ZBrushCentral

***** Announcing ZBrush 2 *****

I’ve got a feeling that this will take the digital art community by storm. The features are so extensive it offers so much for the artist no matter what his/her experience.

I can’t wait to see the gallery after people start using Z2, after all they are damned well awesome now, so I await the new batch with eagerness.

Well done to the Pixologic team.

Skaven: You’re right. I never saw it as I clicked on the pretty pictures(not just the art) which are also linked. :smiley:

I see Texture Master has evolved. It seems you still have to drop the model to paint on it. I wonder why you don’t have to do that in other software like deep paint?

Oh my goodness! It looks like my wish list has been transformed into reality!! I really really want to try it. I feel like a kid again who just can’t wait for that new bike! :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

KenH- because Texturemaster is simply an extension of the 3Dcopy function (which copies the paint to the object’s current texture), whereas a program like Deep Paint, or Maxon’s Bodypaint, work by the realtime editing and updating of a model’s texture. As you can see by the difference in speed and accuracy between Deep Paint 3D2 and Bodypaint 2 (DP is much, much better) the processes involved are complex. It’s also the reason you don’t find many of the programs available, and when you do, they’re very pricey.

I have collected the Zreview within a doc file (750Kb zipped).
If someone want to put it on some website…or want it just on email…

cameyo

p.s. Before sending the doc i wish to hear the answer to the following question?
Dear Pixologic, can i send this DOC file to other users?

Reactor: Thanks for the explanation. :slight_smile: Maybe someday it will be in there…

I wouldn’t compare Deep Paint or Body-Paint to Z2. Neither one of those programs will offer the same functionality of what Z2 can. I seriously doubt you will find ANY other software that will allow you to paint displacements, and be able to see them without having to test render to see “Results”. While I’d like to see 3D painting made available in Z, I’d hardly fault Texture Master for not doing so now, especially considering it’s uses.

:smiley:

EDIT:

What Z2 Means to Me!

Sorry this has taken so long, but it took me a while to actually figure out some of the concepts for the new Z2. But here is my impression of the new Z2, wether or not it means anything to anyone else, I felt I’d like to give a rundown on most of it’s new features, and how I think they’ll help me.

Interface.

I never had a problem with the current (1.55) interface, so hopefully the interface isn’t that much different so I can start using the new Z quickly. My favorite feature I think will be the Active Zoom. Especially if you can use that while painting textures!

Materials

I’m looking forward to these first and foremost, because of 1) The Fibre Shader, and 2) the ability to copy and paste materials together.

I can’t say too much about what I’ll do with this yet, but I can see me using materials, especially baking materials, a lot more than I had originally planned.

The cavity shaders make for an interesting idea. Especially for aging items quickly. I can honestly see this cutting down the time needed to create accurate looking textures, because a lot of it will be done as a material. Cool stuff here.

Groups/Zspheres

This is the meat and potatoes of what I’ve been wanting to do ever since I’ve started learning 3D about a year and a half ago. These improvements will allow me to create 3D characters for my comic book, give me the potential to pose, transfer, add to, and take away from any and all Zif objects. Being able to add geometry as a Zsphere is going to be awesome, and I can see this being a very easy way to add clothing, shoes, hats, hair, hands, different expressive heads, and so on! This will be the first thing I think I will tackle. I simply cannot wait!

Multi-Resolution Mesh Editing/Advanced Geometry Tools

Sub-D’s done right! With the ability to refine and alter the base mesh, there simply isn’t any need to go to another program to model. Although I haven’t played with this yet, I can see that I won’t ever need to go to another program to make the things I want to. I applaud Pixologic in this because now it looks like there will be much more control over how much geometry you need to create objects in Zbrush! Way to go Pixologic!

My only concern is wether or not the Edge loop or the Divide functions will be accessible in adaptive preview mode of the Zspheres. If that is the case, then I will be very happy!
Sculpting Brushes

:smiley: My precious… 'Nuff said

Visibility Controls

Interesting Stuff. This will help out greatly for those of us who want to model every single tooth inside a head! LOL Also, I can see using this for other things too, like hiding the arms or legs of a character if they aren’t shown. Or hiding parts of castle pieces to make it look like debris scattered across a field. Although it doesn’t say wether or not the objects remain hidden in final render, I think it will. Either that or you can delete/trim it.

Cool feature!

Symmetry Restoration

This is probably more useful for programs other than Z2. I wonder if this will mirror copy UV’s that were created by another program. That could prove useful to Game developers who are looking to conserve texture space.

Paint Controls/Alpha/Strokes/Texturing

This is something that will definitely speed the workflow for texturing. My favorite tool is probably going to be the paint roller brush. Sweetness!

Transformable Strokes

Not sure if I’ll use this too much. But you never know. It’s good to have though, especially if you are able to use this with Texture Master which I assume is the case considering the nature of Zbrush.

Zscript Enhancements

Taking a lead from Svengali, I will make a point to master Zscripting. It may take awhile, but I will do it. I look forward to the improvements that will be made for better Zscript writing, and hopefully I’ll figure it out soon enough.

Conclusion

I’ve missed a few things, but overall, I would like to say that I am very pleased with what Pixologic has made. I am almost 100% sure I will be able to get rid of my other 3D apps because of the functions the new Z2 will have, and to me, that is very good news! I want to personally thank the Beta Testers for taking the time to help Pixologic Beta test this, and for providing tutorials for the benefit of Z2’s new users!

Thanks for the update Pixologic, and I’ll be waiting patiently for it’s release!

what outstanding news!!!

after hours reading the tour-sites i find some words…

2 day to late, but that means 2 days less to wait :wink:

great work Pixologic!

thousands of :+1:

Oh My God :grimacing:
Congratulations for all the people involved in the development of this AWESOME new version :+1:

he folks pretty new to zbrush, but waiting for the new v.2, Im a lightwaver so I can see the tremedous value there is in a workflow with zbrush. The displacement normal maps, has blown me away.

Still looking around, but can you import other model formats into v2. lwo, ma, etc
from lightwave, max, maya ??? or is it still
obj

wchamlet I really thanks your reflexion of the new version, this allow to people like me without artistic formation to open the eyes to other utilities¡¡
Feel free to share every reflexion or notes you think will help us here in the forum¡¡
Andreseloy

I don’t see any mention of improving the renderer. All these new features are lovely if you want to export to C4D etc. to get a decent render, but I was kind of hoping that the new version would at least do things like:

Decent antialiasing (without needing to work at 2X size and resizing)]

ray tracing or at least decent approximations like reflections, transparency, caustics, etc.

HDRI

Better lighting model

ZB’s tools rock, but rendering has always been a REAL weak point. Everything out of ZB LOOKS like it came out of ZB. Here’s hoping…

Monkeyfarm and others,

I think you’re all missing something simple and profound. With the addition of multiple resident plug-ins and the potential for integrating custom, dynamic linked libraries, ZBrush becomes totally open-ended.

If the user base grows large enough and those users express a need for more sophisticated features, a herd of 3rd party developers will step forward to offer all kinds of new capabilities and enhancements to ZBrush. Bet on it.

The only drawback is we’ll have to pay extra for the really good stuff, but hey, that’s the way it works.

In the meantime, we get this amazing upgrade for free.

Sven

:o

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> I think you’re all missing something simple and profound. With the addition of multiple resident plug-ins and the potential for integrating custom, dynamic linked libraries, ZBrush becomes totally open-ended.

If the user base grows large enough and those users express a need for more sophisticated features, a herd of 3rd party developers will step forward to offer all kinds of new capabilities and enhancements to ZBrush. Bet on it.

The only drawback is we’ll have to pay extra for the really good stuff, but hey, that’s the way it works.

In the meantime, we get this amazing upgrade for free.
Sven<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks a great thing! I agree 100%.

Now, if the plug-ins can be made so that they are compltely cross-platform, that would be the untimate dream come true!!!

-Bill

DP better then BP2? your dreaming. BP2 is way faster and more usable then DP not to say anything about the price.

Oh man!!!..(passed out)… :eek:

Absolutely “AMAZING!:grimacing: Thank you Pixolator and to the team at Pixologic you guys are awesome. :+1: :+1:

Meyek

Hi all,
i don’t have the authorization to post, send or share my doc on Z2 preview.
Sorry folks.

cameyo

I’ve been working with 1.55 for a few months now and, after seeing the Z2 features, I can’t think of a single limitation or weakness that hasn’t been addressed to my satisfaction. Thank you, Pixologic, for keeping your finger on the pulse of the community! :smiley: