As somet of you know I have used Carrara and its fore runner RDS for a few years and latterly Amapi 6 and of course Poser for creating exceptional models. Now I have had a really good look a Zbrush http://pixologic.com/ and have found it to be an exceptional tool for modelers and texture makers. One of the hardest trials in texture makeing is to get the texture to fit completely undistorted, Zbrush can do this extremily quickly and accurately, without the user having to understand complex proceedures. It is a must have for that alone! It also has a powerful yet simple set of editing tools to shape organic (head and creature type) models. Carrara's sphere of attraction and Amapi's deformer tool do not come close to it. It is exerlent for morph targets as well for Poser.You can export in obj format for Carrara, Poser and Amapi. You can import an image onto the background to trace over Zbrush also has exerlent 2d drawing/painting tools for image creation which have the option to work like 3d effects which niether Carrara, Amapi or Poser have. You will still need Carrarar, Amapi and Poser in you arsenal, but Zbrush will take you to the next level. Zbrush is selling for a limited time for only $292 us (50% off). It also has an amazing scripting program that teaches you the programe the likes of which I have never seen before. Like all programs there is a learning curve but not greater than Carrara or Amapi. You can even download a demo which allows most things to work. I sincerly recommend it to you all who wish to advance in the realm of 3d with out great cost. Regards PATRICK MARTIN Professional Modeler EMAIL patrick.martin@xtra.co.nz WEB SITE http://www.life3d.co.nz/

Put an undistorted, seamless checkerboard pattern on a Poser figure w/out first having to UVmap it in another app, and you'll make me buy Zbrush on the spot ;-)

It will do this- check out the rhino example in the texture master script in Zbrush and you will see the proof- does it in the demo mode as well, Patrick

I have ZBrush, it rocks!!!!!!!

The above is an unsolicited testimonial for which I have received no renumeration either in money or goods. Nor the promise of future such benefit or benefits either in the USA or worldwide. Neither PhilC or any employer, relation, associate, or pet of PhilC Designs Ltd, has been offered any identical or similar incentive.

And the rocking may be cured by placing an old AOL CD under the corner of the monitor

lmao@PhilC !!!

heyas; do you have a picture of this checkerboarding sample thing? :) man, i been wanting zbrush... now its on sale??? how long? i wasnt gonna spend any more money this year.... :/

Here's a pic of the rhino from the TextureMaster script. You can download the demo and the TextureMaster script from the pixologic website.

I think ZBrush is one of the coolest programs around! I have to sit down and properly learn it one of these days. There never seems to be enough time.

I'm off for downloading NOW - thanx!

I just got the upgrade! I had put ZBrush in a dark corner for a long time. I don't know why, but I just never got into using it. But with the new update, I believe that I will dust it off and start doing some work with it. James PS: I diddn't see that script on the site, I'll have to look for it now! Note: You have to upgrade to use "Scripts"!

To get your new TextureMaster ZScript, simply log on www.zbrush.com -- the information is under "Latest NEWS" on the home page (2ond item) , or you can click on the ZScript ICON showing on the left. (navigation bar). You will have access to the ZScript Library. There you will find TextureMaster amongst other ZScripts. TextureMaster will only work with the latest version of ZBrush 1.23b. The script works for both the DEMO and the commercial version. Hope the information helps... PS: If you are interested in creating your own landscape, I recommend the Alpha Century Terrain ZScript, and or the Green Thumb Tutorial...

Darn! Got the demo, went thru the TexMaster script. As I challenged 7/8'sirish above, "Put an undistorted, seamless checkerboard pattern on a Poser figure w/out first having to UVmap it in another app...". The Rhino used in the script is a DAZ Rhino, and DAZ provides all their models with nicely optimized UV templates. These are done (AFAIK) in an app called Flesh, which is way, way outta my price range. Zb definitely has some very unique and really cool tools for making patterns/tex's - but it won't beat DeepPaint or BodyPaint which also do (semi)automatic UVmapping. Alas, these are also way outta my price range so far :-(

Hi thip, As a general rule, you should choose the application that will better fit your needs -and your "price range" :-) If you are only interested in creating/modifying a texture to be used on a 3D object, you can use ZBrush or any of the other excellent 3D-Painting applications; each of the available programs has its own strengths and weaknesses in features, price and features/price ratio. If, on the other hand, you are also interested in creating new 3D models or creating morph-targets for Poser, then ZBrush is your ticket:). Besides the fact that 3D Texturing and 3D Modeling is only a portion of what you can do in ZBrush, you may want to consider the following... 1. Poser figures/props which are exported from Poser in OBJ format will already contain proper UV coordinates assigned which ZBrush will recognize and use for 'undistorted what you see is what you get' texture mapping. 2. ZBrush will retain the proper vertices count and order of imported object, which allows for fast (and fun) Morph-target creation process. 3. All Objects created within ZBrush will have automatic UV coordinates assigned to them and can be exported and used in Poser. 4. If needed, standard UV mapping can be re-applied to imported objects (Cylindrical, Planar, Spherical) I am certain that you'll figure these things out as you learn more about ZBrush:)

Hi, jaimelab - well, I'm already using Truespace for making models. It's just that TS's UVmapping is pretty useless outside TS. My limited abilities at tex-making would definitely be lifted to new heights by Zbrush, but UVmapping remains the "bottleneck". Cox's UVmapper is great, but you have to do a lot of handiwork to make a good UVmap for a complex models, and I do seem to get myself into some pretty complicated messes these days ;-)

Here is an example from one of my own custom made heads. I took it into Zbrush and gave it spherical mapping the neck is a seperate group and would have been better with cylindrical mappng.Prior to taking the head into Zbrush it had no uv mapping.

Regards Patrick

MOST impressive, Paddy - both the modeling and tex'ing!!! This thread is turning into a very interesting tex'ing discussion. I didn't mean to belittle Zbrush, it's a fantastic (and sometimes exasperating) piece of sw. But, as you can tell from your own example, any pattern gets squished and stretched when applied. No problem with natural tex's such as skin (human or rhino) but try applying a scotch tartan or (or checkerboard pattern) to a dress or blouse that has not been UVmapped beforehand. You'll see what I mean.

This is new spherical uv mapping with a different axis made in Zbrush.Compare this to the image I posted above in number 16

Patrick

You oughta be working for Pixologic, Paddy ;-) Hate to be such a spoilsport, but my problem is tex'ing things that don't lend themselves easily to any standard mapping, such as the jacket/helmet etc. shown in my posting (15) above. Can't import it into the demo version, but I'll try to model a jacket-like thingie from scratch in Zbrush and show what I mean. Pls don't get tired by this tennis match, everyone - I think we might all learn something (I'M certainly learning a lot!).

heyas; so zbrush makes uvs? what i want to know is, in the rhino example there, now did they remap the rhino to a flat side view and project the checkerboards on, or did it calculate how to make the square squares on the standard uvmap it has (it looks like the daz rhino...)? the other thing is, if you turn this rhino, what's it look like at an angle? i mean, yeah, i dont expect the squares to look perfectly square from every angle -- that wouldnt even be realistic. i just wonder how they do that.

Heyas - 7/8'sirish was kind enough to spend some time mapping and tex-ing the jacket shown in (15) above, to show us all what Zbrush can do. Mapping in UVmapper, tex-ing in Zbrush. Looks damn good, irish - Zb is rapidly climbing towards the top of my lengthy must-have list. Thanx from all of us.