I am fairly new to 3D modelling, I have been learning it for a couple months now, and I feel like character modelling in Maya is a lot less efficient than in Zbrush and is a lot more time consuming.
Should I focus on Zbrush for pure modelling, and just use Maya for animation, rigging, retopology, etc, or is it worth to practice character modelling in Maya too?
Thanks in advance.
at this point it doesn’t really matter. zbrush has tools to make geometry so you CAN make a character start to finish in it. i personally feel zbrush should be used for detailing a model built in maya.
the great thing about this craft is theres a million ways to skin a cat. find the method you want to use and learn it.
I find Maya easier for certain specific shapes. For example, I would model a vehicle in Maya thanks to it’s quick orthographic views, and to have clean hard surface out of the first try.
For characters I love Zbrush, as you can sketch, remove, edit your model in a more artistic way until you are happy. Then you can retopo in Zbrush itself, or in maya and Bake your Normal/AO maps there.
I think it’s worth to practice poly based modelling as it will help you a lot in how you see and solve topology, even if you do retopo all the time. That said, if you already know how character topology should look like, then Go Zbrush then Maya. Just remember you can model any simple assets in maya and import them to Zbrush anytime you want. They don’t exclude themselves, use that in your favor.
Cheers!
Thank you both for replying, I feel like the way to improving my skills is much more clear now, I’ll keep practicing with all of that in mind.
I would say, just like someone mentioned before, i reccomend zbrush for ading detail, not for sculpting a character from scratch, i know you can model in zbrush but i dont find the tools that beneficial to learning.
Just another note, i would recommend you to try modo or even 3ds max, i know maya is pretty much standard in a lot of places but as far as i know a lot of studios are welcoming new software (at least for modeling), but i have to say that modo makes almost everything (when modeling) much easier, or at least it takes a lot less steps to do the same thing than in maya.
in my work we use modo for modeling and then export to maya, so it can be rigged, animated, etc.