[kurisu]

pst - ahhhh - that explains the problem - you need at least 128K RAM and a minimum PII... ZBrush needs a little to do a lot! Somebody make a contest where you win a groovy PC!!!!

Thorn - You be speakin' da truth, mon! Yeah - I have some ideas for quickies (heh heh) and I'll post 'em ASAP...

Fred - Difference between demo and commercial? The Demo's canvas size is limited and some export/import
features are disabled (you can't save your objects either). Other than that... have Z time of your life!

Vs. Photoshop? I use photoshop to composite images & add text - but other than that, ZBrush does everything I need it to do - whether it's painting 2D or 3D stuff. The next version has global hue/sat adjustment that's saveable per doc as well! Woohoo!
So, I say, try it yourself, ask any questions, and decide fo yo'sef, know what I mean?

[Fred Flick Stone]

Kurisu- WOW-ZBRUSH is INCREDIBLE...can't wait till I have something to make in it. I still gotta learn the interface. Very deep with buttons galore. Got any tips where to start? Or are there any hidden goodies that will help me? I really like the brush scale on the fly thing...sweet. Can't wait to play...

[kurisu]

Hey Fred - yeah, isn't it groovy! It really bridges the gap between 2D and 3D...

Here's something REALLY fun to do, and I've spent hours just doing it... (that's what... never mind )

- Pick the Sphere tool.
- Paint a sphere about half the screen size.
- Activate 'Edit' (within the floating menu - looks like a square with one of it's points being dragged - or within the Transform menu panel - same icon)
- Adjust the Edit Size (floating menu) so it's a bit smaller (also adjust the color/depth values)
- Activate X Symmetry (Tools/modifiers/symmetry)
- Click inside the sphere to edit it, click outside the sphere to rotate it.

I can spend hours just making faces with it... When you're ready, try using the "Move" transform mode while editing - this will drag sections magnetically... this is REALLY fun!

If you want to paint textures onto your face, I recommend increasing the subdivisions of the sphere (256x256 is good).
Here's how to do this:

- With the sphere selected, go to Tools/Modifiers/Image and activate "Colorized". Your object will turn gray. Make sure you have the Pointer transform mode selected while in 'Edit' and then paint away! A quick way to fill color at any opacity level is to set the Color value in the Edit portion of the Floating Menu to something less than 100%...

Now, when you're happy with your face (or whatever), you can make it a part of your image (and save if you have the commercial version by doing what's called "snapshotting." This is the little camera icon within the Floating or Transform menus... It's best to be out of Edit mode, and in one of the Transform modes (move/rotate/scale)...

You may notice that you accidentally snapshot your object when you didn't want to - just make sure you pay attention to transform mode you're in. If you're not in Edit mode, and you have the Pointer mode selected - you'll start adding your objects to your document! (you can set this to paint with using the 'Dot' or 'Freehand' Stroke types - experiment with these baby!)

Well, I could go on for years - there's so much to it, but the Symmetry is cool because you can also do Radial symmetry and make wine glasses, wheels, spiders... and weird shapes you'd be hard-pressed to make with anything else!

Have fun and ask any more questions

-kurisu

PS: You can see/download some of the ZBrush objects (and the ones used for this Appaku image) within the ZTool store. If you have any questions just ask!

[Fred Flick Stone]

Kurisu-I get about three or four moves off and the program gets an illegal error message and closes down? Is this typical of the program? Should I redownload? Kinda a bummer...just getting the hang of the program now...

Thank you for your help...

[kurisu]

Are you running at least a PII with 128K RAM?

When ZBrush is running, what's your computers "System Resources" (Start Menu/Control Panel/Settings/System/Performance)???

I don't experience this problem. Are you using ZCut at all?

[Fred Flick Stone]

PII with exactly 128 megs of ram. I am pretty loaded down though with programs, and I didn't set the scratch disk for the program yet...resources are set to maximum...let me try resetting my scratch disk...

[This message has been edited by Fred Flick Stone (edited June 21, 2000).]

[Fred Flick Stone]

Kurisu-the program can get a bit confusing. When and how can I hit the edit at any time? I did the sphere thing, when I started using the symmetry brush and spun the ball, WOW!!!
I like this program just too much.
Have you ever used this program to make cool bump maps for 3dmax or maya? Seems like you can create more effective, and faster bump maps than in photoshop...
Are all the objects drawn in this program drawn in 3-d? or is there any flat plane art going on here? Also, can you integrate line art into the pixel art here? Or is this a primarily 3 dimensional program?
Asking too many questions here...but, can you save files in the gold copy of zbrush to tiff, eps, psd. etc.? I know you can export but ah to save a tiff or psd file would be wonderful. I really am thinking about buying a copy of this program. It is just too damn cool...

[Wildkat]

Great pic kurisu, you have really mastered Zbrush...
I forget about it and when I go back to mess with it... my password has expired again.... ;\


show us more...

[Tinusch]

Press the Windows key + Pause/Break, and check the Performance tab on the right. It's a good shortcut to know to check your resources often.

[Wildkat]

WOW, thanks Tinusch!

[kurisu]

Sorry Fred - I should have clarified...

3D objects are always in one of two modes:
1) Basic Transform mode (Move, Scale or Rotate)
...or...
2) Edit mode
You can go between these as many times as you want. However, once you snapshot an object into your image, it is not editable in 3D, but has become part of the canvas (it's now Pixols - or pixels with depth, material and orientation information).
There is a very good way to store your object's transformation values for later through the use of what are called 'Markers.' Markers allow you to store your ZBrush object's transformation values. To do this, place a marker on the object you're happy with (whether or not you've snapshot). This will store all Transformation values for that object. To use these values again later at any time, just select an object and make sure the Stroke type is set to 'Dot' and click once on the marker when it's red. This will snapshot one version of the current tool shape. Just activate any transformation mode to 'float' the object & edit further. Markers are particularly useful, because you can later swap in different/newer/better versions of objects. If you're working with an object and you have it's size/rotation values the way you like it, but just want to move the object, you can either:
1) Click on the gray part of the gyro in Move transform mode, or...
2) Input some value in the Transform/Info panel while in the Move transform mode.

Wildkat - you can get a free new password at www.pixologic.com. (thanks for the compliment too! I've spent enough time learning/using it, so I don't have much of an excuse! You done any more b&w??? I want to finish mine soon darnit!)

Tinusch - Excellent man! I'll have to remember that one! Nice Scarecrow

-kurisu

[freddy flicks stones]

Thank you a thousand thank you's...I hope to post something soon, don't know what, maybe a 3D characture...

Thank you again...

[freddy flicks stones]

OOh wait, one more big question, if you build a great shape in 3D, can you go back and paint on top of the surface, kinda deep canvas-ish?

[kurisu]

Fred - I would appreciate if you would pay attention. I wrote 45 pages worth of exciting and informative lecture material - here - in this very thread - and I expect you to remember EVERY SINGLE word

hehehehhe lol

Just kidding! Here:

- With the sphere selected, go to Tools/Modifiers/Image and activate "Colorized". Your object will turn gray. Make sure you have the Pointer transform mode selected while in 'Edit' and then paint away! A quick way to fill color at any opacity level is to set the Color value in the Edit portion of the Floating Menu to something less than 100%...

Is that what you were asking?

PS: Pixologic has an excellent "Tool" manual (free) to download at their site. I highly recommend it, mi amigo! It's filled with cool pics and great explanations of the inner workings of Z beast...

[freddy flicks stones]

Just went and got it. There are too many things on their site and yours to look at to actually find what I am looking for For a minute there, I thought I was on some store page, and I realized it was your site. Man, I could hang out there for days looking at all the stuff. You keep yourself very busy. I love that stuff. Is everything done in Zbrush on the site? Again, I am still only I think, half through all your stuff, let alone half of what pixolator, or what ever it is called, sorry if I flubbed the name. If you don't mind I have saved some things from your site, and I want to burn a CD for permanent archives, to look at for inspiration. I am doing that alot lately, since cd's are so readily available, and not many artists get all their stuff to the public accessibly, except over the web.
Thanks again for all the help. I am a bit of a question asker...I need to know everything about what I am doing to do it right, and get results that I am pleased with...And thanks for introducing this program. If I can get the hang of this, I might use this program instead of photoshop for a lot of digital art. The possibilities are endless.

I am sneaking in another question, cause I am seeing animations on your site. Can you animate the 3D pixol models you build on this program? Or are they too poly random, creating random artifacting and such...? Or are they morph target specific if they animate? I know you are practically writing an entire class worth of info, and I really appreciate it. If this gets too much for you let me know...I will keep it to one question a day... Thank you again...

[kurisu]

lol Fred

No worries. I just happen to know some things about the Z and am happy to share whatever I know... so don't hesitate to ask anything!

Animations? Hmm. Well, the only real animation I did was the opening CGS logo for my site. There I used Markers and set them duplicated in a 2x2 fashion so I could just crop and grab one of them (does this make sense?!) to use as a repeatable animating texture (I later slapped the red overlay on top, so you can't see that but ah well...) The commercial version allows you to make small movies like the tutorials... and export individual frames if you want... and you can make simple animations - good for the web, for example... For character animation I recommend you model and texture your creations - then export them and animate them somewhere else.

The models you sculpt in ZBrush are very organized - and that's why you can sculpt and paint in real-time... so no worries there!

To make an image - quickly - and for production or for liesure, I have found no better way... that's nearly as fun. And I ain't poopin' ya

Ask away and I shall charge you later... Mr. Triple Smiley Man...

-k (irk out)

[kos.mandis]

Spooky email kurisu! (We are watching )

The progie looks GREAT,(it's like clay!) I would say it will be as big as photoshop, but I'd better check it out more first!

New toy, sweeet

[kurisu]

I updated the first post to add the most recent (2nd version) called "Appaku II." I haven't had a chance to finish it yet ZBrush has some very cool new brushes I'd like to use to dramatically increase the quality of this image. When I get a moment (SHAH!) I will do that

-kurisu

[shahar2k]

see, now THAT helps, once you said "use the edit button" that opened up a whole new world of possibilities, I'm just wondering why there isn't too much info onthe site about the intricacies of this program... (I still feel like I'm trying to pose jello using boxing gloves, but at least it's getting better)
are there any online tutorials out there?

I wish I'd seen the second page of this post before I started Zbrush again, well no timem, must get to school, show ye'olde art teacher a cool new toy (although using Zbrush gives a much diffrent view than looking at it)

------------------
"Avoid needless embarrassment. Practice the correct pronunciation of your deity's name in the privacy of your own room before chanting it in public. Flash cards are often helpful." --The Evil Cultist's Hand Guide

[This message has been edited by shahar2k (edited September 11, 2000).]

[kurisu]

Hey surferboi,

I just want to make sure we are on "the same page..." ZBrush is a painting application first and foremost.

It incorporates 2D/3D into one environment - with a sculpting/rendering real-time engine... so when you paint, you can add or subtract color, depth and material from your 2.5D image... as well as model and texture 3D objects - and export them and/or incorporate those objects into your image. All of this with instant feedback - move the lights and your image with depth updates accordingly; change the materials and those materials update in your image...

ZBrush's concept is very unique because of this seamless merging of 2 worlds, the traditional painting (plus the addition of depth, material and orientation!) and the modeling/texturing, that have previously been totally separate in other programs.

You can paint traditionally. You can sculpt and texture then snapshot these objects into your canvas. Render shadows. Touch up and polish with all sorts of brushes (glow, blur, sharpen, noise, highlighter, colorize, intensity, saturation... etc.!)... and all of this at any time in the creative process - within 1 program.

ZBrush really bridges the gap between 2D and 3D.

I'll post more examples of my ZBrush work when I have more time...

-k

PS: "Z" this thread for a very cool image that demonstrates the merging of 2D and 3D entirely within ZBrush.

[This message has been edited by kurisu (edited September 11, 2000).]

[kurisu]

Hi shahar2k - that's a big white head you got there!

You might want to experiment with adjusting:

The size of the object when in a Transform mode (move/rotate/scale) - before going into Edit Mode
and

The "Draw Size" which controls the area you affect when editing (and painting).

Also, have you tried activating "Symmetry" so you can model half the face (for example)? Go to Tool/Modifiers/Symmetry and select "X" while in Edit Mode...

Feel free to drop by the ZAcademy for more information - including tutorials and more

-kurisu

[surferboi]

this reminds me a lot of maya's artisan tool... has anyone tried it and tried this zbrush prog?