ZBrushCentral

Total newbie requires sage advice

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hello,

I am just joining the group and I hope this is the appropriate forum to ask the following question. I am a classically trained artist and am competent with both 2D and 3D traditional media. However, aside from playing around with some 2D digital media like photoshop, mostly to clean-up non-digital images, I have absolutely no experience with the 3D digital world. The problem is I have notebooks full of hundreds of imaginary creatures that I want to see realized (well at least realized in 3D digital form.)

I have done the research and determined that Zbrush is the primary tool I require to achieve my goal. The problem is going back to square one and having to learn a whole new way of making art. I want to shorten the learning curve as much as I possibly can, so I can get up and running realizing some of these critters, knowing of course there is always more to learn.

The question is should I engage a private tutor to help me through this process because I am so freaking clueless about this stuff or should I go through one of the online providers like Zbrush Workshops, who are actually offering a Dinosaur course that could be extremely valuable? Or perhaps a combined approach? I do not want to wait until next fall to sign-up for a Zbrush course at a community college or such, I need to get going in the near term.

Any comments would be appreciated, especially by those like me who came out of a traditional art background.

Thanks

#2

If you’re classically trained your learning curve is going to be mostly interface, and workflow.
Neither of these are that bad.

If you’ve never worked in 3D before you should pick up the navigation rather quickly. The people whom complain about the navigation are coming from another 3D package and are upset it isn’t the same as their other one. You should pick it up rather quickly, a week or so usually, but that can vary based on your familiarity with computers and the use of hot-keys.

Workflow can vary drastically depending on the final output you plan to achieve. 3D printing, 2D image, game art, film art, etc.
So knowing what you want to achieve as the end goal will help get you on the right track to where you want to go.

The hardest part of learning Zbrush isn’t learning Zbrush, it is learning to sculpt. If you already know that, you can pick it up rather quickly, my friends that I have taught to use Zbrush that already sculpt will pick it up and be comfortable within a month usually. Granted, to stay current you need to keep learning about the new tools, etc that Zbrush introduces, rather regularly.

Pick up a tutor or a digital version of that isn’t a bad idea. Picking up a video or 2 about the intro to Zbrush couldn’t hurt. You could also try out something like Digital Tutors as they have a large catalog of Zbrush stuff and have a montly subscription so you can learn as much as you can in that month for fairly cheap. Eh, up to you in the end.

Hope that helps you decide what you want to do.

#3

Hi Beta-channel,

Thank you for the information.

Sculpting with modeling clay or Sculpey comes very naturally to me, what I find daunting is all the technical stuff involved with ‘sculpting’ in the digital realm.

Right now I would be satisfied with taking my ideas from a sketch in a notebook to a finished digital 3D sculpture, I will then see what direction to take from that point.

Have you heard of Zbrush Workshops? They have a subscription program along the lines of Digital Tutors, and are currently offering a Zbrush Dinosaur course with a fellow named David Krentz, this could be a great help in realizing my designs.

Before embarking on the course, I would need to have a basic understanding of how to use the program, and apparently they can also provide this elementary level of training at Zbrush Workshops.

I still think it would be easier to pay a personal tutor to guide me through the introductory learning process, a little handholding early could save a lot of frustration.

Thanks again