Nightcrawler X-Men - Stepping in to Zbrush - plz hold my hand
 

Well its been a long time coming but my copy of Z brush hit the floor at my house yesterday - its time to start to learn it. Every other time I have tried has been with trails, and must say I did not get on with it. But its here to stay and a must to learn these days so here I go. Also after spending £480 I don`t really have my GF will kill me if I don`t start making some really cool models. All Mayaniac fault - his monitor battle with me opened my eyes to how much can be done so quickly with it.

Just watched all the training at Zclassroom under the getting started, just to find a free dvd with all the videos within the box (10 year collectors edition for ya). Thats what you get for watching videos before opening the program.

Going to place any work I do here in this thread as I am going to take this slowly.

But not of to a great start the graphics seem to be lagging, and when creating some ref images (plane 3d with textures on when rotating the front one moves (not the plain the texture) is there any settings within Zbrush for textures.

Also just so I know what should I set my memory to if I have 10 gigs of ram.

hey man good luck with that i purchased zbrush 2.5 years ago and my oh my that thing gave me stress i hope you have a tablet working in z with a mouse can be daunting

Yer I have a crappy "trust" one - pen not the greatest but its massive. Saving up for a new one - more for photoshop than zbrush to be honest but a nice new wacom will not hurt to use in Z aswell.

Updated my drivers to a set of custom ones and its working a little better (texture is sorted) - find it very odd there is no graphic settings though. Really hating the lack of real zoom in and out control - the whole hold this button for one second press this mouse button then release that button crap is poor, but got a basic human mapped out in Zspheres but think I`ll stick to making base messes in maya as this is messy

Hi tweetytunes
Use the scale button (looks like a magnifying glass on a ball) on the right hand side it does not realy scale the model but zooms in and out, as far as I know zbrush does not use the grapthics card but the main cpu.......dave

The only advice I can give you is to buy this book, it helped me a lot, trust me:
http://www.amazon.com/ZBrush-Charact...5258924&sr=8-1

It's about damn time! ;)

I like the navigation controls myself, especially when using a tablet. You control everything with the 'alt' key. It takes time to get used to it, but I find it faster than most setups.

And yeah, Zbrush doesn't use the graphics card, but the CPU instead. Plus it will only go up to 4GB of Ram, it's a pain, as I have 8GB. But I don't have many lagging issues with it though. It seems to handle it's polys well. I've had about 24M in one subtool. It still worked well.

Anyway, good luck. Will be cool to see what you come up with.

Well found the perfect project to start my Z-Brush skills learning - Nightcrawler head and upper chest bust.

Perfecto`s thread about his Patrick Stewart project started a X-Men model poster idea and I have always wanted to model this guy. If the poster thing ever happens who knows, but having a project set for Zbrush is better than just messing around with it.Going for the movie version so hoping to get it looking like Alan Cumming with all those funky patterns on his body - think zbrush = perfection

http://www.encerradosafuera.com.ar/p...ghtcrawler.jpg

Going to get the challenge finished off, and this will be my first Zbrush project - so don`t expect the speed I normally work at. But this should be fun - although google not doing the business for ref photos for Alan Cumming - Xmen 2 DVD it is then.

hey man good luck, im stoked to see what you can do

Tweety

ahh you dont need your hand holding. Zbrush central Pixologic.com have plenty of answers and videos to choose from. they also recently released a get started in Zbrush 4 pdf for free so go and dl it mate and get stuck in

if you can get your hands on a copy of the new character modelling dvd released by G***** too its worth it, its probably one of the best zb dvds out there now.

J

Yer I have that PDF - its quite cool to learn the tools and where everything is. I also got all the videos of the site on a dvd (zclassroom) with my copy as it was a 10 year version.

My problem at the mo is Z-Spheres - all the training I have found starts with them when goes to Maya to currect the topology - pointless just make the base mesh in Maya - so thats what I`m going to do. But which DVD are you on about as I don`t see any new ones over there.

sorry my bad it wasnt there, it was http://eat3d.com/zbrush4_intro

no problem - I like eat3d alot more than G***** any way

Yeah definately!!

Wow tweety....getting into the depths now eh?? good to see you have a go at this man...great character too...one of the better X-men. I agree with Jay...you dont need to holding hands...you have the skills mate...just practice...good luck with the GF though LOL...ohhh you better perform bahaha will be watching you for sure man...good luck.

cheers bullet

I don't know what training you've been watching, but the whole point of ZSpheres is that you dont have to waste time in Maya blocking out a basemesh, you can rough out a character from ZSpheres in a tenth of the time... then you can retopo in ZBrush when you're ready. You can then bake off you're normal/disp maps, You can create your textures in Zbrush, and you can even use AppLink to jump your model over to PS to add some texture detail, then jump back.... seamless texturing! And you can use GoZ to make any mesh corrections you want.

Of course that's just one workflow... and you can use Maya to make a basemesh if you prefer, and sometimes it works better that way, especially if you have a lot of harsurface objects in your character's design.

I think ZBrush really comes into it's own with the conceptual side of the process. It's great for exploring a concept, weather it's already formed in 2D and you're just fleshing it out, or if you're designing from scratch... there's nothing faster... and the best thing is, once you've got the concept spot on and you're happy with it.... you've already got your 3D model.... just retopo, bake some disp maps, do some texturing... done.

Anyway.... have fun with Nightcrawler, looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

lets see something then? :P

Its will come when it comes - honestdom. Still just learning the tools and Horde Hunter is top of my list at the mo as only few days to go - but have started the ref image collection and the spending of some more money on training

Well sat down and got as good ref as I could from the dvd so going to have to look for some more images of Alan Cumming, hoping to get going 2mo...

Hi mate,

Im sure you have been here but I hope it helps.

cheers bullet


http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&s...&aqi=&aql=&oq=

and another

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&b...&aqi=&aql=&oq=

Ok base mesh is done - I know the nose is straight but I think it will be easier to work on - I`ll twist it in to shape once I have some more detail to the rest of the face. Right - off to Z brush

http://www.ravage3d.com/images/NightC/1_1.jpg

http://www.ravage3d.com/images/NightC/1_2.jpg

Good luck tweety!!! I did read you had a tablet right?? it might be a bit hard otherwise.

cheers bullet

yer just bought a new bamboo - and i think that may have been a big part of my problem with zbrush - my last one was a trust and it was crap (now on ebay for sale) - Finding the control a lot better (still miss my maya controls).

Anyway got a bit done as well lots of playing with the different brushs and stuff. Just trying to get a good shape.

http://www.ravage3d.com/images/NightC/1_3.jpg

Plz bare in mind my first zbrush model - no real detailing yet just going for shape

mate that looks ok so far...dunno bout the blue though...very bright...LOL

Acquiring Gears 2 this week...going to have a look at it seeing you guys rave about it LOL

cheers bullet

Dude start with number one - get the full story - I think you can now get both games together as a pack.
The blue I chucked on after working on him just so its closer to the final thing

No real comment it's a bit to early, just found this bit funny:
" and it was crap (now on ebay for sale) "
Not a real salesman are you hey tweety hahaha ;)

I watched your website I would change one thing on the homepage and that is change 3d artest in 3d artist.
Lovely website by the way ( i used to have a html website to but i suck at coding so switched over to wordpress)

Nice start. I wouldn't up the resolution too far before you nail the likeness.

Well I not going to try and sell it to you lot am I

I had spotted and changed that in my files on my PC but it seems I have not uploaded them. - Sites all made in photoshop more than code and is still a wip - Going to have my showreel on the first page where Grimlock is and then some video breakdowns in the video section - I really should do the contact page ASAP if anyone does find the site. But to be honest with you forgot it was not finished.

Mayaniac - Yer I have watched some much training and they all say the same thing - only have 5 levels at mo, but done most my working on level 3.

Get yourself refence of Alun Cummings too, that will help

Jay

Jay I am - although gone off a little in zbrush at the mo as I still just getting used to it. If you look at the base mesh images you`ll see the side profile has an image in the background. Its also what the talk about the nose was about as its a big lean to the right on the real face but as I said I`ll wait till after to make it more asymmetry. Need to add his trademark dimples aswell. Must be said there are some freaky images of this guy on the net.

http://www.ravage3d.com/images/NightC/1_4.jpg

Edit - Looking at it - I have also made his bottom lip way too big

oh crap I didnt see it in a pack here mate!!! I will go back to the shop and see if number 1 is in the cheap box! thanks mate.....

I was kidding with the blue...it was just real bright LOL

Tweetytunes
I am not seeing the likeness comming through, I can see some in your maya model but not the zbrush one, could this be camera distortion in maya?...........dave

Just finished bulletstorm and I think Im going to play through the two gear games this week ready for the beta for 3 in April - Been a fan of epic shooters since unreal - but me PC got some bloody virus and having to spend the night sorting this out arrrrrrr.

Christ Im trying to find what the f*** you were talking about with 'noise' what f******* noise LOL??? Its nose!!

spelling man spelling!! LOL

Jay

yeh Jay...wheres the bloody spellcheck button...Im guilty of grammar hammer...

S**t tweety...I havent played Unreal for years!!! Unreal GOTY 2002 I think was the last one I had...before the graphics went all cartoonish...that is the ONLY game I played online...cos it was just a shoot fest and was fun...I will have to get Gears1 then...havent viewed bulletstorm yet

cheers bullet

Sorry Jay but I am dyslexic and have to relay on the spellcheck a lot and as you can tell that word although wrong is spelt correctly.

Bullet here is the cover for that gears of war pack

http://cdn0.spong.com/news/g/e/gears...-Gears-3-_.jpg

Its one and two and the dlc, but you should get a copy of the first one cheap

Might have been unreal tour 2003 as there was no 2002. I have unreal, unreal tour - gold, unreal tour 2003,2004, unreal 2 and unreal tour 3 Limited Ed (pc + ps3), unreal championship (xbox), bulletstorm (360), shadow complex (dlc 360) gears of war 1,2 both limited editions (360) and Gears 1 PC (for the editor) and all dlc. Little bit of a fan - I also have Gears of war concept art on the walls of my PC room (framed), all 3 books, every comic and a set of gear cogs for around my neck.

Sorry man missed your post as you posted as I was .....

Yes I agree the mesh has lost some of its likeness as I said before I have made the lips too big now and also the nose (look guys got it right this time)has been smoothed down a little too much. He also has a lump/spot just up from the middle of his eyes and not got his dimples in yet. And again the noise is not the straightest of things but will leave that to last.

But don`t worry I still have a long way to go on this one right now.

Thanks tweety...I will see if its in the shop like that.

UTGOTY was in 1999 tweety...thats the only one I bought...I didnt like the graphics after that...too cartoonish

cheers bullet

Looks to the left and sees his copy on the shelf and is tempted to play it again - Arr the hours lost playing that game - I wonder how many frames per second I would get on it now on this new PC - and to think you did not need a video card to play that back in the day.

They brought the graphics bang up to date with number 3 (2007)

hey Tweety Same here mate, I have real problems seeing numbers so my I suffer reading and writing numbers - weird huh!! Glad I can draw though LOL

Jay

oh did they...hmmmm...nope...Im not going to get it...I lost too much of my life on the original one...ya just cant stop playin! We must have a cosmic connection dude....I just rummaged through my laptop bag..it aint there! damn