.
I havent used the very latest version of 3dmax, so it could have caught up. bu ti doubt it. it wasnt even close to the tools that maya offers.
often simple.

another tip, visit 3dbuzz.com and read thier forum about how to become a member, basically , if you participate on 3dbuzz.com forums for a few weeks, just giving your opinion about the art, or helping with anything you know, they will give you download access to the greatest library of free VIDEO tutorials ive ever come across. by far.

they arnt the biggest fans of Zbrush, because once you master Maya and 3dSmax, you dont feel like you need zbrush. so they dont have alot of Zbrush videos, but for maya, 3dmax, photoshop video tutorials, they are by far the best.

even without video tutorial download access, they have tons of great tutorials also.

listen… if you have an Eye for art, if you like to mess with this stuff, thats just about all it takes. its all, almost easy… it all comes down to WASTEING TIME Learning Tool by tool, effect by effect. hehe.

if you really like playin with th etools, you will stumble across the way they work, and be able to use them. if you dont actualy enjoy creating the art, you may not make it too far.

if you dont know anything, start by learning Zspheres, and how they work. they are a great basic tool. Zshperes will take you a little whlie to learn, and about twice that long to get good with. but its not too hard.

check the forum for tutorial links,
keep a hard eye out for VIDEO tutorials, a few sites offer those, and its impressivly easy to learn when your watchin the tools in action.

anything else is inferior.

#5

Hi Bodhisattva, by the sounds of you - you sound just like me when I first start :smiley: - I’m 21 now - just turned recently aswell - I don’t have a professional education in CG or traditional art either : On this basis I hope that my advice will be usefull to you.

On a rudamentry level of application, that of the modeller and texturer, every 3d program is thesame - It consists of an interface populated with functions to perform various tasks - the functions exist in sets, each set has a limit of use based on the task it is designed for. When you learn one application - for instance Maya - you’ve learned them all - on this rudamentry level - Zbrush is an acception. The differences occur in the interface - the interplay between the functions - and the quality of the programming that goes into determining the functions predictability. Secondly all you need to learn the program is the instruction book that comes with the software, to tell you which keys to press and where the function are on the interface - forget about buying books - vidoes - or even going to College to learn how to model and texture - its a waste of time and money, better spent in goal-orentated experimentation and a top notch computer/rendering farm - and eventually the purchase of the software. Plus there are gazillions of FREE tutorials on the internet. If you decide to foray into technical or inorganic modelling considerable more specialised knowledge is nessesary and tuition and further reading material may be nessesary.

Before you start anything,however, you need to form a proper philosophy of the 3d program as it exists today - familiarize your yourself with the concepts of 3d space - polygon - nurbs etc and general defentions like shader - textures - texture map etc. It no big deal really(Siggraph presentation from Pixar are exellent for this).
You will require more reading on the issues of rendering and shaders - but leave that last. First priority is 3d modelling - then textureing - then rendering and shading - in that order.

The work of Andrew Loomis - all freely available on the internet - provides more then enough information for you to progress artisiticly - on the proper way to understand and view the subject - And the formation of a methodology for reproducing forms. This applies only to organic modelling.

Zbrush is the best software in the world for 3d modelling and texturing + + - nothing else comes even close. However it is worthwhile to learn another more traditional package first since they are the common langauge of the 3d industry - Zbrush is quite unorthodox in the way it approaches the problem.
So learn both.

Conclusion/Consequences
There is not that much more to the story Bodhisattva - allright there are a few other key peices of specilised knowledge to be gained but I think it will come naturally if you follow my advice, the only final thing I have to say - a reassertion rather - when learning the software set your self a specific project, do not wonder through the program without an objective - in this way not only will you remember/understand everthing faster you will escape the notion that “there is so much to learn that I simply can’t do it” - or “it will taken me years to learn it”.

Success,
Kircho

#6

If you have the means, a BFA in sculpture should fill in the rest of what you would need to know.

#7

Hi,

I learned modeling by getting a cheap (but legal) version of C4D then moved on to Lightwave. Now, I’m adding Zbrush to my arsenal. :smiley: I also use Photoshp, Painter, and Poser quite a bit. I actually got Zbrush to manipulate Poser figures, but I’ve come to adore it for its own sake.

My advice would be to start at the very bottom and learn the very basics of modeling with a single program and lots of reading and practicing – probably doesn’t matter which program you use, but Zbrush seems a very good choice for both 2D and 3D work. :wink: Once you learn the basics, you can transfer your skills to any program on the market. Most of the programs do the same things, just in different ways.

Jan

#8

OK I’ll make this Short since I hate readin a books woth of replys.

YOU NEED TO LEARN PHOTOSHOP CS2!!!

Then if you like to draw ILLUSTRATOR CS2, will do you fine. Having Photoshop CS2 and Illustrator CS2 will give you what you need to move on. The best/FAST way to learn is TOTAL training, and one or 2 books. You wont be a master at it, that comes with time, but you will know how to do what you want to do. Then I would move from there…

That’s what I am doing, and watching these training videos for Zbrush, when they say “this is like photoshop” and “for you photoshop users” it makes you feal great you know Photoshop. It just might be the best one to know?! Well maybe not but still…