ZBrushCentral

do i need a new workstation to run zbrush?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

i am using the zbrush demo (retail copy will be delivered early next week) and i noticed that using the snake tool about 8 times on a simple ball subdivided 4x made the model unrotatable. am i kidding myself getting into zbrush, i do not have much money to spend because this is just a hobby i wanted to try (at this point). below is my workstation:

2.8Ghz Intel Xeon
1 GB PC2700 RAM (scalable to 12GB)
nVidia Quadro4 980 XGL 128MB
80GB 7200 rpm HDD
Window XP Pro 32-bit

in June i was going to buy a medium Intuos4, but then i will be pretty much out of money to blow until January 2010. what should i do? Thanks!

#2

Your specs aren’t too terrible. I’d put some money into getting your memory up to 3 or 4GB since you’re running a 32-bit OS. I think XP 32-bit can deal with 3GB, but I may be wrong, so you’ll want to check with your system specs.

ZB doesn’t leverage the graphic’s adapter all that much (mostly for Zmapper) for so for painting and sculpting the memory is going to be the most limiting issue.

For me, your hard disk is a little light (I’m a terrible packrat), but certainly adequate; the OS and ZB and lots of other stuff will easily pack in under 20GB, leaving 60GB free data, pics, other applications, music, etc.

You’ll definitely want a tablet to work with ZBrush, so an Wacom Intuos should be on the near-term shopping list. Also, Windows 7 will likely be shipping the end of this year, so next year will be a far more adventageous time to by a new system, once the models with Windows 7 preinstalled come out.

-K

#3

i was thinking about getting 2GBs of RAM (3.3GBs seems to be the 32-bit limit), and i have (2) 250GB HDDs that i can store files on. i have another slot to add a second 2.8GHz Xeon, and i believe i can also add a second Quadro4 980 XGL 128mb if i had to. i do not want to spend money i do not have to, but i want zbrush to run well otherwise i have wasted $510 on the program. what are your thoughts, and if you do not mind what are your specs. thanks!

btw, is the demo perhaps slower than the full version that is on its way to me?

#4

The demo is the same as the full version. I would go to 3 or 4GB RAM so you can maximise your number of polys.

Richard

#5

Now that you guys are at it, I need some opinion as well.

Thus far, I can raise my resolution to about 1.2M poly per mesh without slowing down. When I raise it to 3M, it`s in near unworkable state.
What can I do to push up this limit?

I`m using -
Vista 32BIT
Core2Duo E6750 2.67GHz
4GB RAM - a mix of 2x1GB 667MHz and 2*1GB 800MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT

Also, does adjusting this cause ZBrush to run better?
Preferences --> Mem --> Compact Mem

THX