ZBrushCentral

Zbrush is really frustrating me... Is it just me?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Zbrush is really getting on my nerves. I have been working with it for around 8 hours now and it is slamming me in the face every couple of minutes. First of all, everything is different like creating a new document even the close cross is on the others side, well i can live with that but it is extremely annoying and just stupid design.

But what really frustrates me is that sometimes nothing works anymore. Like a couple of hours ago i pressed quicksketch by excident, it started loading and it was impossible to find a way out of it and return to my model, all work was lost.

Just now i created an epic brick and wanted to add some alpha detail, the in-zbrush map/folder browsing is just plain hell on earth,but luckely there is an option to import and get a windows explorer browse window. I selected my alpha and wanted to draw, but my viewport was locked, i could not draw, i could not pan, i could not zoom, i could not do ****. Yes i was in draw mode and edit mode was on too. I tried everything but nothing helped, now the model dissapeared from view while pressing CTRL-Z (undo), CTRL-Y(redo) does not bring it back. All work gone, all work for nothing.

No i have an empty viewport, draw is highlighted. I Select tool -> Sphere3D, click on viewport… Nothing…

I can go on about a couple more projects if you would like that.

There does not even seem to be somekind of select tool, everything is no strangly layed out nothing works like i expect too. Now i am aware that my brain could be the problem to all this but i self teached me a ton of things like Programming from HTML to PHP and Java to C++ i could find my way pretty quickly around 3D Max and Photoshop. But this ZBrush is just a pain in the ass, why? So frustrating… So much design mistakes… So much weird unexpected things going on… Are there alternatives?

#2

you say that now, in a week you’ll love it.

you’re just banging into walls, once you start to get a feel for it…and that will be quick…you’ll think it’s one of the easiest programs to work in.

nothing works as you expect it because you are used to those other programs. you have to see zbrush threw a different lens.

you reference computer coding…but that’s what’s hanging you up…instead of expecting zbrush to behave as a programer would expect, expect it to behave as an artist would expect.

think with the part of the brain that draws the flower, not the part that counts it’s petals.(not trying to be a wiseguy)

hang in. you won’t regret it.

quicksave is for crashes…check that folder…you may still have your work.

also make sure your update is current. a number of bugs were fixed.

#3

ZClassroom

#4

I agree with Zeddie. Zbrush confused me at first too when I first jumped into it completely blind, but after watching a few tutorials I started to understand not only how it was different compared to other programs, but why these differences exit. And from that point on zbrush has become one of my favorite programs to use, a pure pelasure to work with.

This isn’t a program you can just jump into right away and press buttons with to figure out. If you want to teach yourself, then reading the documentation and the zclassroom videos are absolutely essential. Supplemental training from places like Digital Tutors, Lynda, Zbrushworkshops, or Eat3d will be a big help too. If a problem pops up and you don’t know what is going on, you’ll go a lot further by asking for an explanation and a solution than you will by letting it get to you. Don’t be shy or worry about annoying anyone by asking either. I’m sure the community would rather see a new user ask a hundred earnest questions than to have a single ‘omg zbrush sucks’ thread in their place.

When it comes to previous experience in other 3d programs, there’s only a few bits and pieces you can take from them. Mainly your understanding of points/vertices, edges and polygons will be useful, along with what happens when they subdivide, where and why you might want to add edgeloops, and how UVs work.

Otherwise, zbrush is actually closer to Photoshop at its heart. It is a painting program with additional orientation, material, and depth properties stored for each pixel along with its color values. Z + Brush. If you’ve ever used the newer 3d tools in photoshop then it might even look familiar to have a model floating above a 2d document. To this end, 3d models in zbrush are treated as tools. If I were painting a forest scene then I could load in or create several models of trees, and then stamp them all over my document at various depths to create the final image. Whether it was originally intended or just turned out by some coincidence over the course of its development, Zbrush became incredibly strong at creating and sculpting on its tools to the point where more people probably use that toolset more than any other feature.

After a few more hours it should start to be more clear that the document is not a standard 3d space and is independent of your 3d tool. You can clear the document at any time (such as it you accidentally enter quick sketch), and still have access to the tools that you were working on in the Tools palette. If you’re working on a 3d tool then you’ll likely want to save the tool and not the document.

There does not even seem to be somekind of select tool

You can select tools by clicking on them in the tools palette. When sculpting on a tool you can select any subtools that it consists of by opening up the subtool subpallete and clicking on them (or by alt+clicking on the subtool itself, or by hitting n), and when sculpting you can select individual polygons by using a selection rectangle or lasso.

the in-zbrush map/folder browsing is just plain hell on earth

I’m guessing you’re referring to Lightbox, which isn’t really meant to be a built in file browser for your entire computer (that is, I wouldn’t use it to load a file I have saved on my desktop or in my documents even though I could). Instead it’s more like having a Project Directory set up in other 3d applications like Softimage or Maya. It provides quick and organized access to files you have manually saved to your installation folder. If you ever start downloading custom brushes, models, alphas, materials… that you use on a frequent basis then it becomes very useful. For files that you’re not likely to use frequently enough to save them to your lightbox folder, then you might as well just stick with Windows Explorer.

#5

You won’t learn ZBrush in eight hours, that’s just an unrealistic expectation. Give it a few weeks at least. ZBrush will drive you mad for a while and then things will fall into place and you will probably wonder how you managed without it.

#6

Your comment remember me saying something like this too.

zBrush is a beautiful bitch teasing you all the time. (Don’t forget the mind blowing work others are doing with it)
She don’t want all your money ;), but a good portion of your lifetime.
If once spend- well I don’t want to overdo this picture…but it’s pretty, pretty nice. Almost.

I am still annoyed by a lot of things but it’s getting easier.
And I start to like some parts which I hate before. (Sometimes because I simply didn’t understand what’s going on. Like in your example.)
And a lot of stuff is just sexy!

You have to quit with what you think an user interface have to look like, and it’s getting better.
Some stuff is very cool, some stuff revolutionary and some stuff I’ll never get really used to it, like i.e. the action line.
(needs serious training itself and should be switchable to “everyone used to coordinate cross” in my opinion)
As with everything, you really have to go through video tutorials, or you will pay even more lifetime, like I did.
Videotutorials :frowning: everyone is happy with these lifetime eaters…where the hell is the keyword search option making this stuff effective!!! Google, are you there? But that’s a different story.

What you are explaining is what I had the first try outs too.
By hitting quicksketch it’s not all gone.
But zBrush is creating a new document, laying a new peace of paper over your work.
Your tool is still there in the tool palette.

To go back, create a new document without saving, in the document pallette.
Search in the tool Palette for your model, it will be there.
Click on it and draw your model on the canvas.
After releasing the mouse - do nothing before you have hit the edit mode!!!
Now change material from flat colour to what you have used before.
You should be back in business.

Why this trap button is there next to very often used Lightbox and not hidden like a lot of cool often used features…?
Why there is this extra cool help function while hovering over a feature and press CTRL but no stupid help pallette with a stupid link to well hidden - and well done, thanks for this guys - zBrush docs?
http://docs.pixologic.com/

Well she is a b****
Female user may call him different :wink:

But finally lovely to use. Almost :wink:

#7

I have to agree with a lot of the comments here, it is confusing, difficult and frustrating to begin with but once things start falling into place and making sense it’s a great program to use. Stick with it, be patient, watch lot’s of video’s on pixologic’s website and youtube. When first starting out don’t try and make a masterpiece, play with it and try and make sense of what’s happening with each tool, button & option. Once you understand what they do they become intuitive.

#8

If more people found this thread earlier on in their ZBrush adventures, they might not have been quite as frustrated. Links are broken and images don’t show, still what’s said is good to know. :wink: http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?9095-NEWBIE-LESSON-ONE-The-Interface

#9

After finally getting a student license I am enraged at how absolute trash z brush is. I thought it was going to be a build on top of Sculptris. the interface is so bad it’s like they live in a bubble where nobody in the GERD DERM FERKING company has ever used another 3D software in their lives. I will never pay money for this. I will avoid Z brush unless Im getting paid to use it. FTS. How Has blender become a better sofware than Maya and Zbrush. Its like the money brought in the worst people and they hired the cheapest people and they just want to keep the money coming.