http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?191398-ZBrush-4R7-Released!
It looks amazing!
indeed a great release + Keyshot is really interesting so far.
Now it would be great if the import/export options of Blender gets more speed so the GOB addon could be more useful.
Very cool indeed. The 64-bit version will definitely come in handy but I am mostly interested in the improved Zremesher that supposedly does not output loop spirals anymore.
I’m playing with it now, the new Zmodeler extrusion and loopcut brush is a great addition. I already own Vray and Thea render so I’m not sure how much the Keyshot integration/plugin would be of use to me. The move to 64bit is massive, I can’t wait to see how affects performance.
I’ve just done a quick test of Qremesher and that issue does seem to have been resolved. 64 bit performance is a lot quicker also.
I can say that Zbrush is bringing in what should be Blender’s modeling/sculpting roadmap from now on.
Campbell, Psy-Fi, Nicholas, don’t even try to do your own thing anymore on development, just copy what they are doing because they are pretty much the new standard for modeling workflows. You can also largely forget about copying Maya, Max, C4D or even Modo for that matter.
By the way, does the BF still care about improving the sculpt/retopo workflow in Blender nowadays or are they leaving it for dead, that is unless sculpting/retopo counts in the realm of Campbell’s planned modeling tool improvements but that remains to be seen.
BF doesnt try to copy any other software, if they actively looked at other software and copied it one for one, they probably would be the target of lawsuits and IP infringement
By the way, does the BF still care about improving the sculpt/retopo workflow in Blender nowadays or are they leaving it for dead, that is unless sculpting/retopo counts in the realm of Campbell’s planned modeling tool improvements but that remains to be seen.
Yes – http://www.blender.org/foundation/development-fund/
Grant for Nicholas Bishop, to work six weeks in Blender Institute Amsterdam on sculpting tools in Blender.
Except he’s working on Ptex now, so I don’t know if something has changed in his schedule or the sculpting tools come in the second half of his contract (or it has been been extended since that was written).
With the Keyshot bridge, the BF now stands to lose a lot of users who are big on rendering sculpts unless there’s some major improvements to the retopology and multires systems (that also means the possibility of losing development fund money, so they have to decide whether this type of user is meant to be among their target audience)
I came to Blender a few ears ago from fine art (Pen and ink drawing) so there are still plenty of things that I don’t get. How would improving retopo and multires not advantage almost all Blender users? Although I don’t consder myself to be at all accomplished in Blender it seems to me that the better you’re able to shape your meshes the better the final result. Am I missing something?
It would be a boon to almost everyone depending on the case. The thing I was pointing out, is that you can now have a full workflow of modeling, texturing, and shading without having to touch Blender at all, and thus why I say that it’s now possible for the BF to lose this type of user completely (save for those who are either FOSS purists or one who doesn’t want to spend much money).
Watch the activity of the sketchbook forum, if such a scenario actually happens, then activity there could potentially drop by over 50 percent since a number of frequent posters will no longer be making a lot of Blender work (since a good chunk of images shown there are sculpts).
Don’t get me wrong, Blender sculpting works for what it’s intended to do, but there’s still a couple of major things to tackle like a more stable multires sculpting system and easier/faster/more automatic retopology.
Zbrush having modelling features , doesn’t make Blender obsolete. I have been using ZB on various projects (CG and Game assets) for 6 years. And I still find ZB 's workflow very cumbersome and non-user friendly. A sculpt you can make in Blender takes double the amount in ZB. What lacks in Blender sculpt/modelling workflow is refinement. Getting from scratch to half way is way faster in Blender. However getting from halfway to finished sculpt is faster in ZB. So if its for work I start in Blender until I’m halfway and switch to ZB for fine details, polishing and coloring.
You should really try the new modeling system, you can do most things with just using the mouse and space bar.
Here’s a video that Pixologic put together as a homage and thanks to its beta team for helping get the app. to where it is today.
It leaves me wondering, is there ‘any’ FOSS organization out there right now that goes to this type of length to listen to and thank its users (I know the Blender website advertises Blender as “your own 3D software”, but to truly follow that rule would mean the BF improving its channels for user feedback and giving the community more power in its direction)?
For people that have used it, is it really something that can replace traditional poly modelling as many are claiming? Or is it simply something that has the potential to with more work?
to make it short in these areas Blender got replaced with several programs for me;
PBR Texturing
Retopo
Sculpting
areas where Blender got mostly replaced;
unwraping
Zbrushes modelling tool will get tested now
precision modelling might be an area where Blender is still better…!?
Rendering in keyshot for Zbrush has a few major flaws;
no gpu rendering
limited material creation or not at all possible!?
no node creation of materials.
licence limitations (rendering on many pcs- crunch time danger)
no anaglyph settings available.
limited postpro settings
what is good in Keyshot for Zbrush?
simplicity in rendering!
drag and drop of Textures and letting you select in which slot it gets into.
pretty tight connection to Zbrush (transfer of hair and instanced stuff)
decal option is easy expecially if compared to Cycles.
presets for materials, textures and so on (you could build that in Blender too…)
fast loading of many files + big files
Blender is “yours” in the sense of ; you as a person have the right to use it as you wish or want to modify it
as long as it is compatible to the GPL.
imo; make a fast IO in Blender and crank up the GOB addon (hair,instances, textures)
and cycles would be a good alternative.
@@coljwood
the nice thing about the Zmodelling sof ar is that you can assign functions to faces, edges and vertices
hover over faces,edges and vertices anywhere and the assigned functions for each one of these will do its work.
you can also press alt and shift to get alternative function and/or the negative function.
not traditional subD, but it’s really good, I will need to get used to it I guess… but the thing I see right away is that it’s not really that fast. We will have to wait and see, but I expect it mainly to dominate classic modeling and be a real hit for Sketchup and models like this one
It’s definitely something interesting and worth try. But not because of tools it offer but because of how it handles selection.
Just started playing with the r7, ZModeler is impressive at least!
As for sculpting, I still prefer blender and zbrush as an assist only. (very personal)
Blender doesn’t copy zbrush by all means,
However, we shouldn’t keep blender-sculpting development frozen.
About ZModeler:
A marvelous tool. It doesn’t aim to precision but who cares.
What about this Zmodeler UI? So many posts about how bad the zb UI is. What’s your opinion now? We could discuss on it, a bit.
I agree that that Blender’s sculpt tools need more work (layers and multires improvements come to mind), but PTex is actually an important element in a complete modern sculpting workflow (as is UDIM), so I wouldn’t downplay the importance of that. 