ZBrush or Mudbox, which you prefer?

[Bathyscaph]

I bought ZBrush ages ago and never once had to pay for an upgrade and quite honestly, I am not sure how they manage it. Today's ZBrush is worlds better than that first version.

If I have any complaint, it's that I can't learn the new tools as fast as Pixologic can build them. Pixologic just seems to work tirelessly on innovating their software in a way that seems uncommon these days . . . even point releases of ZBrush feature huge innovations.

[Morbid Angel]

I don't mind both programs. If your mind is set to accept zbrush's logic its all good. With that said though, mudbox does offer some things like 32 bit exrs (not sure but zb cant export them last I checked) and obviously ptex as vlado mentioned.

[joconnell]

I must say I found a lot of things in Zbrush very off putting as the interface looked like one of the Kai's power tools filter sets for photoshop in the 90's. I got the Gnomon Intro to zbrush 4 dvd and it's absolutely brilliant. Strips away any of the weird quirks that zbrush has and gets you up and running quite quickly. I'm about a third of the way through it so far but that first third has me doing the majority of things I want at this stage.

[tammo]

I started to learn ZBrush two or three times in the last few years,
when there was time available for learning something different then catching up with the latest max/V-Ray/plugin.

I failed each time. The UI- It's just so super alien. I can't understand it.
Dropping 3D-Objects to the canvas that suddenly become 2d or 2,5 D? Strange.

Then there's the question what I will use it for.
Looking at the galleries, people are sculpting monsters most of the time.

Not that I would turn down a creature Fx job, but I simply don't have such customers,
And I wonder how many of those jobs are out there.
Maybe in the games industries, but there you will have to go superlow poly instead of ultra high.

Yes, you can bake the high res to normal maps and retopo,
But that also sounds very time consuming and maybe more suitable for AAA title games.

So what can an animation generalist, who does a little bit of everthing for industry,
expo-movies or some low budget intro movies gain from knowing such a tool?

Would be nice to hear what you think, maybe i will have to try a fourth time, or take a first look at Mudbox.

[rivoli]

I guess I'm just another one of those lazy lads who can't be bothered getting used to zbrush, and mudbox's more than ok for the odd sculpting job I do. takes about 15 minutes to get started, and feels immediately familiar. it must be me though, the awful, conservative part of me I'm not able to get rid of..

[squintnic]

zbrush was just too weird for me...

i really wanted to like it and use it but i was able to use mudbox right away and with the aid of some 'eat3d' video tutorials became proficient enough to do simple stuff in it right away. i like the interface, i like the texturing. im not making bloody aliens or warlocks though so the simple features of mudbox are enough for me

(i also loathe autodesk....)

[trixian]

Zbrush all the way here. Mudbox might become more interesting with the catmull-clark sub-ds, but I'm not crossing my fingers with Autodesk at the helm. As others have said, all it really has going for it is slightly better texturing workflow, and PTex if you need it. When it comes to raw power, nothing beats Zbrush when manipulating and sculpting on massive heavy models. As for UI troubles, I can't really say as I have been fiddeling about with zbrush since v1.5, and it doesn't bother me. Yes Mudbox is more A4, and will appeal to your normal UI instincts, but I have had more problems trying to learn Blender over the years than Zbrush. I feel like i have some sort of severe mental handicap when trying to do the most basic stuff in Blender.
The system of making a base mesh in "insert DCC app" first and retaining it throughout your production is a tad passé now. Ideally sculptors will block out and sketch from scratch in Zbrush, completely disregarding topology and uvs until they have come up with something they will stick with. Retopoing this model is pretty easy now, as is uv mapping, so all you need at the end is transferring the details back onto your retopo'd mesh and bake out all your maps. I actually prefer the option to be able to do retopo and uvs in a different package, as they can be swapped out whn new and improved stuff comes along. That said, you can get pretty far with auto-retopo in zbrush now, as well as auto uvs, for a decent output, and help keep your models lighter and more optimized while working.
Also, Pixologic are a great company (proven time and time again), though their idea of floating licenses is a bit strange. They might want to learn from Chaos in this area.

[dgsantana]

Just abit of topic, but now i don't feel alone getting around on blender... take 3x just to do a simple model, than in 3sdmax/maya/softimage. As for zBrush, i only tried once, but it didn't was that bad, i was able to do a higher res model faster than in mudbox without crashing or putting the system to an halt.

Best regards,
Daniel

[lukx]

I got a feeling in my gut that when Pixologic will relase Zbrush 5 (that will be for sure 64Bit) it will shake the scene and walk over mudbox, 3dcoat or whatever else there is.

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

ZBrush.

ZBrush is made by people like Chaos. Lovely nice people who care and want to put a smile on ur face.

Mudbox is made by autodesk, blood sucking live destroying vampires.



Thanks, bye.