Do professionals make their own brushes? (Zbrush)
vertex
I was curious about this while watching a tutorial, I was wondering if professional artists used texture brushes made by other people.
Or do they usually make their own?
Texture brushes as in a brush that adds in rock/wood/other details and forms.
I was wondering mainly because I felt like I might be cheating and not really learning anything by using texture brushes made by other people.
Or do they usually make their own?
Texture brushes as in a brush that adds in rock/wood/other details and forms.
I was wondering mainly because I felt like I might be cheating and not really learning anything by using texture brushes made by other people.
Replies
I'm aware there are brushes available online but I find it more faster and convenient to make my own. Especially as it guarantees the results I want when every brush is made specifically for a prop I'm working on (ex: Jerry Can that specifically has to look dirty, or Tree bark that's based on a local area).
Using other people's alphas can actually be a nice learning experience. You can find out what you like, what you don't like etc, so you can more quickly create your own alphas and brushes.
i also clean up installed fonts for the same reason.
creating everything from scratch is a beginner mentality. always re-use whatever you can, as long as the quality bar stays consistent.
on the flip side, using a fancy brush pack but not knowing the fundamentals of lighting, composition, form etc still won't automatically give you amazing results. No magic bullets baby
But I'd say use what ever works the best the fastest for those generic things and create your own alphas/brushes for specific repetitive tasks, I make brushes all the time for my own work but I only upload maybe 2% of those for others to use since they are too specific.
Last thing i bought is the fur brush pack by Jarred Everson on cubebrush.
I appreciate the opinions everyone, thanks a lot! Now I don't have to feel so insecure anymore
If i can find the brush/brushes i need or want online, and they cost less than the time it would take me to make them (usually the case), for example... if a brush pack cost less than $50 and contains 20 brushes. i'd buy it because it's saving me a ton of time.
If the brush just doesn't exist online or i can't find it at a price that makes sense, i'll make it. Michael Dunham's lifetime membership brush packs are pretty good.
I think it is important to have the correct mindset for each type of work.
If working for a portfolio piece, you have enough time to create something from scratch and learn from it, it makes total sense to make art the feels it belongs to you, after all is personal artwork and you feel attached to it.
The other scenario is in a studio environment. Your art is not the most important element in the game, it only supports the gameplay experience. If there is going to be explosions, enemies, UI, combat, sounds, etc. How important is to create that unique screw for a character? Will the player notice it? The answer really depends on your project, but most likely the player won't notice it because that little screw is not what they are playing the game for.
So i believe it just comes to have the right mindset for the right job, sadly we have to finish art faster than we should and we have to make that kind of decisions.