Question about ZBrush? And more!
I have seen the details and everything that you guys have done with zbrush, and they look amazing... However, i have seen with some people that it creates a very high poly count... For the most part, in games, and for computer rendering purposes, you want to keep the polycount down right? Does ZBrush really produce a lot of polygons?
Is there a free trial, or something like the Maya PLE of ZBrush so I can test it out for myself? Don't really have any money to buy anything, but maybe in due time...
EDIT: OK, i found a free trial...maybe soon i can test it out...however, i am affraid i will love it, and won't be able to stand not having it once the 30 day trial is up..
Is there a free trial, or something like the Maya PLE of ZBrush so I can test it out for myself? Don't really have any money to buy anything, but maybe in due time...
EDIT: OK, i found a free trial...maybe soon i can test it out...however, i am affraid i will love it, and won't be able to stand not having it once the 30 day trial is up..
Replies
ZBrush produces as many polygons as you want it to produce.
Thank you, this really makes me understand why so many people use it
Or there's Blender, which is free. www.blender.org
Definitely good to try out though, since it is free, and if you find that it suits your purposes, then you've saved a lot of money
Blender's 3d painting and sculpting work fairly well for what they are. You can use multiple subdivision levels from its "multires" panel, and then sculpt with 7 different brush modes (draw, smooth, flatten, inflate, layer, and grab). It gives you sliders for your draw size and strength, and supports tablet pressure for either if you're using a tablet. You can use brush alphas too, but in the current version that feature is a little clunky because you have to load up the image you want to use for the brush as a texture before you can sculpt with it. But once you do that, the tool itself works fine. So it has all the basic functionality that ZBrush's sculpting tools have. But ZB still has loads of extra features, and the interface is optimized for doing what it does, so it's worth the money if you can afford it.
Blender has LSCM mapping for your UV mapping convenience, and a retopo mode to constrain all your mesh edits to follow the surface of a hi-poly mesh. So the workflow for going between Blender and ZB is pretty straightforward. But neither is especially good at generating normal maps, so you'd also want Xnormal (which is also free).
Another thing, is there a plug in, or add on in blender to convert from the Maya PLE (.ma or something) to blender?
The interface in Blender takes some getting used to,
Blender's 3d painting and sculpting work fairly well for what they are. ...in the current version that feature is a little clunky... But neither is especially good at generating normal maps, so you'd also want Xnormal (which is also free).
[/ QUOTE ]
It's refreshing to hear someone speak quite so levelheaded about Blender, heh. Especially the 'quite' surprises me, being a regular reader of Blendernation. Nevertheless, I don't think saying the interface is merely "different from what you're used to" really cuts it, as I think it's also very unstreamlined. Ofcourse, Blender-users call it perfect, but I think MoP's example of Silo is much more like it. Also not in the least because Silo is very easy to change, both in terms of controls and interface.
I know the Blender developers have been asking around for advice on their interface rework though, and I think polycount should have a say in that. We're all exceptionally good at complaining about Blender, but I know quite a few of us would love nothing more than to have the program of our dreams be opensource, and therefor malleable. Is there an official thread in which suggestion are taken? I think it could be worthwhile if we'd just post a few suggestions, seeing as how most people here have quite specifics needs, and think about how to improve their workflow and tools on a regular basis. The main thing would be customisability, I guess. I understand a lot of people are fond of the current interface and shortcuts, and a whole hell of a lot of people aren't. Having a custom interface and keys that you could easily share with others, without having to install python plugins would be nice.
Err, sorry to hijack this thread, but the problem seemed solved...
Nope. But if you can export your file as an .obj, you can import that into Blender.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ya...maya PLE can only export it as a .mp (I said .ma first but it is .mp) and .fbl...
I did find a mel exporter thing
http://highend3d.com/maya/downloads/mel_...mp;&id=4120
Don't know if it will work for PLE, but i will try it soon...
I have been looking for hours now, a way to convert .mp to .obj, or something. I found one that works with a normal version of maya, but not Maya PLE. And you can't use a normal version of Maya to open .mp either!!! I know why they did this, but this truly screws me over! I have worked hard on this model, and I needed it for a school thing, and now I can't really use it...
I thought i could model with Maya PLE till i finaly got some money...but i was wrong...I don't think i am going to be able to get maya anytime soon, and all the projects I need to do for school...now i am screwed...
i know how you're feeling right now. i don't have any technical advice that can help with your specific problem, and i don't know what kind of time contraints you have...but. if you can figure out blender's modeling tools, and you're just dealing with low-poly models, you might just want to rebuild them from scratch. i know that might sound like hell, but it will likely go 10 times faster the second time around. you already know exactly what you're building--don't need to make the same mistakes/decisions again...just take a few screenshots of your models and rebuild them. good practice, too.
i hope there is a better solution to your problem. just thought i'd chime in and offer a tiny pathetic glimmer of hope.
best of luck, dude.
hey wej,
i know how you're feeling right now. i don't have any technical advice that can help with your specific problem, and i don't know what kind of time contraints you have...but. if you can figure out blender's modeling tools, and you're just dealing with low-poly models, you might just want to rebuild them from scratch. i know that might sound like hell, but it will likely go 10 times faster the second time around. you already know exactly what you're building--don't need to make the same mistakes/decisions again...just take a few screenshots of your models and rebuild them. good practice, too.
i hope there is a better solution to your problem. just thought i'd chime in and offer a tiny pathetic glimmer of hope.
best of luck, dude.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ya, i am frustrated as hell right now... We went overtime in the class to create this model using maya PLE, and my teacher didn't even know that we can't transfer it to normal maya. So we pretty much ended that project.
Now we have 90 hrs to make a movie...not sure how long in has to be... But, i am seriously thinking of learning blender so i can model with that, and then do some basic sculpting
I am just going to have to learn blender on my own time, so we can finish in 90 hrs....
Ok, we (me and 1 other person) are creating a short movie. Doesn't have a time constraint, but planning on making it around 1 min (intro for our game, we hope) We have to create 3 characters, a computer nerd, a weight lifter, and a band person. 90 hrs to do this....sure!!! Even though this is a bit off topic, this is my thread, so i really don't care if we stray.
For what it's worth, your teacher sounds like an asshat.
[/ QUOTE ]
Most of the time she isn't this bad. She just needs to do the research before she makes the students spend this much time on something.
I did take one thing from this. I now know how to model better. All the problems i can now avoid, and now i can make a model with less polygons.
I had him about 8500 pollies, but he needed hair and flash drives hanging from his neck
If all you're doing is modeling, do try Silo. It's not free --whereas Blender is--, but it's geared towards being userfriendly and logical, which can't be said about most of the all-in-one applications. It'll even give you a taste of sculpting. It could be all you need, provided you don't need the level of detail Zbrush can offer you.