ZBrush 3.1 is the latest iteration of Pixologic’s premiere, depth-enabled paint program. Now, you may be asking yourself, what does depth-enabled mean exactly? Well, to answer that, the best place to start is with the term that ZBrush’s creators came up with as the foundation of their new technology, the pixol. Looks kind of familiar, doesn’t it? That would be because the pixol is the newest cousin to the pixel. Where the pixel represents a single point of color information of a digital image, the pixol records not only the same 2 dimensional information, but also its location and orientation in space, the type of material attached to it, and interaction with a light source in order to give a feeling of depth. Thus the pixol is a depth-enabled point, or in other words, 3D! (Actually, 2.5D, but more on that later.) What this means, for the would-be digital artist, is that now you finally have a painting/sculpting environment that is more in-line with a traditional approach to constructing three-dimensional creations.
Pixologic’s intention, when developing ZBrush, was to help bridge the gap between the resistant, traditional artists and the new movement towards the third dimension. Up until now it has been slow going as far as trying to bring that real-world, artist-to-media interaction into the digital realm. When using popular 3D applications (like simplifying user interfaces, digital pen tablets, keyboard short cuts and the like) things have gone a long way to help the user think less about the tool they are using and more about staying “in the moment” of creation. Unfortunately, complex arrangements of vertex points, cumbersome translation controls, and abstract workflow for molding material have made the most seasoned sculptor wary of embracing this new approach to creative conception. ZBrush has gone a long way in trying to break down those barriers.
This review’s focus is on aspiring filmmakers, whose interests are incorporating CG work of the intense detail variety. ZBrush has been used in several blockbuster movies to help provide realistic and/or believable characters to the silver screen, with amazing results. So you may find yourself using this program, if at some point in your career you plan to make a move into animation and modeling for movies or video games, or maybe becoming a technical or creative director on a project. In addition, there is no better time than the present to learn about the application that is quickly becoming the industry standard.
Ease of Use
It takes a progressive way of thinking when approaching ZBrush. That does not necessarily mean that it is unapproachable, just that it does not quite fall in line with the typical modus operandi of most digital paint programs. Coming from a background of using a lot of paint and 3D programs, it took me awhile to switch gears and interact with ZBrush, using their specific workflow processes. Not that they are necessarily strenuous, just that you must be careful, lest you lose your work. To prevent this, the user must have a clear perception of the different modes available to use within ZBrush, because bouncing between them haphazardly, back and forth, will promote repercussions which cannot be undone.
When working in ZBrush, the two environments that you will be working in is either the 2.5D or the 3D documents. At first glance, trying to get used to these two concepts can be vexing because it is not entirely obvious what the differences are between them. The best way to define a 2.5D document is as a flat canvas that, in whatever media is applied, is given depth by its interaction with the lighting.
