ZBrushCentral

ZAnimator, The Zbrush Animation Plugin: Video Demos (Update, Added a Test Doodle)

Shared ZScripts & Macros
#41

Ya know, for an 18 year old, you got it goin’ on dude! You’re great at 3d already! Not only from an artist’s stand point, but also an innovator’s! Just please, stay focused and keep it up - I sense a very bright future in the digital arts :idea:

#42

yah…i already commented but I can’t tell you how excited i am by the prospect of this plugin…

I have gotten to where i only like working in zbrush…i know everything there is to know in 3dsmax but i can’t help but feeling it kills my creative buzz. Having something like this in zbrush would be so much fun. I could see it spawing a whole underground of animations. I know I would do some short films using it.

Hopefully the zbrush guys will take notice of your efforts and reward u with support.

my only hope is that u release a beta of the plugin so we can start playing with it

#43

Thanks jamespthornton and nicholasmarks! Your comments are much appreciated!

@NicholasMarks You know, it's my very same feelings that pushed me to try to make something like this. I too like to work only in Zbrush, even though I know Maya quite well. Every thing in Zbrush feels much more artistic and much faster etc, also as you saw in the second video, I sculpted all my keys, which is quite cool (but that's only for morph-target animation u can't transpose an arm and expect constant bone-length as it only interpolates linearly, even though that would be awesome). The only problem is that the lack of precise technical control such as what you find in the level of Max and Maya for animation, has to be compensated by artistic control, vision and judgement using this plugin, but that's the thing, in Zbrush it's all artistic and still way faster to go about. It's a completely different style of work. My ZSphere animator as in the first video has a lot more work to be done unfortunately so I can't even release a beta yet. Either way a beta won't be possible till Z 3.5, since there is a major ZSphere bug in the framework which I had to make a huge workaround to avoid and which is why I can't release this, Z 3.5 is a very important step for the development of this plugin and don't forget all the new exciting features of Z 3.5 to apply to ZAnimator (ZSpheres 2). Good news is though that the Morph-Target animator (2nd video) is nearly complete, just needs a few important tweaks such as smoothing, curves etc, and I may release a beta just around the corner! But that's only for linear morph animations such as animating a face / head or anything that morphs. I will let you know as soon as possible.

Thanks for your interest and cheers!

#44

Just a doodle ZSphere animation test (in loop) created in a minute using ZAnimator plugin (the ZSphere animation plugin) which is still under intense development. The only contsraint to demonstrate here so far is bone-length constraint, nothing else yet. Just a doodle really, took me a minute only, plus a minute to slap out the quick Zphere rig.

NOTE : This is for technical testing and demonstration ONLY as always, don’t judge artistically<object width=“425” height=“344”><embed src=“http://www.youtube.com/v/V1H2WSD_zpY&hl=en&fs=1” type=“application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=“always” allowfullscreen=“true” width=“425” height=“344”></object>

#45

youd better stick with modeling :stuck_out_tongue:

#46

Lol dude you’re right, i do stick to modeling normally I’m not an animator, please understand this was for technical demonstration only, no thought or planning or time investment was put into the actual motion.

#47

… Darukin… I’d like to say something cool but I’m still picking my jaw back up… LYW! :+1: :+1:

#48

i’m following this little great plugin since some time! Its very interesting stuff what you reached to make even with current ZBrush limitations ! Cannot wait to play with it for sure.
I think that you should get in contact with ZBrush guys , maybe they could update ZB in the future and remove some of those limitations, so this plugin could grow big times!!
I dunno if its in their plans for the future, but an app like Zbrush able to do good char animation would totally change how 3D is made forever.

#49

ZBC1.jpg

Hi again and thanks for the encouraging replies Nemoid and Daddymack

Recently I got around to playing with ZAnimator again but this time with ZB3.5 finally and I made a few tweaks/ enhancements and a new demo.

ZSphere rigs for instance have bone length constraints now (if chosen)

It was nice how ZSphere keying also treated ZSketch nicely and topology.

Mainly this demo is food for though, for Pixologic, so they can see the potential in this concept and if not engage in it feature wise then at least to remove limitations for future releases for scripters like me, and also, to fix the ZSphere rigging so that skinning gives a proper deformation result so that ZSphere rigs can be more viable when actually animated. That’s the main point of the video and my attempts here.

Either way here’s the new demo, hope you like:

<OBJECT width=425 height=344>
&nbsp
&nbsp
&nbsp
&nbsp
&nbsp
<embed src=“http://www.youtube.com/v/nahq_EKxqAU&hl=en_US&fs=1&” type=“application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=“always” allowfullscreen=“true” height=“344” width=“425”></OBJECT>

#50

Quality stuff, love to have a play with this some time. Thanks for your time on this.

#51

WOW man, you really rock!
I see a lot of potential here! Really awesome stuff.
Good job! The guys from Pixologic Must check this out and think of implementing it in next versions.

I have one question. How about exporting these animations to other packages ? :slight_smile:

#52

Thanks for sharing. It looks great :+1:

#53

I`m very impressed. Cool video!

#54

Very cool feature!
Congratulations, very nice video and demo
Best regards
Fernando Kuhlmann

#55

ZBRUSH make this happen pleeasseeeee!!! dude this looks amazing what a concept clay-mation sculpture just how I trained as a student through traditional course in Bournemouth uk and to be able to sculpt and animate like this will be amazing… after working to learn digital sculpture in zbrush the last year or so I always find programes like Maya just a wee bit too big to learn in-between painting murals and having a life too… so yes please pixologic this is another step that takes zbrush to the next level…!!! awesome work :slight_smile:

#56

i think, you must entry in the team of pixologic :wink:

#57

Great video!

#58

Darukin,

This is really great. It sounds like this has been in development for a while. I really don’t know how I missed it :o ? I had brought up the idea of animation a couple years back, but everybody on the forum pooh poohed the idea at the time. Your approach is direct and at the very least is extremely useful for tutorials. However, even this simplified version would already be handy for showing a client your sculpture in motion without having to go outside of ZBrush to accomplish that task. And, people with a lot more skill than me, could actually pull off some pretty nice little skits with what you have right here. (I’m especially thinking of the Halloween contests! :lol:

Anyway great stuff and thanks for sharing,
Gary

#59

thought you might like to know after I just subscribed to your videos that the pixologic youtube channel here http://www.youtube.com/user/Zbrush3Dinfo just added your video as a fav… thats got to be good news bro Shine on!!!

#60

Thank you all for your vgery encouraging replies guys!

@pimeto
unfortunately not yet as far as exporting animations to other packages
but if Pixologic broke down some limits and allowed features to export
animation of a ZSphere rig to an external app, you know mapping each
ZSphere joint to a joint in external app, then this will be possible of course

As far as claymation, yea the keyframes are basically blend shapes.

As far as stop-motion:

If you’re animating a head rigged by ZSpheres or just animating a head with claymation, there is a feature in store where when you render, every frame will be exported out as an obj (maybe even with decimation master applied if option is toggled) so that’s the current exporting for you.

The main viable use for this humble plugin is for the claymation and stop-motion at the moment and maybe internal animation rendered out for whatever demo purposes.

tez, Bas Mazur, Moni-Poroni, earthtriber, yfchild, Al.Tintop, Fernando
Thanks!

@hyper
thanks m8! much appreciated!=) Was wondering what you mean by fact it will be very useful for tutorials and that approah is very direct?

@earthtriber
thanks bro good to hear!

Cheers! =)