Originally posted by Xaint
[B]I’ve got 2 main questions:
- Does Objects created with Zbrush capable of animation? Have I control over edge-loops? The heads I’ve seen are created from a sphere, thus leading to not having circular edge loops around the eye and mouth, etc… Pre-making a mesh with zspheres to sculpt then, doesn’t seems to ba a good approach, the loops should have to be placed after sculpting. Is it possible?
-How does Zbrush work with tablets? How much does it matter if you use a tablet or not?
It’s half off-topic, I know. A Zbrush Forum here at CG-Talk would be cool, 'cause I don’t want to visit many communities, this already takes much time from me. :wip: [/B]
- With the zSphere modeling that became available in 1.55 recently there are ways that you can create a base mesh that has a looped structure.
you can see it in a WIP in my entry post here:
1/3 of the way down the page.
You can vertex edit the mesh and then do sub-divides, but you can not add polygons in a very tightly controlled manner.
If you are going to rig and animate a model there’s two options:
-
create a basic mesh in another package like Wings that has the loop structure and bring it into ZB for sculpting
-
create and sculpt the model in ZBrush starting with a zsphere derived loop structure, export it as a quad obj and clean up loop problems in wings, etc.
However, ZBrush has absolutely amazing “sculpting” abilities, as well as amazing texture mapping capabilities. you can create very organic forms in ZB very quickly with a tablet. Essentially it’s like a super powerful and intuitive magnet mode editing tool. A tablet is not mandatory, but it’s a joy with one, and without one, it’s like modeling with a chainsaw. 
Between zBrush and a free program like Wings 3D, there’s pretty much nothing you can’t do modeling and texturing wise.
A thing to keep in mind is that if you are going to create a work from start to finish in ZBrush is that ZBrush is more of an illustrating package than a 3D modeling rendering package. Creating complex objects that have many discreet parts (clothes, accessories, etc.) is a bit difficult because objects don’t remain as 3D models for the entire workflow. They get embedded into the workspace when you go to move to another object. There are tools that allow you to create complex 3D objects, but they are not like what you are prob. used to in a true 3D package.
Download the demo from their site and get a feel for it. Don’t cost nothing! 