Ok I own up, I bought ZB2 thinking it would revolutionalise my poser life, but got bogged down with learning it and ended up more than a little frustrated. So the question is. Did you start out thinking ZB2 would really give you lots of power in your Poser life? What did you think you could do in ZB2 that you couldn't quite get working? Finally What tutorials couldn't you find to enable you to do what you want? I ask because I feel I have wasted more than a bit of time working with ZB2 and want to stop that and use it how I wanted to, for textures and models and all sorts of exciting things. Rather than thrash around on this and that I thought I'd ask so I can focus on things other people want to do too, work out how to do things and make some tutorials. Hope that makes sense :) John

I thought zmapper would assist in doing peltmap uv maps.. but it only does noral maps, based off existing uv mapping. Which doesn't make a lot of sense, since p[rograms like lightwave and poser use the uv mapping AS normal mapping,. And much like poser, the interface is just a bear to learn. Also, th elack of a "hard" manual is kind of a pisser, especially with a program that is dificult to wrap your head around. Its still in my "utilites that have not been worth the investment" pile, along with Tailor, (and it's updates)and a few other programs. (Though with Tailor, I just have not had the occasion to really need to learn and use it yet.)

Well, Morphs are an absolute breeze and texturing is fun but I do wish you could import 2 models at the same time and retain them working independantly. I want to work on clothing and it is just TOO handy having a clothing dummy there. I KNOW there is a workaround using material groupings and alpha channel but I have yet to figure it out pout

I love ZB2, but there is so much to learn. In terms of Poser, I would love to know a way of being able to paint a texture from a photograph (or set of photographs) onto a Poser figure using Projection Master. I understand that you can do this sort of thing in Deep Paint 3D. Re displacement mapping, I don't know where to start. Any clues ?

Yep.. go to thier forums, and download the practical guide to zbrush. There a tutorial that shows you how to create a displacement map, and apply it in poser!

Been trying to do that with Apollo Max and not having much luck. I keep thinking it is one thing but then I do it again and never get past reapplying the disp map. pout Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Everything takes time to learn, RKane. I've been at this stuff full time for 2 years now, and I know I still have a LOT to learn, and experiments to attempt. Poser is VERY deceptive.. it all LOOKS very easy, but when you look under the hood, it's a friggin nightmare to make everything work as you want to. I took 2 months this last year alone, to JUST improve my development skills. There are so many utilites to attempt to master, and then of course there are always new tricks to relearn in poser itself. I would serious post in the apollo forums over at RDNA, and ask Anton about Apollo and zbrush. He's very approachable, dispite what many people might say, and he'll really attempt to help you if he can.

"I would love to know a way of being able to paint a texture from a photograph (or set of photographs) onto a Poser figure using Projection Master" this is very easy to do using the Zapplink plugin,look for the video tuts at Zcentral a Zbrush to Poser displacement tut is available at Poser pros

Is the new version that was supposed to be here in December out yet? Haven't gotten anything from them to let me know. I've been with them since it first came out, and although the learning curve is a bit steep it is an awesome program. I've never regretted getting it. Marque

I did most of the morphs for 3DCommune's new Alexa2 all with ZB2. For that alone it is a very valuable tool, but only scratches about 5% of ZB's potential. As far as using it alone and for modeling and texture, I'm a continual newbie all the way from version 0.95 ZB takes more time than I have to give it. It's become almost overwhelming with the number of features it has. There's more to remember when using ZB. You have to know what comes next a few steps ahead.

Zapplink looks fun, any useful links for tutes or product details? John

http://206.145.80.239/zbc/showthread.php?t=29628&highlight=Zapplink http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=28111 Zapplink is a free plugin for Zbrush,use it in conjunction with your favourite paint app

Cool, I had a quick look at a couple of vids this morning before work (any excuse not to go just yet) looks interesting, I can just about see how you could use it to map photos onto a model. I spent most of sunday playing qith ZSpheres and have got to a level that is just below actually usable :) I'm going to have a go at displacement mapping some clothes I'm working on later. Will do a small tute if it all works ok. Just a thought on needing a manaquin for cloth modelling, while not ideal, why not import a poser figure and position it front on in Zb then drop it to the canvas, then repeat with side on (keeping the scale the same). While not ideal you could use those models to get a good approximation for the initial mesh. Then have a look at the Cloth primitives in my freestif to get the mesh to fit better, then export to Zb to add detail etc. Sounds a bit impractical but I'm sure with a bit of work it'll work out. John

Thanks, John. Also thanks for the little texture .pdf you cranked out for me. VERY helpful! Gareee, I tried posting about it over at the Apollo forums but Anton relayed to me that I would have better luck posting elsewhere.

Where it has kind of fallen short for me is in the texturing area. I am sure it is very powerful but using it with the unimesh is just impossible for me. I would love be able to texture and use it for displacement but the multiple maps thing kills it. It looks great for models that can use it. I love it for morphs though.

Hmm maybe he's also tried working with apollo in Zbrush, and run into similar issues?

I think he doesn't use/like ZBrush ... But that is just from passing information. I know he prefers to do displacements in Photoshop.

Attached Link: http://www.physicalc-software.com/tutorials/zb/