tbh it is time. as much as i enjoy not having to pay for it regularily. in fact for my personal license i never paid because i won it. I feel like broadening their market can not work forever. I hope this leads to long needed fixes, and not new versions that nobody really needs. unless its an Ipad version, that one i need
I hope it will become a tab on the Maxon website like one of these which will be better then it being canablised. I just hope the passion to create the updates for ZBrush will be present because up until now its been pretty amazing.
A bit of a tangent : this announcement made me want to check out Zbrushcentral as I haven't looked at it in years ... only to realize that they butchered it by switching the landing page to one of these awful infinite image galleries , and also changed the threads rendering to an annoying engine as opposed to sticking to regular page display.
It all feels quite amateurish really. Funny how the times have changed.
It will be interesting to see how Maxon intend to dress up the inevitable corporate cloud/rental-only-BS as a good thing to a user base that so far has enjoyed free updates no questions asked for decades.
I would understand if the founder(s) simply wanted out after a quarter-century spent developing a now rather feature complete software and having achieved total market domination in their niche and were looking for a golden handshake. Would have preferred Epic or perhaps Blackmagic but at least it's not one of the usual suspects.
Zbrush is one of those rare softwares you don't need to update that often. I bought ZB back in 2019, and I've still been using ZB 2019. Before that I used 4R6 (which wasn't bought). Hell, I'd still be using Zbrush 4R6 if it was 64-bit and using CPU and RAM fully. Now I had to update new motherboard and CPU, so I'll install the latest 2022 version at some point... depending on how this Maxon thingy is going to be fleshed out later on though.
Anyhow, if Maxon forces me (and us) to subscription only, then I'll refund. If they'll keep perpetual, but charge for new updates, I'll stick with the latest free update Pixologic have offered for the last time.
Well, with CG processes being basically unchanged for the last 10 years or so (outside of the natural gradual increase in levels of detail) I think more and more users are going to realize that this is true of pretty much every piece of software (outside of security updates of course). Especially for modeling and animation.
I keep repeating myself but it's why subscription was "invented" back then. It turns a sell-once production into something you consume and need to refill regularly, like food or energy.
I guess only new software production which add tons of necessary features in a short amount of time can produce enough revenue just by selling updates. At some point, as repeatedly pointed out, the software is good enough for most folks and you would not sell enough to sustain as a company.
What's rather funny is that they keep repeating their marketing talk. Maybe if you are 12 you believe it?
I would pay for updates too , Red shift incorporation for texture rendering. Usable scattering system. Usable procedural noises . Usable and simple materials. Usable texture baking/export.
So accustomed their updates are useless I stopped to bother installing them. The core of the soft is still as monstrously inconvenient as it have always been since 2000.
Bit of a downer to leave the thread on. I bought my version of zB in 2004, it knocked my sox off.
So accustomed their updates are useless I stopped to bother installing them.
Hmm. Unsubstantiated claims ho! I dunno when you stopped updating and what turns you on but it sounds like you missed the good stuff over the last 21 years. Nuff sed.
Agreed. I also think that in terms of getting a lot of finer detail, Zbrush is no longer king and Substance Painter is a bigger threat to it than another sculpting program would be. It's a lot easier to iterate surface noise and textures in substance than it is in Zbrush. Zbrush still has a lot of good things going for it (as much as I might complain about it) but I don't think another sculpting program would have to be as feature complete in order to be seen as another option. Like if Blender can continue updating it's sculpting tools it can be "good enough" for most people to be valid competition for Zbrush, because people can just get their finer details elsewhere.
Okay, so ZBrush 2022 it is then (with one last year of free updates?), which is more than fine for me. Luckily Pixologic added the cloth simulation brushes and tools etc., so I can still play around with those for free then, hehe. Thank god not forcing us to subscription only.
its very hard to complain about this for me - like a few people who've posted already I've been using the same license for over 15 years and back then it was 300 quid so I've had excellent value for money out of it.
I wont buy another license because the UI is shit, satisfactory free/cheap alternatives have surfaced and I'm far more interested in things that aren't sculpting
I got zbrush 2018 but havent opened in ages and doubt I will. And when I occassionally do it's always painful because of the bizarre UI. Any alternatives that are straight forward to use for the very occassional quick touch up sculpts?
blender sculpting seems pretty solid, 3d coat is offensive in many ways but is cheaper and gives you painting/voxel sculpting etc .
zbrush UI is fine if you use it a lot and you spend your time interacting with your model - the main problems are that outside the viewport it's basically a UX car crash and it's hopeless at interacting with other software.
I first got into CG for college, back in 2020, and one of the first things that struck me is how monopolised tools are. I've already come to hate subscription models. I'm holding onto the hope Blender stays free.
Replies
It all feels quite amateurish really. Funny how the times have changed.
Epic ZBrush sounds better.
Never used Zbrush, too expensive for me to try and learn sculpting.
But I get why people are sceptical, because it will probably become subscription based now instead of perpetual.
Let's hope Blender catches up and replaces it lol.
Pior- I noticed that a while back, looks terrible
jeez adobe zbrush made me feel a little bit sick in my mouth
Zoddo, is there not a 30 day trial? anyway blender is ok for sculpting these days or at least
corrections to blend shapes :)
It's 3DCoat time
Zbrush is one of those rare softwares you don't need to update that often. I bought ZB back in 2019, and I've still been using ZB 2019. Before that I used 4R6 (which wasn't bought). Hell, I'd still be using Zbrush 4R6 if it was 64-bit and using CPU and RAM fully. Now I had to update new motherboard and CPU, so I'll install the latest 2022 version at some point... depending on how this Maxon thingy is going to be fleshed out later on though.
Anyhow, if Maxon forces me (and us) to subscription only, then I'll refund. If they'll keep perpetual, but charge for new updates, I'll stick with the latest free update Pixologic have offered for the last time.
Well, with CG processes being basically unchanged for the last 10 years or so (outside of the natural gradual increase in levels of detail) I think more and more users are going to realize that this is true of pretty much every piece of software (outside of security updates of course). Especially for modeling and animation.
I am on 2021, i think and it works fine . if they change anything re subscriptions etc, I will just stick with it as is
I keep repeating myself but it's why subscription was "invented" back then. It turns a sell-once production into something you consume and need to refill regularly, like food or energy.
I guess only new software production which add tons of necessary features in a short amount of time can produce enough revenue just by selling updates. At some point, as repeatedly pointed out, the software is good enough for most folks and you would not sell enough to sustain as a company.
What's rather funny is that they keep repeating their marketing talk. Maybe if you are 12 you believe it?
Oof. I'd rather have payed for a couple of updates.
I mean, it could be for the better if they have to integrate into a more standard ecosystem, but who knows.
I would pay for updates too , Red shift incorporation for texture rendering. Usable scattering system. Usable procedural noises . Usable and simple materials. Usable texture baking/export.
So accustomed their updates are useless I stopped to bother installing them. The core of the soft is still as monstrously inconvenient as it have always been since 2000.
Bit of a downer to leave the thread on. I bought my version of zB in 2004, it knocked my sox off.
So accustomed their updates are useless I stopped to bother installing them.
Hmm. Unsubstantiated claims ho! I dunno when you stopped updating and what turns you on but it sounds like you missed the good stuff over the last 21 years. Nuff sed.
https://80.lv/articles/zbrush-perpetual-customers-will-no-longer-get-free-upgrades/
that does not work for me ;)
An alternate source
https://cgpress.org/archives/pixologic-ends-free-zbrush-upgrades-for-perpetual-license-holders.html
Agreed. I also think that in terms of getting a lot of finer detail, Zbrush is no longer king and Substance Painter is a bigger threat to it than another sculpting program would be. It's a lot easier to iterate surface noise and textures in substance than it is in Zbrush. Zbrush still has a lot of good things going for it (as much as I might complain about it) but I don't think another sculpting program would have to be as feature complete in order to be seen as another option. Like if Blender can continue updating it's sculpting tools it can be "good enough" for most people to be valid competition for Zbrush, because people can just get their finer details elsewhere.
Okay, so ZBrush 2022 it is then (with one last year of free updates?), which is more than fine for me. Luckily Pixologic added the cloth simulation brushes and tools etc., so I can still play around with those for free then, hehe. Thank god not forcing us to subscription only.
its very hard to complain about this for me - like a few people who've posted already I've been using the same license for over 15 years and back then it was 300 quid so I've had excellent value for money out of it.
I wont buy another license because the UI is shit, satisfactory free/cheap alternatives have surfaced and I'm far more interested in things that aren't sculpting
what are satisfactory free/cheap alternatives?
I got zbrush 2018 but havent opened in ages and doubt I will. And when I occassionally do it's always painful because of the bizarre UI. Any alternatives that are straight forward to use for the very occassional quick touch up sculpts?
blender sculpting seems pretty solid, 3d coat is offensive in many ways but is cheaper and gives you painting/voxel sculpting etc .
zbrush UI is fine if you use it a lot and you spend your time interacting with your model - the main problems are that outside the viewport it's basically a UX car crash and it's hopeless at interacting with other software.
I first got into CG for college, back in 2020, and one of the first things that struck me is how monopolised tools are. I've already come to hate subscription models. I'm holding onto the hope Blender stays free.