Interesting thread to read through. Definitely a lot of very "passionate" posts. 
Is that a cool new feature? I think so. Will I use it at work? No. Will I use it for my personal projects? possibly.
Anyway, keep us posted with these new features, I am really looking forward to see how Z4 is coming along.
What if Pixologic takes the ātechnicalā side of animation and turns it into a more fluid and fun process? There are quite a few differing opinions on which software supplies the best animation system, but in the end, the process for all 3d animation packages is not drastically different. We can only assume that Pixologic might be bringing the same revolutionary approach they did with 3d creation to animation. Its all speculation until Zbrush 4 is unveiled.
I say bring it on!!! As long as these new features in animation effect the stability of ZB then hey BRING IT ON!Provided that Pixo continues to perfect the modeling/texture/painting features (as they have, like no other app, imo) why not add on animation. I welcome it.
ā¦I only ask: Please be fair and release all updates constantly with both mac & pc users= Happy communityā¦and equal family of bad azz ZB artists! Yey Pixo!
VERRRY NICCCCE!
you should re read my post, I said itās MOST LIKLEY be imossble to transfer a whole functioning rig. Like I said you could get a series of nulls out, and maybe even the wieghting too now that I think about it.
I did not know there was a direct way of making an mr shader from a map, that could be very useful . Can you point me to a link to this info?
well they could push it further and have a max and maya plugin that actually change de way skinning works but in depth , so it adapts to the zspehre rig ā¦
Ok I canāt really code much of anything , sounds like wizardry to me ā¦ so Iām just imagining here ā¦ but pixo has a way of surprising people ā¦ there are a lot of things that I thought would be useful but hard to implement ā¦ yeah like the projection of details on mesh of different topologies and all ā¦ and pixo delivered more than expected ā¦ so ā¦ ( he also delivered wayyyyy later than expected LOL , but it was all worth it )
I see no problem with adding this feature. It solves a lot of problems when creating characters and see if they can move correctly with the design. See if the legs will bend the right way before sending the design to the rigger. If the rig does transfer then all the better. I donāt see how people can complain about anything ZBrush has done. It has changed my life for the better in so many ways. Thanks for everything Pixo
I donāt understand why people are against these animation features.
They could serve well at least freelancers and designers to show off their models, make small animations and so on.
Also its not because ZB has animation that the goal becomes wanting to catch up with 3D general apps like Maya. We dunno for sure.
Complex things in production for high end animation purposes will keep to be made in apps like Maya or XSI, and others, for years, because you need to have full control over several aspects of animations, deformations, dynamics, clothes, hair, NLA, render in passes, and moreā¦the toolset to provide to get at that level would be just too vast, IMO. Truth is, its now all too technical, even if, this gives you complete control.
so the scheme best app for specific need will continue in time. But sayng ZB shouldnāt have some limited animation features at all is just wrong.
Just say bugs have to be squashed, workflows have to be made more straightforward, UI could use some good clean up. Say you want texture layers and better retopo tools, but donāt say no to new features. This stops evolution of the app.
ZB put the artistic approach into 3D, which years ago was way too technical and this limited artists in many ways.
Truth is quite the opposite and its that, rather than ZB having to become a general 3d app, is general 3D apps that should become way more artist oriented, since they have complete features yet. But they arenāt artist oriented yet.
I bet we will get there in something like 10 years from now, and iāll personally be happy if ZB will be one of these new generation apps.
Very artist oriented 3d apps where things that take hours or days now, will be obtained in minutes.
Aye, very James Bondy!
sorry for not considering the āmost likelyā got carried away trolling
search google/max help/maya help for grayball shader, it is part of production shaders, you just give the matcap image and you get an identical render to zbrush.
here is a step by step guide:http://norman3d.com/blog/?p=11
AmaZING!!!
Thanks Pixolator!
Thanks so much! You deserve our admiration and gratitude for this gem. To me, as a part of the ZBrush community, is an honour to see this revolution in the evolution of the animation and for sure, you will made all more easy for us!
I agree with all the kind and positive comments about these masterpiece!
Andreseloy_The OldManā¦
:)small_orange_diamondsmall_orange_diamondsmall_orange_diamondsmall_orange_diamond Great video! I can`t wait to read more about it.
Itās cool that Pixologic is trying to even further expand Zbrushās abilities, but this seems a bit im-practical. Animation and hi-res sculpting are very different things.
In my opinion, adding animation to zbrush would be like trying to add 3D modeling tools to Photoshop. This may be a bit of an extreme analogy but I hope you get my point. I would much rather see new poly modeling tools or more sculpting brushesā¦ or even just some more bug fixes, rather than trying to add an entirely new function (that seems limited).
As for the animation, it is so blocky and choppy it makes me wonder if there are any tools to edit your animation curves. 
I could not be more excited by the coming animation features. I have bought many animation programs over the years, but havenāt had one I really liked in as long as I can recall. I fully expect to make use of these features and canāt wait to learn more about them.
I can sympathize with those who use a fraction of zBrushās toolset alongside other established programs in their professional endeavors and feel that Pixologic should be putting more effort into refining existing features rather than adding new ones. I think it should be remembered that zBrush did not debut with the features most people associate with it, nor was it apparent from the early versions that these features could or would ever be implemented. Pixologic changed CG with the release of version 2 and what was new then has since been copied (some might say improved upon) by countless other tools since. Given the history of innovation with each new version of zBrush, I wouldnāt really care if they did add video editing or word processing to it. Someone just might have a use for those features, even if they were redundant to me.
I only hope that future versions of the program will be reasonably bug-free and released in a timely manner without the type of misleading or erroneous launch dates we have seen in the past.
Pixologic teamā¦ BRING ON THE ANIMATION !!!.. and it can only get better with the higher forms of intelligence WHO program ZB
Hi:)
The new features in Z4 will dramatically impact all phases of the art creation process. These features will help you from the concept stage to the final stage as well as while creating a compelling presentation. They may also be used in conjunction with a 2D image, such as a ZBrush-render or an imported image. Here is an example in which I have created a movie from a single image. The image was created by PSTCHOART (See his thread in here.)
Enjoy the show:)
<IFRAME src=āhttp://www.pixologic.com/zbrush/features/morph/morph.htmlā frameBorder=0 width=610 height=455></IFRAME>
-Pixolator
and i was wondering why the link in the top row was gone 
Amaziiingā¦
yeah!! exiting feature, im happy again!!
yep, jiggling all over 