ZBrushCentral

Noob Zbrush Criticism

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I’m an amateur animator working in 3D Studio Max, Maya, and Photoshop. Texturing has always been my greatest weakness. I’m horrible at texturing flat unwraps. It’s tedious, time consuming, inaccurate, and I believe that Zbrush is the answer to these problems. I’d been hesitant to want to try out Zbrush in the past because of nightmarish rumors about what it did to Unwraps and UV coordinates for later editing. However, recent demos and tutorials have me convinced that this is the tool I need to use to get results that I am happy with.

So I’ve installed it, and I’ve been tinkering with it for about a week now. I’d like to say that I think Zbrush is a very powerful sculpting and art tool. I’m am impressed with the program itself. I think it is asthetically pleasing to use, relatively easy to work with, and the concepts are very simple to understand; however, I’d like to also spend some time as a neophyte to discuss some of the features that I am not happy with, confuse me, or are just too difficult to get the hang of in any reasonable amount of time. I’m sure practice will make working with some of these things easier, but it is my belief that some of these basic features shouldn’t be complicated to begin with since they are integral functions to modeling in 3D space to begin with. If I seem unknowledgable about one of these particular topics, please feel free to educate me.

I am unhappy with the navigation controls in Zbrush. It seems to me that the ability to navigate effortlessly in a 3D space is the single, most important function that a 3D modeler has to have. 3D max and Maya have very simple navigation systems based on a simple control key drag. Someone who has never used either of these programs before can master navigation in these programs in about 10 minutes. Max even recently incorporated a tiny ‘idiot’ icon for quick navigation in the viewport. Zbrush navigation is difficult, redundant, and very time consuming to learn. Click drag to rotate, fine, that’s easy enough, but if I want to move around or zoom in or out, I have to hold down ctrl and shift whilst standing on my hands, juggling eggs with my toes, and ensuring that my waffles don’t burn.

This brings me to my next point; the control keys are another huge issue I have with Zbrush. They don’t make sense. Creating a control key to move an object and then clicking again, or whatever, to enable scaling is just silly, difficult to remember, and kind of a hassle to use. There is no reason a set of static shortcuts should have multiple actions appended to them. It’s excessive.

I get confused easily working in Zbrush space for two reasons. First of all, there are no status messages or any significant palette changes to remind me of what mode I am working in. I might be in 2.5D, I might be in 3D, I might have forgotten to convert my 3D objects in to static meshes, not to mention I’m working in all of these layers. This confusion has let me to unwanted permanent changes to objects simply because I wasn’t paying close enough attention to what mode I was working in. Usually, I figure it out at the point that a brush isn’t doing what I want it to do. It would be nice to be able to enable a status message on the viewport as to what mode, layer, and tool I was working with.

My second problem with working in Zbrush space is that Zbrush does not give me any clear definition of spatial relationships. It would be helpful to be able to enable rulers or grids on my coordinate planes so that I have more than just a vague idea of the depth and spatial relationships of objects.

My last issue is with the action bars. I guess they work okay, but they seem like a complicated method of doing something that should be really simple. Like the rotate action bar for instance. It rotates around a pivot on either side on a specific axis, but the center rotates it on another axis, and the circles do other things, yada yada yada… It just upsets me because I will have to use each action bar about 900 times before I understand AND remember how they work.

I guess those are my core issues. Understandably, some of my views are influenced by having worked in other programs, and I’m sure a lot of people who are used to working in Zbrush are perfectly happy with it and don’t wish to see any changes. I just wanted to give a fair and honest assessment of how I feel about the program my first time using it.

Thanks for your time.
Darryl

#2

The quickest, simplest method to getting around some of your problems is to not think of Zbrush as a 3D Modelling application like Maya or Max. I had the same problems you describe when i first started using it.

Try thinking or is more as a sculpting/drawing program. There is no real 3d space in zbrush. Everything happens from the same veiw point. Instead moving the camera around the object you are working on, you are moving the object around to the position you want to look at it, as if you were holding it in your hand. Once I started thinking in this manner, I was able to understand how and why things are the way they are.

One other huge thing is how you interact with it. Use a a Stylus and tablet. Mouse and keyboard might work, but the program is setup for the tablet.

#3

I think that your feelings are justified for a beginner. I had some of the same problems for the first few months of working with Zbrush, until I realized that the tutorials that they have on here are vital for the newbie. After I spent a couple of days watching the videos and reading some of the material that they provide on the different pallets and so forth, I found that I was able to navigate the software a lot better. I completely understand the issues with turning, not being able to tell whether or not you are in 2.5 or 3D or what. I think that is just one of the things that you learn as you go. I too wish there were rulers, but I recently found that Nick Z has made a very cool grid that kinda helps with size and distance and what have you.

http://nickzucc.blogspot.com/2009/04/zbrush-3d-grid-sub-tool.html

I think that one of the things that is best about Zbrush more than any other software I have learned to use is the support you have throughout the community. The more you ask questions, look at other peoples work and and read other peoples posts, the more you will learn and the better you will become with the program. I hope that this somewhat eases your mind to know that you are not alone with your issues.

Best

~Lar~

#4

Alright…long tangent probably (I’m a couple of beers down).

Anyway…
Navigation - Zbrush wasn’t designed to be a 3d program. It was originally meant as a 2d illustration tool…or 2.5D rather. So 3d navigation isn’t something that was built nativaly into Zbrush. (try using photoshops 3d navigation…ugh). Anyway, you also have to think that not everyone has a 3 or even 2 button tablet pen. So you have to be able to put all of the actions into a single click. Hence the press and hold x, press y, release y, etc. These comands are a pain at first, but become second nature in a short period of time. (if you’re first 3d app is zbrush, you think everything else is dumb for making you remember which of the 3 buttons to press). Also, if the shortcut nav keys are a pain, there are buttons on the right to use as well.

There is an update or status bar inside Zbrush (at the top, white letters) It doesn’t stay on screen all the time though, only during processes and whatnot. Also, the difference between 3d and 2.5D is called the EDIT button. If it is pressed, you’re in 3d, if not, you’re in 2.5D. It’s actually a rather large button in the UI.

As to spatial relationships, Zbrush wasn’t designed for work where I “must” have a 2mm gap between A and B. It was made as an artists tool so having the freedom to move and work in an artistic way is GREAT…I can’t stand doing much in Max (XSI is okay) because it is a technical artist’s tool.

But to I completely understand everything you’ve found cumbersome about the program (i was in your shoes once). And to most of our gripes and bitching Pixologic actually listens. We asked for a Grid, better texturing options, better exporters, ALT navigation, etc. All of these are in 3.12 on the mac. They will also be in 4, as well as damn near everything else we could ask for. If you haven’t seen the new stuff…here it is

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=071829
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=071414
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=071265

Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough so I will leave you to your devices. Anyway, Glad to have you here at ZBC. Hope to see some work from you soon.

#5

Adding to what goast said regarding the navigation, ZBrush’s keyboard shortcuts were designed with the idea that you would have one hand on the pen (or mouse) and the other hand on the keyboard. So all of the keyboard shortcuts are carefully planned to be accessible with the left hand.

They’re also arranged in sets. It’s actually pretty easy.

Q W E R T to deal with Draw/Edit and Move/Scale/Rotate.

Alt is for manipulating the model on the canvas (Move or Scale). It also reverses the functions of other features. (Ctrl masks, but Ctrl+Alt unmasks.)

There IS logic here. And as was mentioned, the more you use ZBrush the more apparent that logic becomes.

#6

I really appreciate all of the positive and mature feedback I’ve received. Thank you very much. I will take your suggestions to heart.