ZBrushCentral

Which technique is the best in ZBrush?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi there,

I know this probably is a question everyone will have a different answer to, or possibly even say “all of the techniques are suitable for a specific purpose”.
I am aware of the fact that one can use the shadowbox etc., but my main concern is that I am really havin gproblems relating to the digital sculpting.
I sculpt in clay, and I always know what my fingers are doing with the specific tools. Personally, I like ZSpheres in combination with ZSketch best. It seems to be the closest to what I am doing with the clay.
A few months back I bought a book by Eric Keller to help me get started on ZBrush. And while I had no real problems following his tutorials, I do have to say that I easily forget all the steps if, like in the past few months, I had to concentrate on other things than learning ZBrush. How the ZSpheres work, however, I seem to remember quite well. Of cours,e I still. Av to look up a few things here and there, but it seems more natural to me to use this technique rather than starting out with only polygons only, or even using DynaMesh.

What I am wondering now is, would it hurt if I concentrated on learning character sculpting in ZBrush with ZSpheres and ZSketch while, if necessary, using another technique, or do you guys think it is imperative to know every single technique in ZBrush by heart?
As I understand it, there are different approaches to get the result one is looking for, but maybe that’s just my interpretation because I am having problems getting accustomed with the other ways of sculpting in ZBrush.

Any opinions, advice etc. is very much appreciated! :slight_smile:

#2

I must admit, opened this tread thinking it was going to be a joke but you pose a very legitimate question that I think alot of ZB beginners go through. Zbrush is NOT linear which is awesome but lead to some trial and error before you find what method is best. It’s not This>Then this>Then this>Finally that. It can be daunting because the scope of options is sooo wide.

What I found best when teaching other people how to use Zbrush is find something that you are comfortable with, in this case Zspheres, and work using that. Then on a project, pick one or two new things and try using them over the course of the project. It’s incredibly easy to forget techniques that you don’t do over and over again. On the flip side it’s very easy to get overloaded if you are trying 15 new concepts. So I feel that tackling three techniques per project is max for a beginner.

I feel like some of the creation tools in Zbrush are for people that don’t know/use/want to use other 3d applications. There are still creation methods I rarely use in Zbrush just because I am more comfortable doing it a different way so I try that first. I never use Shadow Box, even tho its a great tool, because I feel I can make it faster in 3dsmax. If that fails I will dig deeper into other methods. It’s all about experience and getting a feel for what will work and what may not. I WILL say however, that some hard surface things are still easier to make with traditional highpoly SubD modeling techniques so those are valuable to have.

So no, I don’ think it will hurt to stick to one feature for a while… as long as you keep adding others to your “tool box” over time :slight_smile:

#3

I would sugest you to watch other people sculpting in Z.
There are so many techniques they yuse. As a traditional sculptor, you should get things very quickly. I think the main problem is to learn the interface - where is what? what is that opt for? etc…
You said you forget things. Me to forget the tools I use rarely (I needed a moment to remind myslef how to swith to the ZSketch mode, or to rig with zspheres)

I will send you some links with recorder ZBrush sesions, of other ppl, that inspires me and show a different techniques…You may find them helpful , interesting for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pBfgZRtPNM&list=PL0B477FE49E342ED5&index=2&feature=plpp_video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI1nfK4PW6Y&list=PL0B477FE49E342ED5&index=6&feature=plpp_video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BeginrHY6c&feature=relmfu

https://vimeo.com/29446436

https://vimeo.com/20205512

#4

Thanks guys, that really gets my hopes up again!
I had started to feel frustrated because the progress I made was less than what I had expected, and yes, learning the interface if one is not face to face with ZBrush on a daily basis really is a challenge. Needless to say, I have to find my way into how the interface works if I don’t have time to get back to ZBrush for a few weeks.

And thanks also for the videos, I will definitely check them out. I have been browsing the pixologic site yesterday and watched a few instructional videos which were quite helpful.
So then, I will probably concentrate on the ZSpheres first since it seems to be the easiest way for me to translate the traditional sculpting methods onto the digital medium.

Oh, and sorry for the spelling mistakes in the first posting, the iPad does that I guess… :wink:

#5

If you like Zspheres, you should take a closer look on a DynaMesh function.
And Pixo’s training videos are , I think, the fastes way to know the different functions.
Good luck and I’m waiting to see some of your works :+1:

#6

Well, hopefully things like my last real sculpture, just in digital form :wink: