ZBrushCentral

Final Render before finishing in Photoshop

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I just finished watching a Gnomon Workshop tutorial (Head Sculpting & Texturing), which ended by using Maya/Mental Ray to render.

Initially I got really excited about being able to use Zbrush to produce some projects I have planned. However I was left a little disillusioned by the end of the tutorial due to the inclusion of Maya.

I really can’t afford the highly priced Maya. Therefore is it possible to render the final image including UVS, Textures, colour etc in Zbrush. If so why export the UVS, Textures, Bump maps and GEO displacements into Maya?

Any pointers would be gratefully received. Thanks.

#2

the texture setup and also the metnal ray renderer for most people is a lot more customizable and preferrable to the same toosl in zbrush,

but by all mean it is very possible to get a great result within zbrush. (although i have never done it, so im not too sure how you would go about it)

zbrush+maya workflow is pretty much the standard in the industry as it not only allows for nice renders, but also for rigging and animation, or low poly displacement maps for use in game engines.

#3

Thanks Idrisguitar

I don’t think I have any choice due to Maya being so expensive.

Do you know of any tutorials on finalizing in ZBrush?

#4

if you search through gnomon and also digitaltutors, you should find some dvds that at leats have a couple of chapter dedicated to it.

i woudl recommend full comprehensive tutorials that basically cover every aspect of the software, so this would hopefully allow you to fully grasp the poly painting, and the retopologising of models, and other finialising steps that will allow for a better finished model.

also check out the tutorials by KURV studios (although the narrator has a heavy geordie accent ;))

im also sure you can find lots of text tutorials by google certain aspect, like rendeirng, lighting, materials etc.

but i would definitely recommend the dvd as ther enothign like actually seeing someone do it on screen (in that case also check if youtube has anything of use although its a longshot)

i hoep this has helped

#5

Free tutorials: ZBrush for Illustration (originally released for ZB2 but still incredibly informative and relevant) - Vimeo series of seven sessions posted by Meats Meier, sold several years ago on DVD from Gnomon.

Meats’ definitive answer to the question: “Is ZBrush an illustrator’s software?”

(important note: the ZBrush Marker Menu’s tools he uses are broken in ZB3.1 - they should be fixed in ZB4. On those occasions where he uses Markers placing tools into Z-space, you can use subtools and plugins like ModelViews instead.

Sven

#6

Thanks Svengali.

Useful info. I’ll give it a go.

Thanks again
Mark