Then what is all the hubbub? I thought we were going to see Sculptris functionality in Zbrush. Automated remeshing is nice, but seems sort of anti-climactic.
edit: i think we will just need to wait until we can try it out to see exactly how things work
If I can’t engage in passive aggressive kneejerk reactions and wild speculation as petty retribution for Pixologic being so frustratingly tight lipped about everything and dribbling out the program over a week to everybody in the world except me, I simply dont know what else I’m going to do with myself this week.
The project function ( optional ) that it has is way better. It has ties into clay polish tools that can be invoked to work automatically alongside of the dynamesh. There are a bunch of things in there that go beyond remesh. The overall results you will get with dynamesh will be much much closer to what you had originally than what you would get with remeshing.
depending what resolution you work at, if you use “project”, then you will get very very close to your original result. its intended to be a concept/design tool, not a finishing tool. You can use it that way if you want, but it works best on meshes below 2 million polys. If you look closely, you will notice that in Ryans video, his overall resolution is low where he adds the head. If his resolution would be higher, his dynamesh result would be almost identical to what he had originally. ( I forget if he had “project” on or not, but that would help immensly as well ).
What you should know is that dynamesh shouldnt be thought of as a single new technology but rather a suite of tools that allow you to automate a number of things.
I dont know if Pixologic has any intention of taking this new functionality and making it better for 5, but it would almost seem like a natural evolution. After all, since version 2, the modelling tools, subdivision tools have gone soooo far that they dont really resemble what we had originally.
Originally I was slightly underwhelmed by dynamesh not being as immediate as it was claimed to be, but I actually like this level of control. I can tell it to update, or not. I can tell it to apply a pass of polish, or not, or project the details, or not. etc. Once you realize that it’s better to have these tools than not, you will get over the fact that its not quite like sculptris, or 3dcoat. Its a slightly different approach than either solution. It’s neither better or worse, just different.
Sounds fair to me. Although I do hope to see Sculptris-esque dynamic tessellation in ZB at some point, at least as a toggle you can switch on for lower rez meshes. What’s the point in assimilating a smaller developer into your collective, if you’re not going to add its distinctiveness to your own?
Aww man, I actually thought Dynamesh was the Sculptris tech ported into Zbrush, too. All of the videos I had seen for it seemed to imply that was the case but no one ever showed detailed shots of what was happening to the wireframe so I was always just guessing. Major bummer.
I can’t judge before I try and I’m sure this is a huge improvement on the previous release as someone mentioned this is pretty much a compilation of macro features over remesh and projections etc…
Sculptris feels more elegant and simple in it’s approach if you think carefully this feels like a way to get close to voxels or Triangulated dynamic tessellation without quite getting some of key benefits of these two other paradigms:
Tris dynamic tessellation allows back and forth detail ( upres and downres) and most importantly tessellates on the fly and retains mesh details (unlike remesh or dynamesh that polishes shape and introduces a second operation (project)
All this was already possible in z4 it has just become simpler
Same goes with booleans that were already there in z4
My guess is that z5 will have a flavor of voxels since after all the remesh operation is clearly calling some point cloud volumetric operation while remeshing.(try remeshing with zero polish and you will see the trademark Lego structure of voxels!
If done properly and with proper memory boost (64 bits)plus whatever gpu/CPU hardware available on release of z5
Voxels could then be an amazing all round solution: no more need of remeshing nor counter intuitive 2d brush curves… we will with voxels have 100 percent the behavior of clay on a computer…
As interesting and informative as these speculative discusions are…
I just want to thank Ryan for providing these videos to assit us with using these new and exciting features.
honestly remeshing is probably better than vomiting arbitrary tri’s all over the mesh ala sculptris.
Hey guys, Ambient-Whisper has a real good bead on this. Its about a system. Everything makes sense when you’re working in the system.
Its not a replacement for the technical needs of box modelers. It is though, for the designers and creatives in all of us, a replacement for having box modeling requirements foisted upon us! [Thunderous applause. Children running. Banners waving. Pan back to podium where Ryan continues speaking…]
Its also just plain fun. Stupid fun. Lots of fun. You’ll have to use it to get a bead on it. I enjoyed myself immensely making these movies. I don’t think I can create 10 models in 3 hours any other way. Especially since they all started as tiny little spheres. I’ll keep posting info on this system so keep your eyes out. Its just plain good clean fun. I promise you. 
Thanks for all the kind words and for stopping by.
All the best,
Ryan
[Ryan turns to kiss wife. Exits stage left. Small children run laughing through the streets. One child breaks off from others to run down alley. Abruptly stops. Camera becomes POV of child. In camera is a large triangular polygon object embedded in sidewalk. It looks like an Obelisk. Star Wars Imperial March can be heard in background…]
Not for overall feel, and rapidly roughing out form, no I don’t think so. Play with Sculptris for a while and I’m confident you’ll feel the truth of this. I do all my base mesh creation in Sculptris now, and was really looking forward to a dynamic quad based equivalent in Zbrush. It just feels great and intuitive to me, more so than voxels or any other equivalent. You cant underestimate the value of just being able to work, unhindered by little nagging routines.
Tri’s of course, are a non starter in Zbrush. So yes, it would have to be quads, or you’d be remeshing constantly anyways.
Plus, even though I have no practical experience with dynamesh yet, so cant really speak to its capacity, I imagine there are definitely situations when it would make a difference. For instance, in sculptris, you can pull out a strand, and it just keeps tessellating forever, in any which way you pull it, allowing you to make complex free flowing shaped on the fly. Any workflow that involves pulling out static geometry, and then remeshing after the fact is going to run out of play and stretch polys at some point, limiting the shape you can make prior to re-meshing.
I’m not sure how to explain this as I’ve never gotten as deep into the technical lingo and aspect of 3D as many of those here are, but this is finally what I as a traditional sculptor have been waiting for.
I feel like the dynamesh stuff is of course related to remesh, but it really just seems to function so much better as a part of the flow.
I’m sitting here just making doodles in 3D clay and it’s nearly bringing me to tears. Dynamesh combined with these new curve brushes and mesh insert tools are getting so close to perfection it’s not even funny. If dynamesh was acting on the fly like sculptris I would nearly feel completely uninhibited creatively. There are things I don’t know how to use very well yet like slicing and hard surface work, but I can tell you this is SO much more than I could have expected as an artist.
I just want to thank Pixologic. I know things don’t always go smoothly and we all get a little pissed, but this step in zBrush’s evolution may literally change my life as an artist/designer.
I can’t wait to see what everyone makes with this.
Totally disagree with you and agree ith Scott…
Tris or quads or ngons (or polygons in general)
Dont matter at all at the concept phase…whatever works will do
An all quad mesh doesn’t guarantee you a good design nor prevents you from stretching shapes
Also all quad requires much more density than the Triangulated version in both sculptris or decimation master
An all quad mesh doesn’t guarantee you a Riggin friendly mesh either
Quads are quite useless during shape creation process all together
Btw guys I don’t know where comes the myth that zbrush cannot use tris
It’s nit true I just do it everyday…in fact u can also subdivide em and derailing them
Sometimes smooth brush makes the model surface look a bit pinched but first u can use polish or smooth valence instead and voila! Also u can remesh or subdive if y really scared of tris
Keep in mind that pinching can also be avoided using a phong smooth shading
It does matter in Zbrush. You need quads for good sculpting performance, as Zbrush doesnt sculpt well over tris or ngons, and tris look ugly as sin since ZB doesnt use a smoothing shader to camouflage the harshness of triangular geometry like other programs do.
Even in the concept phase, things have to feel good, and have some sort of aesthetic appeal, or people wont work with the tool.
You know, what, even WITHOUT dynamesh, the curve addition to brushes is unbelievable. Its beautiful. You can make a tube, then alter the shape with the curve points… You can make a cylinder with the lathe brush then, in as close as you can get to actually using a lathe, adjust the curves realtime to make the shape. I mean, this is frigging amazing. It’s one thing to see it in the videos and another entirely to use it in real life.
Im very much looking forward to getting my hands on the curve tools.
technically speaking i’m also scott, so your response confused me at first.
i tried sculptris just before z brush acquired it and didn’t like how quickly it kept regurgitating triangles everywhere. the triangles were a slight problem compared to having half a million of them at the low detail stage.
i was kind of fearing the sculptris tech in zbrush for THAT reason. i use zbrush to make low poly hobby models for games. dynamesh would be totally useless no matter how good it was if it meant doing twice as much work.
We are all Scott.
(I was confused as well, because I’m not used to anyone agreeing with me)
While this is completely unrelated to the speculative and entertaining discussion that this post has transformed into, I do have have a question for Ryan (or anyone else that may know the answer) regarding Ryan’s videos. In a great many of his videos, I see Ryan sketching on his ZB workspace with a white pen (in this video, as well as his Catwoman video, as well as another of his I’ve seen, but I can’t remember the topic… :/) and I am curious as how to do that.
Before you suggest a white out pen or a silver marker, I want to let you know that I’ve tried both of those, and they don’t erase from the screen nearly as easily as Ryan clears his. (Plus I learned that when you use white out or markers on your monitor, your screen cap softs don’t capture the marks you make, either.)
Any input/help/advice/solutions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all!
-Jeremy
I believe that tool is part of the screencapture software he uses to record videos. It allows him to draw over the top of whatever is on his screen. I don’t remember which program it was that he uses, but I do know he likes to say it’s magic, hah.