Is there any point in learning Zmodeler if I know Maya?

Zeriel00

Hello, I'm a beginner 3D artist and I know a bit about Zbrush and Maya. I enjoy using both and I'm trying to find my own pipeline to use them both to their full potential. After practicing box modeling for a couple of weeks I decided to pick up Zmodeler and so far I find it nightmarish. I can't get anything to behave exactly like I want it and something as simple as aligning vertices together becomes extremely hard or impossible.

So my question is, if I know box modeling in Maya do I need Zmodeler? are there things Zmodeler can do that Maya can't? Or should I focus on box modeling in Maya and then import to Zbrush?

To make matters worse, the GoZ doesn't work now in Maya 2017 because it requires Mental Ray for some reason...

Thanks for the help

AtticusMars

I think it's useful to know how to do simple things like extrusions, inserting loops and removing them, etc.

You can use it in conjunction with zspheres or zremesher to build fast basemeshes. For anything complicated I would use something other than ZBrush.

Zack Maxwell

If you need to make something extremely simple for a highpoly, using ZModeler may be faster than jumping in and out of Maya.
Largely though, I think ZModeler was made for people who use ZBrush exclusively, like concept artists or hobbyists.

Zeriel00

Ok thanks for the replies, I decided to skip Zmodeler because I just don't feel in complete control of the topology when using it and I see Zbrush as a way to quickly concept things without worrying about topology. Zmodeler feels like it goes against what Zbrush is meant to do.

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Zack Maxwell

TeriyakiStyle said:

I don't regret learning it - took a matter of days to get comfortable.  And the new features of 4r8 like realtime booleans will be pretty great.

https://www.artstation.com/artist/krsld - examples of this guys stuff all over the place.

I can't help but feel like using ZModeler is kind of like painting with MS Paint.
I've seen some amazing things made with ZModeler, but any time I've tried to watch a video of someone actually using it, it takes them an obscene amount of time to make anything.
That was the experience I had with it as well; extremely slow and lacking accuracy.

musashidan

Zeriel00 said:

Zmodeler feels like it goes against what Zbrush is meant to do.

Here's where a lot of people not entirely comfortable working in Zbrush presume about a lot of the tools and features. Zbrush tools are at their best when used in conjunction. Users who haven't used it that way I can understand the confusion in just looking at Zmodeler as a 'box-modeler'. This is a mistake. It's another powerful string to ZB's bow.

Of course it's not meant as a direct competitor to Max/Maya/Modo modeling. I often get the usual 'oh, but I can do that faster in - insert trad modeling package - and it gets tiresome. This was never the intention. This might sound like a prick thing to say but ZB is almost a 'mindset'. And once you get into it by experiencing how all the tools work together in conjunction, and non-destructively, you really see the power and cleverness behind it.

hansolocambo

As brilliantly said by musashidan, one needs to understand ZModeler Brush as one tool among  a huge and cleverly coded toolset. The learning curve of ZModeler might take a few days, but mastering Maya or 3DS Max modeling tools takes way more than that. Zmodeler feels great, is damn fast and cannot, should not be compared to traditional modelers in my opinion.
To use ZModeler Brush, one needs to master at least the transpose tool and the Clip Curve to really get the best out of it. And one also should forget some of the usual low poly modeling ways of doing things. During m first days jungling with the ZModeler UI I was trying to optimize the mesh as I was doing it, and was frustrated by the lack of edge extrusion, for example, but it was a mistake. 
ZBrush explodes barriers and give new ways to think 3D and comparing it with other softwares is a mistake. ZModeler should be thought as a first high, very high poly step :
1/ ZModel / Sculpt using the heavy topology that ZBRush manages perfectly.
2/ Then create a clean topology using ZBRush Retopology Brush or ZSphere, and/or other better softwares for that in my opinion like 3D-Coat.

Zmodeler in 4R7 was already amazing. With 4R8 Live Boolean, ZBRush becomes (kind of already was) undoubtedly the most powerful and FAST way to model hard surface or organic meshes. 

kanga

Yeah I would agree with the guys above. I would keep going with Maya but try to make a model exclusively in ZB. It takes more than a few days but forcing yourself to find out what the tools do will make you a better craftsman. Zmodeller will allow you to make things you thought were impossible because the brushes are so different to standard poly modelling tools and open a very great number of options you proviously thought impossible. Forcing yourself to complete a project solely in ZB will prove difficult but the results are undeniable.