Wondering where the turntable/split camera video is? It's in the works and I should have it out in a few weeks. Recording is done and I have to edit it down. Sorry it's been taking so long to make it but it'll be out soon enough.
isnt "facebook" or those p.o.s. services providers infecting blender 3+ ? i heard things changed in a "bad way" from 2.93+ , i remember reading something i didn't like, just wondering if anyone else heard or read this.. i have 2.93 only or even before then because of whatever i change i read, i did not agree with.
Outgang was the source that I needed to say "Yeah, just use Blender" for me to finally discard the FOMO anxiety of not wanting to spend time learrning ZBrush. For being dedicated to Blender already, I really should have known about these camera tricks! Would love that video.
Wow. You have a hell of a voice that I wanna hear everyday. Came for Blender update and watched other stuffs because of your voice and, needless to say, the good contents.
Lol This installment's jokes are some of my new favorites! Also, so glad Blender is recommended by you and other pros. It's been my favorite medium and side project for more than ten years. Love love love
This is exactly what we need. Professional sculptors pushing the software to the limit to truly test what is really possible and what is not, what is good and what is bad. None of this handwavy bs you always get in forums from people that don't bother to do the tests themselves. I once tried to make a compilation of good sculpts made in Blender, only to find that half of them where sculpted in zBrush and rendered in Blender, guess there's popularity in using blender now.
Such a great video Laura, thanks for highlighting these Zbrush shortcomings, and also introducing people to the potential of Blender. I think there is a sort of industry gaslighting that happens, where everyone who tries to do accurate camera lineups in Zbrush runs into these problems, but there's kind of this unspoken attitude of "Zbrush works for great for (insert well know zbrush sculptor name here), so it should work for you! I personally used Maya sculpt tools for my last likeness, but had to do so much back and forth with Zbrush for displacement that I'm looking at Blender for the next project
It was such a suprise to hear all these praises about blender from experienced artist like yourself Laura! I absolutely love using zbrush and how it feel to use it. I model everyting in zbush but I always find it weird to use camera and perspectives especially with reference images. I can agree that blender has the power to eliminate that frustration easily. Btw, your editing quality has been rocking lately! great job!
Just made the transition a few weeks ago, there is nothing that I miss about ZBrush. One of the issues that I've had with it is that after a while, clicking on any menu will be off target. Let's not forget that the result you get out of any of these programs, hugely depends on the talent that you may or may not possess
Great video Laura! I’ve been using zbrush since 2009 and blender since 2011 and I have completely switched to blender full time in the last couple of years. The rate of feature add and improvement of the user experience is staggering to me and though I feel as though I’m a veteran, I am always finding something new to learn and incorporate! So glad I found your channel :)
It's going to be tough for me to make the switch, because of inertia, but it is extremely comforting to know that Blender has caught up enough to be there in the case that Maxon completely destroys ZBrush.
Was about to embark on day 1 of my 3d modelling and sculpting journey with Zbrush, then saw this video and swapped to Blender. Even went as far as purchasing a Udemy course then refunding and exchanging it for a Blender one. Thank you, you just saved me a lot of future licensing expense which can be used instead on a tablet or learning materials, and I'm looking forward to the non-sculpting possibilities too.
Now this video was a wakeup call and relief for a blender user like me who always thought I needed to learn Zbrush for sculpting realistic human face. Eagerly waiting to learn more sculpting from you.❤🙏🏽👍🏻Thanks!
To add to your list with z doesnt support smoothing normals which leads to overkill polys . Thank you for sharing your experience with blender. I also suggest to check 3DC sculpting as well. Lots of features to explore and mixup in your flow.
I forget that! Guuud comment! Should be an 2nd and on video about this topic? Or ... other topics when using Blender... or multitasking with other apps , or Blender Layout , panels customization. But an comedy "hot take" video sometimes is good to watch LOL
one small (pretty niche) thing I'm missing in Blender is zbrush's excelent "polish" and "polish by feature" sliders. The way it cleans up topology is just superb. Would love to see a polish style smooth brush in Blender!
I'm not completely shure what ZBrush does but as I understand it right, it smooth the topology based on a face set / Polygroup. You can do something similar with the "Meshfilter Tool" on the left, set it to smooth/relax/sharpen. With Options -> Auto Masking -> Face Sets active, you can hover over a specific Face Set and then drag the cursor from left to right to smooth only the marked area. If it should affect the whole model at once then just untoggle Auto Masking -> Face Sets. Hope this can help!
incredible video as usual , this was the same reason why I gone to blender after 15 whopping years using 3ds max , blender is impressive when you mix all tools that it holds , and you pinned that !
You are awesome :) . Thanks for the going through all the Pros and Cons. We often get confused by the lucrative presentations by the paid 3D application guys. You are doing awesome job for everyone who wants to learn. Please continue your great work you are an inspiration for us :)🙏
This is such a good video, I cannot wait for the stable release of 3.3 and try this out! Even before Eevee sculpting, my sculpting workflow was blender to get the primary and secondary shapes out in a proper 3d space and more comfortable lighting control, then bring it over to zbrush to get the high poly details in.
Another awesome video Laura! As a long time Zbrush artist myself I have been learning Blender because of it ability to be an all in one software solution. It is a very pleasant program to work in and I love using it. This video is even more proof of how great a tool it is. I appreciate your very useful insights. Maxon is pooping themselves right now :D
Thank you for the comparison, great vid. I was inspired to try Blender after seeing Flycat's character timelapse videos online, they were able to achieve some amazing results without even touching ZB. Feels a bit alien to me coming from ZB, but that's how it is when you learn anything new! So far loving the software and definitely going to make the jump from Maya once I'm up to production speed.
Its always good to look at the benefits of all your available tools. I appreciate this breakdown because its less focused at which software is 'better' than the other and more how you can use both softwares strengths to improve your work! One thing I wanna mention if you do read this Laura, I was a little concerned when I saw you took down your previous video about the unfortunate incident that happened to you and outgang. I hope everything is okay I know it was a very hard video to make so I hope you werent pressured to take it down or anything. Lots of love! We are on your side no matter what happens!
Thank you SF! I took it down because it was starting to attract trolls more than anything. Anyone who cares about the channel had seen it and it's not a video I wanted to keep around for the long haul. I'm doing good!
Oh, @Outgang, how good is it to hear that at 0:20 !! Excellent video, no doubt. I think that the point of question about what software is the better one is rolling around cinema and feature films 3d art. I mean, it seems to me that people are expecting what is the better and, of course, lower price option to create Hollywood quality 3d models, but your explanation was surgical. Thank you a lot!
That sculpt of the male head looks so epic in "secondary" detail with that hi-con lighting. It looks amazing with all the details too, but there is something really magical about it with those strokes still visible. Thanks for another wonderful clip! Zbrush has been crashing on me so much recently, I was thinking of blender just last night... what timing :D
Great video. Just great. Tbh, I didn't know Blender had such features. Let's just say when you're constantly working on different projects, it's hard to make time and explore new things. Being able to make the primary forms of a face in Blender and send them over into Zbrush for detailing is such an amazing idea. I'll try it out. Thank you for making this.
Thank you for the light on this matter, it's really good to realize every day how less i know of something... Probably one of the reasons i go back in the process of a likeness so many times, comfort is self sabotage almost every time it seems... Thanks again!
Camera rigs and multiple viewports with different FOVs are the kind of hacks that make me tingle. I hope the added humour pleases the youtube gods so that the awesome content on this channel can get the attention it deserves
@@TheLofren I'm not sure. But It'd be cool to have a layer system similar to Mudbox's so one can work non-destructively which is one of the strengths of Blender from the get go.
@@Stillenacht3D I haven't used Mudbox for quite a long time now, but I don't recall its layers being dissimilar to Blender's multires modifier subdivision levels. You non-destructively move up and down between levels of details and they're even segregated between viewport, sculpting, and render, depending on your needs at any given point. Like I said, though, it has been a while since I used Mudbox so I might be forgetting another aspect of them.
Hey, just wanted to say that for us broke third worlders that can't afford zbrush, it's really great to hear these things from someone like you! makes me believe that maybe I can get good enough in blender and then start branching out into other softwares when I can afford them. Keep up the good work! Hopefully, sometime in the near future I can afford Outgang as well.
Blender is an all-rounder as well so not just sculpting all parts of the CG workflow including 2D Grease pencil, 3D modelling, visualisation, product, VR, architecture vis, VJ loops, design, motion graphics, vfx, video editing and compositing all can be done inside Blender without having to leave it, or EXR and other file types exported for other dedicated programs to improve on!
Great points. I love Blender more overall for all the reasons you brought up. I find myself bringing some stuff to Zbrush for details because it just feels snappier to move through the different subdivision levels, remeshing, and using alphas feels a lot better in Zbrush too. And let's not forget layers, an amazing feature Blender needs asap. I wish they would focus on a bit more quality of life improvements to Blender sculpting to make the process a bit more comparable. Can't wait until I can stop using Zbrush!
The more people who contribute to the Blender fund and/or code to blender the faster these things get developed, it takes the whole community to pull together in some way shape or form. they are dealing with 3 versions of blender, creating new features, revamping old ones with new code and ways, they are seriously under the pump and still take time to solve problems in record time, talk to the community, cooperate with external companies to incorporate specific hardware development, maintain libraries, optimize costantly while tracking projects, working with inhouse movie projects and software that does everything from 2D animation to hyperrealistic sculpting, special fx, video and geometry nodes. man i feel lucky, do you? and they are hiring now, so anyone who has coding or website skills can get to be part of it.
@@VallyWake even better if that addon could be merged into Benders code, if it gets into the main branch and supported by the person or another Dev then it benefit's everyone using Blender
So. Many. Great. Tips! I've been sculpting in Blender for some time already, and while there has been some zBrush features I've been missing, the overall pro's of using Blender outweighed the con's. But these camera tips are blowing my mind, especially the one at 9:08! I think I'm gonna use a bit of time to set up a new base sculpting scene, where I implement all these ideas. Thanks for the tips and great video!
@@jeremybot Kinda ran into a problem while implementing the viewport function. Thought it was a simple as parenting two cameras together, and that works .. ok... when just rotating, but zooming completely breaks it. Still trying to figure out a way!
@@andersbrynildsen9026 Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I'm really curious about this. This looks very handy. I work with photogrammetry scans, and for cleanup I can bring the original photos in attached to cameras, BUT I'm not sure how to get different views looking through different cameras, simultaneously.
Yeah, I have to agree. I have been trying to sculpt a likeness o Zbrush but the inaccurate lighting and camera perspectives are really letting me down. Blender is a lot better in giving you a more accurate realmtime feedback about the forms you're sculpting because of its real 3D camera and light.
thats 100 true. i stayed away from zbrush in making faces, faces are so subtle and sensitive to camera distortion. zbrush is the master at distorting your work. i will use zbrush for anything else other than face.
@@christianlee1423 Mudbox for example was way better for seeing shapes accurately, and ZBrush doesn't even have a proper way to setup camera (with settings similar to 3D software), aspect ratio of viewport and image reference planes that are proper objects, not some strange gimmicky solutions that move with a wrong button click. Mudbox also had neat way of being able to zoom into viewport image plane, so you could accurately see some smaller curves and profiles. Most of this is of course true for Blender too.
The issue isn't with Zbrush, it's with users that don't have enough knowledge/experience of seeing shadow/light when sculpting. People have been sculpting perfect likenesses in Zbrush for over 20 years. Beginners also make the mistake of using a matcap instead of the basic material. There's also Keyshot(which most ZB seasoned users have) Yes, Blender/Mudbox are true 3d environments with true lighting, but I find this a poor excuse for simply not having the requisite Zbrush experience.
@@musashidanmcgrath youre right, if you are so good at sculpting u can get away with these things in zbrush. i myself saw a massive improvement when i switched to sculpting likeness in particular. anything else i will sculpt it in zbrush but i dont want to go back to sculpting a likeness in zbrush, i could sculpt a face there sure when accuracy isnt an issue.
@@christianlee1423 Yes, it's an interesting factor. I've been doing a lot of sculpting practice in VR lately and it's amazing the difference in true VR perspective Vs through a camera in your 3D package. It's as much of a difference as there is between Zbrush camera and a camera in a true 3D package. So really, the 3D camera is not perfect either.
What a fun a light-hearted video ! I just started learning Blender for sculpting (after learning Zbrush last term at school) and omg it feels so much better. For me its mostly the UI and UX that seems so superior in Blender....
Awesome to get insight on where Blender is at with regards to it's sculpting capability. I'm just getting into Blender, have been at it for years in Zbrush, so ya.. excited to see what I can do! I enjoy the chaos of Zbrush, nothing compares with it for making really weird things quickly, so unless Blender gives me space for chaos, I'm not sure if Blender could completely replace Zbrush for me. But who knows, tools are always evolving.
I'm new to Blender, can you demonstrate how to bake the displacement map from the high res sculpt, and apply it to the retopologized lower polycount model please? Thanks
This is so cool to see! I'm not a sculptor but would love to get into it, and this really makes me feel like I don't need to go over to Zbrush after all.
as ive said many times, great video. i think blender has been better overall for sculpting for a while and it just gets better every update. zbrush has literally been basically the same program with a hard ti learn and use interface for years and years.
They got too comfy in their position as industry standard that they just got fat and complacent off the licenses they were selling. Now the Blender train is accelerating too fast.
I'm a Blender user and I made an educative animation on a 10 years old PC. Nobody believed I could make , But I made it!. You said what Im always saying to the others. Its a great software. Even with not Amd friendly experience... Im still using it. and recomending. Thank you for stil using and adapting your tips for Blender users. :)
i really like blenders snake hook. zbrush is my thing but the blender snakehook curls very nice. big prob is voxels are calculated by models size, ie objectsize in layout, creates so many more polys...
Great to see blender sculpting getting better, i´ll need to take another look at it. Zbrush is definitely showing it´s age on many places although it can still push highest polycounts. Personally i´ve been using Nomad sculpt during my freetime, it pretty much has most stuff that blender has on itˋs sculpting bag + similar viewport than eevee. Plus it runs on ipad so you can doodle while hanging on couch after work day. It´s nice to finish your piece in one software without getting into technical weeds. Good stuff as always 👍
I really hope Blender becomes more widely adopted by the industry. I’m really not trying to add to my already large subscription count with Zbrush. Do you know if there are any AAA studios or large vfx studios that are using Blender? The only vfx house I can think of right now is Goodbye Kansas but they most use it for groom and modeling not so much for character work.
We all love your videos. Thank you for your priceless efforts. But this comment is not about it. I just want to say you: you're so beautiful Laura. It's a pleasure to look at you and get all this information that brings a light to our work process. Love your experiments. Please keep going on. You're special!
I want to know if Blender got better with higher poly/tri mesh resolution handling, with or without modifiers(real performance killer, but check that 'show on viewport-off' monitor logo for each object to disable them from performance-grabbing in the background) though still, 10-20mil poly is probably chugging on no modifier except one you're working on, like boolean on fast solver(oh the default 'exact' is useless for hipoly mesh for 3dprinting...)
I personally just switch between the two constantly. The GoB/GoZ bridge is so fast and stable, that its ususally no issue. Some things are very intuitive and easy for me in Zbrush, some way nicer in Blender. For example IMM brushes are such a big thing for concepting in zbrush, and working with proper polygroups in zBrush feels so much nicer than anything you can replicate in blender. But then Blockouts, precise hardsurface things, lighting and Instancing etc - of course blender. So the two in tandem are fantastic for me. Always struggled between what to use, since both of the tools are good at cetrain things but not others. What drives me absolutely insane with blender sculpting for sure is the terrible shitshow that is brush management and creation - if that gets better i can see myself cutting zbrush out more and more, but as it is now, going beyond my handfull of brushes that i set up is going to be a struggle.
about the light rig: there are also ways to have objects follow the view camera through python. It would be a minor improvement but it would not require the need to look through a camera object anymore
@@Outgang you probably talk about material preview on the top-right, there is "scene world" option and if you disable that you will see pre-setup HDRI, you can play with rotation or click the mini world icon next to rotation, it will fix to HDRI to object ;).
Great to see you back Laura, I have been using Blender for a while for hard surface models and got into ZBrush less than a year ago for sculpts for 3D printing. Being in my senior years, it has been a while since I updated my PC system and wonder what you would recommend as an intermediate system (PC based) for a hobbyist in regards to Blender in its current format. Thanks again for your insights.
I would love a video on setting up all the windows in blender and matching focal length. I have been searching everywhere online and on RUclips and have found nothing on it. And as someone who tries to use different photo references for sculpting it would be amazing. Please help us!
Nice video, I was looking for some more details about Performance, because my PC is not that good and struggles sculpting high details in Blenders and in ZBrush I can use twice amount of vertex and the performance fly... maybe is something I'm doing worng in the process of sculpting in Blender
Blender doesn't do everything the best, but it's amazing how useful and customizable it is. And since the big UI changes, it's become really easy to recommend Blender to others ;)
I would argue that the biggest difference right now between the two is the workflow...Zbrush gets away with some crazy operations , plus things like Clip and IMM brushes etc are a boon! Blender sculpting tools for some reason don't feel as "free flowing" as Zbrush but this may simply come down to years of constant Zbrush use firmly imprinted :) That said I have no doubt more pros will use Blender for sculpting in the near future, it's bloody amazing and the brushes operate extremely well.
Awesome comparison. I had a question - If say the base model is imported from a third party plugin (iClone) and the condition for importing it back into iClone after Sculpting in Blender is to not change the initial Topology (Vertex Order) or else it will not import. So my question is that what kind of workflow would you adopt to sculpt the face of such a character’s mesh. I mean how would you subdivide and sculpt and bring it back to its original mesh and get a Normal Map. Many Thanks.
Hi Vivek, I haven't played with iClone so there might be subtleties that escape me but the standard workflow probably works: Bring in Blender, Multires (to add subdivisions), Sculpt the high-res, Bake the high-res onto the low-res, export the low-res and the normal map back to iClone.
@@Outgang Many Thanks for your response. Just to add to the previous info. If Normally Sculpted upon (Without Multires) then Morphs can be imported back. I'll try multires and check it out. Thanks Again.
Wondering where the turntable/split camera video is? It's in the works and I should have it out in a few weeks. Recording is done and I have to edit it down. Sorry it's been taking so long to make it but it'll be out soon enough.
Still not uploaded, right or do I oversee anything?
“Give it a try. Unless you’re afraid you’re gonna like it.” Good one. Blender foundation marketing should hire you.
Unfortunately I'm marketing their software for free haha.
Really happy to see more industry prefessionals getting into Blender! Great points!
Great 👍🏻
isnt "facebook" or those p.o.s. services providers infecting blender 3+ ? i heard things changed in a "bad way" from 2.93+ , i remember reading something i didn't like, just wondering if anyone else heard or read this.. i have 2.93 only or even before then because of whatever i change i read, i did not agree with.
blender still lags on an 8 meg model while zb spins it around tho
Outgang was the source that I needed to say "Yeah, just use Blender" for me to finally discard the FOMO anxiety of not wanting to spend time learrning ZBrush. For being dedicated to Blender already, I really should have known about these camera tricks! Would love that video.
Wow. You have a hell of a voice that I wanna hear everyday. Came for Blender update and watched other stuffs because of your voice and, needless to say, the good contents.
Thank you Goose.
Lol This installment's jokes are some of my new favorites! Also, so glad Blender is recommended by you and other pros. It's been my favorite medium and side project for more than ten years. Love love love
Laura woke up today and chose violence against maxon. I love it!
This is exactly what we need. Professional sculptors pushing the software to the limit to truly test what is really possible and what is not, what is good and what is bad. None of this handwavy bs you always get in forums from people that don't bother to do the tests themselves. I once tried to make a compilation of good sculpts made in Blender, only to find that half of them where sculpted in zBrush and rendered in Blender, guess there's popularity in using blender now.
Such a great video Laura, thanks for highlighting these Zbrush shortcomings, and also introducing people to the potential of Blender. I think there is a sort of industry gaslighting that happens, where everyone who tries to do accurate camera lineups in Zbrush runs into these problems, but there's kind of this unspoken attitude of "Zbrush works for great for (insert well know zbrush sculptor name here), so it should work for you! I personally used Maya sculpt tools for my last likeness, but had to do so much back and forth with Zbrush for displacement that I'm looking at Blender for the next project
You said it best!
It was such a suprise to hear all these praises about blender from experienced artist like yourself Laura! I absolutely love using zbrush and how it feel to use it. I model everyting in zbush but I always find it weird to use camera and perspectives especially with reference images. I can agree that blender has the power to eliminate that frustration easily.
Btw, your editing quality has been rocking lately! great job!
the editing in these videos have been so creative lately, feels like you're having a lot of fun with it!
Just made the transition a few weeks ago, there is nothing that I miss about ZBrush. One of the issues that I've had with it is that after a while, clicking on any menu will be off target. Let's not forget that the result you get out of any of these programs, hugely depends on the talent that you may or may not possess
Well said!
Laura you’re the GOAT sculpting teacher on RUclips
I love that expression... so much :p
Great video Laura! I’ve been using zbrush since 2009 and blender since 2011 and I have completely switched to blender full time in the last couple of years. The rate of feature add and improvement of the user experience is staggering to me and though I feel as though I’m a veteran, I am always finding something new to learn and incorporate! So glad I found your channel :)
Your channel is one of the reasons I've ditched Zbrush and gotten more into Blender. Glad to know some of the best tools are free and accessible 😁👌🏾
Any update on the lighting setup tutorial? Just starting with schlutping and Blender and love your videos!
It's going to be tough for me to make the switch, because of inertia, but it is extremely comforting to know that Blender has caught up enough to be there in the case that Maxon completely destroys ZBrush.
Was about to embark on day 1 of my 3d modelling and sculpting journey with Zbrush, then saw this video and swapped to Blender. Even went as far as purchasing a Udemy course then refunding and exchanging it for a Blender one. Thank you, you just saved me a lot of future licensing expense which can be used instead on a tablet or learning materials, and I'm looking forward to the non-sculpting possibilities too.
Glad to see you back with a new video ! even after what happened ! thanks for this content Laura
Glad to be back! Thanks Asaka!
Now this video was a wakeup call and relief for a blender user like me who always thought I needed to learn Zbrush for sculpting realistic human face. Eagerly waiting to learn more sculpting from you.❤🙏🏽👍🏻Thanks!
Thanks for this I know I'm late to the party but I downloaded blender 4 today thanks to your videos. You're awesome! Keep it up :)
To add to your list with z doesnt support smoothing normals which leads to overkill polys . Thank you for sharing your experience with blender. I also suggest to check 3DC sculpting as well. Lots of features to explore and mixup in your flow.
I forget that! Guuud comment! Should be an 2nd and on video about this topic? Or ... other topics when using Blender... or multitasking with other apps , or Blender Layout , panels customization. But an comedy "hot take" video sometimes is good to watch LOL
one small (pretty niche) thing I'm missing in Blender is zbrush's excelent "polish" and "polish by feature" sliders. The way it cleans up topology is just superb. Would love to see a polish style smooth brush in Blender!
I'm not completely shure what ZBrush does but as I understand it right, it smooth the topology based on a face set / Polygroup. You can do something similar with the "Meshfilter Tool" on the left, set it to smooth/relax/sharpen. With Options -> Auto Masking -> Face Sets active, you can hover over a specific Face Set and then drag the cursor from left to right to smooth only the marked area. If it should affect the whole model at once then just untoggle Auto Masking -> Face Sets. Hope this can help!
Terrific video! Great to see Blender's tools in the hands of real masters of art. Excited for every upload, keep it up!
incredible video as usual , this was the same reason why I gone to blender after 15 whopping years using 3ds max , blender is impressive when you mix all tools that it holds , and you pinned that !
شايفك ياخلاااااااااااااااااااااط شايفك
You are awesome :) . Thanks for the going through all the Pros and Cons. We often get confused by the lucrative presentations by the paid 3D application guys. You are doing awesome job for everyone who wants to learn. Please continue your great work you are an inspiration for us :)🙏
This is such a good video, I cannot wait for the stable release of 3.3 and try this out!
Even before Eevee sculpting, my sculpting workflow was blender to get the primary and secondary shapes out in a proper 3d space and more comfortable lighting control, then bring it over to zbrush to get the high poly details in.
You'll love it. EEVEE v2 is coming early 2023
You won't have to wait long - apparently it's releasing on Wednesday!
Great video! Customizing hot keys is pretty essential for a smooth workflow.
Another awesome video Laura! As a long time Zbrush artist myself I have been learning Blender because of it ability to be an all in one software solution. It is a very pleasant program to work in and I love using it. This video is even more proof of how great a tool it is. I appreciate your very useful insights. Maxon is pooping themselves right now :D
Thanks Claudio!
Thank you for the comparison, great vid. I was inspired to try Blender after seeing Flycat's character timelapse videos online, they were able to achieve some amazing results without even touching ZB. Feels a bit alien to me coming from ZB, but that's how it is when you learn anything new! So far loving the software and definitely going to make the jump from Maya once I'm up to production speed.
Its always good to look at the benefits of all your available tools. I appreciate this breakdown because its less focused at which software is 'better' than the other and more how you can use both softwares strengths to improve your work!
One thing I wanna mention if you do read this Laura, I was a little concerned when I saw you took down your previous video about the unfortunate incident that happened to you and outgang. I hope everything is okay I know it was a very hard video to make so I hope you werent pressured to take it down or anything. Lots of love! We are on your side no matter what happens!
Thank you SF! I took it down because it was starting to attract trolls more than anything. Anyone who cares about the channel had seen it and it's not a video I wanted to keep around for the long haul. I'm doing good!
Oh, @Outgang, how good is it to hear that at 0:20 !! Excellent video, no doubt. I think that the point of question about what software is the better one is rolling around cinema and feature films 3d art. I mean, it seems to me that people are expecting what is the better and, of course, lower price option to create Hollywood quality 3d models, but your explanation was surgical. Thank you a lot!
That sculpt of the male head looks so epic in "secondary" detail with that hi-con lighting. It looks amazing with all the details too, but there is something really magical about it with those strokes still visible. Thanks for another wonderful clip! Zbrush has been crashing on me so much recently, I was thinking of blender just last night... what timing :D
Never thought about splitting the sculpting viewport, awesome idea
Great video. Just great. Tbh, I didn't know Blender had such features. Let's just say when you're constantly working on different projects, it's hard to make time and explore new things. Being able to make the primary forms of a face in Blender and send them over into Zbrush for detailing is such an amazing idea. I'll try it out. Thank you for making this.
Yh. The GoB addon makes the process seamless. Try it
Happy to see another video from you!
Thank you for the light on this matter, it's really good to realize every day how less i know of something... Probably one of the reasons i go back in the process of a likeness so many times, comfort is self sabotage almost every time it seems... Thanks again!
Great video 👏👏👏Finally, I've been waiting for this performance for almost 7 years! this is going to be a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing
Camera rigs and multiple viewports with different FOVs are the kind of hacks that make me tingle.
I hope the added humour pleases the youtube gods so that the awesome content on this channel can get the attention it deserves
Excellent points! The ONLY thing I want out of Blender sculping at this point is layers. Preferably similar to Mudbox's
Yessss
Can you not use shapekeys like zbrush layers? Or do you mean another type of layer
@@TheLofren I'm not sure. But It'd be cool to have a layer system similar to Mudbox's so one can work non-destructively which is one of the strengths of Blender from the get go.
There's an addon called Sculpt Layers that's really good!
@@Stillenacht3D I haven't used Mudbox for quite a long time now, but I don't recall its layers being dissimilar to Blender's multires modifier subdivision levels. You non-destructively move up and down between levels of details and they're even segregated between viewport, sculpting, and render, depending on your needs at any given point. Like I said, though, it has been a while since I used Mudbox so I might be forgetting another aspect of them.
Hey, just wanted to say that for us broke third worlders that can't afford zbrush, it's really great to hear these things from someone like you! makes me believe that maybe I can get good enough in blender and then start branching out into other softwares when I can afford them. Keep up the good work! Hopefully, sometime in the near future I can afford Outgang as well.
Blender is an all-rounder as well so not just sculpting all parts of the CG workflow including 2D Grease pencil, 3D modelling, visualisation, product, VR, architecture vis, VJ loops, design, motion graphics, vfx, video editing and compositing all can be done inside Blender without having to leave it, or EXR and other file types exported for other dedicated programs to improve on!
Great points. I love Blender more overall for all the reasons you brought up. I find myself bringing some stuff to Zbrush for details because it just feels snappier to move through the different subdivision levels, remeshing, and using alphas feels a lot better in Zbrush too. And let's not forget layers, an amazing feature Blender needs asap. I wish they would focus on a bit more quality of life improvements to Blender sculpting to make the process a bit more comparable. Can't wait until I can stop using Zbrush!
The more people who contribute to the Blender fund and/or code to blender the faster these things get developed, it takes the whole community to pull together in some way shape or form. they are dealing with 3 versions of blender, creating new features, revamping old ones with new code and ways, they are seriously under the pump and still take time to solve problems in record time, talk to the community, cooperate with external companies to incorporate specific hardware development, maintain libraries, optimize costantly while tracking projects, working with inhouse movie projects and software that does everything from 2D animation to hyperrealistic sculpting, special fx, video and geometry nodes. man i feel lucky, do you? and they are hiring now, so anyone who has coding or website skills can get to be part of it.
Layers are available with a simple addon, idk how good it is but as a fact
@@VallyWake even better if that addon could be merged into Benders code, if it gets into the main branch and supported by the person or another Dev then it benefit's everyone using Blender
@@GaryParris Adding new developers to the core developers requires the right time and setup, to avoid getting messed.
@@mayorc we already know this
Really great points. I am sold. Trying sculpting in blender today
Amazing! Blender is beautiful to use. Clean interface, the BEST modelling workflow, the modifier options, geometry nodes etc etc.
And your videos are amazing. Informative and very well edited, so much fun to watch. :)
Hey Laura, thank you so much for these amazing content! i would love to see more stuff about stylized characters in the future
thanks honey you convinced me! I wanna try! looking forward to watch the video about setting the editable lights.
Wow, this really convinced me. Definetely gonna try it out
Amaaaaaaaaaaaazing. Will definitely have to try it out now to add another export/import step to my sculpting pipeline 😅
So. Many. Great. Tips!
I've been sculpting in Blender for some time already, and while there has been some zBrush features I've been missing, the overall pro's of using Blender outweighed the con's.
But these camera tips are blowing my mind, especially the one at 9:08!
I think I'm gonna use a bit of time to set up a new base sculpting scene, where I implement all these ideas.
Thanks for the tips and great video!
Ditto. Never knew you could have viewports connected. btw... HOW is this done?
@@jeremybot Kinda ran into a problem while implementing the viewport function. Thought it was a simple as parenting two cameras together, and that works .. ok... when just rotating, but zooming completely breaks it. Still trying to figure out a way!
@@andersbrynildsen9026 Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I'm really curious about this. This looks very handy. I work with photogrammetry scans, and for cleanup I can bring the original photos in attached to cameras, BUT I'm not sure how to get different views looking through different cameras, simultaneously.
Yeah, I have to agree. I have been trying to sculpt a likeness o Zbrush but the inaccurate lighting and camera perspectives are really letting me down. Blender is a lot better in giving you a more accurate realmtime feedback about the forms you're sculpting because of its real 3D camera and light.
thats 100 true. i stayed away from zbrush in making faces, faces are so subtle and sensitive to camera distortion. zbrush is the master at distorting your work. i will use zbrush for anything else other than face.
@@christianlee1423 Mudbox for example was way better for seeing shapes accurately, and ZBrush doesn't even have a proper way to setup camera (with settings similar to 3D software), aspect ratio of viewport and image reference planes that are proper objects, not some strange gimmicky solutions that move with a wrong button click. Mudbox also had neat way of being able to zoom into viewport image plane, so you could accurately see some smaller curves and profiles. Most of this is of course true for Blender too.
The issue isn't with Zbrush, it's with users that don't have enough knowledge/experience of seeing shadow/light when sculpting. People have been sculpting perfect likenesses in Zbrush for over 20 years.
Beginners also make the mistake of using a matcap instead of the basic material. There's also Keyshot(which most ZB seasoned users have)
Yes, Blender/Mudbox are true 3d environments with true lighting, but I find this a poor excuse for simply not having the requisite Zbrush experience.
@@musashidanmcgrath youre right, if you are so good at sculpting u can get away with these things in zbrush. i myself saw a massive improvement when i switched to sculpting likeness in particular. anything else i will sculpt it in zbrush but i dont want to go back to sculpting a likeness in zbrush, i could sculpt a face there sure when accuracy isnt an issue.
@@christianlee1423 Yes, it's an interesting factor. I've been doing a lot of sculpting practice in VR lately and it's amazing the difference in true VR perspective Vs through a camera in your 3D package. It's as much of a difference as there is between Zbrush camera and a camera in a true 3D package. So really, the 3D camera is not perfect either.
What a fun a light-hearted video ! I just started learning Blender for sculpting (after learning Zbrush last term at school) and omg it feels so much better. For me its mostly the UI and UX that seems so superior in Blender....
Awesome to get insight on where Blender is at with regards to it's sculpting capability. I'm just getting into Blender, have been at it for years in Zbrush, so ya.. excited to see what I can do! I enjoy the chaos of Zbrush, nothing compares with it for making really weird things quickly, so unless Blender gives me space for chaos, I'm not sure if Blender could completely replace Zbrush for me. But who knows, tools are always evolving.
Your videos are more sweet than cheesecakes and donuts.
Love you!!
Love your sense of humor :). Thank you for all these tips and for sharing your investigation results.
oh jesus, now I will have to start Blender and classes again. Too OP. YOU HAVE CONVERTED ME, HOW COULD YOU XD
I think am lucky discovering this channel today.. instant subscription!
I'm new to Blender, can you demonstrate how to bake the displacement map from the high res sculpt, and apply it to the retopologized lower polycount model please?
Thanks
This is so cool to see! I'm not a sculptor but would love to get into it, and this really makes me feel like I don't need to go over to Zbrush after all.
Unless you want to make it as a pro there's no reason to pick up Zbrush over Blender.
as ive said many times, great video. i think blender has been better overall for sculpting for a while and it just gets better every update. zbrush has literally been basically the same program with a hard ti learn and use interface for years and years.
They got too comfy in their position as industry standard that they just got fat and complacent off the licenses they were selling. Now the Blender train is accelerating too fast.
love your thoughts on this!
I'm a Blender user and I made an educative animation on a 10 years old PC. Nobody believed I could make , But I made it!.
You said what Im always saying to the others. Its a great software. Even with not Amd friendly experience... Im still using it. and recomending. Thank you for stil using and adapting your tips for Blender users. :)
The way you pepper your informative videos with hilarious humour. So well done 🤣 brava 👏
I love the way you made the editing of the video hhhhh
That last line hits hard.
love your stuff!!! keep posting more and more!!!!
Laura is always bringing us amazing content! Wow!
Okay that Matrix joke almost had me spit out my coffee, I was not ready for that. lol
Nice video. I would like to hear your opinion on terceary details on Blender
i really like blenders snake hook.
zbrush is my thing but the blender snakehook curls very nice.
big prob is voxels are calculated by models size, ie objectsize in layout, creates so many more polys...
You're doing great Laura!
great content as always and great sense of humor 🤣
Very good videos, clear and concise. I REALLY appreciate that. SUBSCRIBED!
Great to see blender sculpting getting better, i´ll need to take another look at it. Zbrush is definitely showing it´s age on many places although it can still push highest polycounts. Personally i´ve been using Nomad sculpt during my freetime, it pretty much has most stuff that blender has on itˋs sculpting bag + similar viewport than eevee. Plus it runs on ipad so you can doodle while hanging on couch after work day. It´s nice to finish your piece in one software without getting into technical weeds. Good stuff as always 👍
Great video, Laura! Will give it a try on my next project!
BTW could you explain how to use reference images like zbrush's spotlight?
I use Pureref to display reference images. It's a great little piece of software.
@@Outgang Thanks Laura!
Laura keep preaching, I love it.
Oooh, you’re convincing me to give Blender sculpting another try
I really hope Blender becomes more widely adopted by the industry. I’m really not trying to add to my already large subscription count with Zbrush. Do you know if there are any AAA studios or large vfx studios that are using Blender? The only vfx house I can think of right now is Goodbye Kansas but they most use it for groom and modeling not so much for character work.
Thanks for sharing! Love your content!!!
We all love your videos. Thank you for your priceless efforts. But this comment is not about it. I just want to say you: you're so beautiful Laura. It's a pleasure to look at you and get all this information that brings a light to our work process. Love your experiments. Please keep going on. You're special!
I want to know if Blender got better with higher poly/tri mesh resolution handling, with or without modifiers(real performance killer, but check that 'show on viewport-off' monitor logo for each object to disable them from performance-grabbing in the background) though still, 10-20mil poly is probably chugging on no modifier except one you're working on, like boolean on fast solver(oh the default 'exact' is useless for hipoly mesh for 3dprinting...)
Thank you for sharing! If I may ask would it be possible to get a blockout sculpt in blender and add the details using substance painter?
Yup!
Hehehehe the montage was ridiculous, I enjoyed this a lot :D Humor and knowledge, best combination :)
I personally just switch between the two constantly. The GoB/GoZ bridge is so fast and stable, that its ususally no issue. Some things are very intuitive and easy for me in Zbrush, some way nicer in Blender. For example IMM brushes are such a big thing for concepting in zbrush, and working with proper polygroups in zBrush feels so much nicer than anything you can replicate in blender. But then Blockouts, precise hardsurface things, lighting and Instancing etc - of course blender.
So the two in tandem are fantastic for me. Always struggled between what to use, since both of the tools are good at cetrain things but not others. What drives me absolutely insane with blender sculpting for sure is the terrible shitshow that is brush management and creation - if that gets better i can see myself cutting zbrush out more and more, but as it is now, going beyond my handfull of brushes that i set up is going to be a struggle.
I think I remember seeing a brush manager on the list of features for future versions of Blender. I really hope they adress that too.
Awesome vid. Still waiting for the eevee lighting rig setup guide video for sculpting tho. :(
Thanks for explaining it really well! I've been putting off learning soft soft cuz it looks so intimidating but now that I easily understood the
about the light rig: there are also ways to have objects follow the view camera through python. It would be a minor improvement but it would not require the need to look through a camera object anymore
Isn't there even a checkbox for that now somewhere? I swear I accidentaly activated that at some point.
@@Outgang you probably talk about material preview on the top-right, there is "scene world" option and if you disable that you will see pre-setup HDRI, you can play with rotation or click the mini world icon next to rotation, it will fix to HDRI to object ;).
@@yalcinment. I didn't know what that mini world icon did, thanks!
you can also have IES lights if you want
Great to see you back Laura, I have been using Blender for a while for hard surface models and got into ZBrush less than a year ago for sculpts for 3D printing. Being in my senior years, it has been a while since I updated my PC system and wonder what you would recommend as an intermediate system (PC based) for a hobbyist in regards to Blender in its current format. Thanks again for your insights.
i only have one complaint i wish you made more videos thank you
You just earned a subscriber
that doakes reference @ 10:04 was pure genius XD
Any chance u do rigging tutorials in the future for blender?
I'm thinking of bringing someone on to talk about rigging yeah. Can't promise it would be Blender based though.
I would love a video on setting up all the windows in blender and matching focal length. I have been searching everywhere online and on RUclips and have found nothing on it. And as someone who tries to use different photo references for sculpting it would be amazing. Please help us!
this is brilliant
Nice video, I was looking for some more details about Performance, because my PC is not that good and struggles sculpting high details in Blenders and in ZBrush I can use twice amount of vertex and the performance fly... maybe is something I'm doing worng in the process of sculpting in Blender
I have a video on performance you may want to check out. Zbrush will always be faster than Blender.
@@Outgang Thank you, I'll watch that one, because I'm pretty sure I'm doing something worng in the process
Blender doesn't do everything the best, but it's amazing how useful and customizable it is. And since the big UI changes, it's become really easy to recommend Blender to others ;)
I would argue that the biggest difference right now between the two is the workflow...Zbrush gets away with some crazy operations , plus things like Clip and IMM brushes etc are a boon!
Blender sculpting tools for some reason don't feel as "free flowing" as Zbrush but this may simply come down to years of constant Zbrush use firmly imprinted :)
That said I have no doubt more pros will use Blender for sculpting in the near future, it's bloody amazing and the brushes operate extremely well.
Love your content!
Didn't know blender could setup two cameras with 90 degrees of difference
and you can use IES light too if you want for real world lighting
Awesome comparison. I had a question - If say the base model is imported from a third party plugin (iClone) and the condition for importing it back into iClone after Sculpting in Blender is to not change the initial Topology (Vertex Order) or else it will not import. So my question is that what kind of workflow would you adopt to sculpt the face of such a character’s mesh. I mean how would you subdivide and sculpt and bring it back to its original mesh and get a Normal Map. Many Thanks.
Hi Vivek, I haven't played with iClone so there might be subtleties that escape me but the standard workflow probably works: Bring in Blender, Multires (to add subdivisions), Sculpt the high-res, Bake the high-res onto the low-res, export the low-res and the normal map back to iClone.
@@Outgang Many Thanks for your response. Just to add to the previous info. If Normally Sculpted upon (Without Multires) then Morphs can be imported back. I'll try multires and check it out. Thanks Again.
Hi Laura! Are you planning on making more character model observation videos? :)
can we do production ready details in blender? tertiary details?