Better than Zbrush?

#1

Is Mudbox better than Zbrush? I haven’t used Mudbox yet, but I heard it works somewhat like Zbrush?
I’m not sure I want to learn another program just like Zbrush, but if it’s better can you tell me what are the goods and bads?

#2

why not give the mudbox trial a go and see if you like

#3

I can’t. My computer needs an upgrade to support mudbox. So why not just answer the question.

#4

If you know ZBrush inside out and are comfortable with it, there isn’t much reason choosing MB. The advantages of Mudbox mostly come down to workflow, not features. It’s just a hell of a lot easier to use and the workflows make more sense. It’s not faster though and depends on a very good graphics card as you’re seeing.

#5

No. It’s a bit different. Each of them has advantages, disadvantages. If you’re rather a painter or sculptor type, I suggest ZB, if you are a bit technoguy you’d better try MB. In my opinion ZB is better, but there is a colleague of mine who say just the opposite.

#6

if you are familiar with z and like it stay with it.
its just an other tool.

If you’re rather a painter or sculptor type, I suggest ZB, if you are a bit technoguy you’d better try MB.

interesting i would say the same the other way around…!

…

#7

So would I.

I find ZBrush far more technical. Although I do use both in production, so its probably best to make your own mind up :slight_smile:

#8

ZBrush isn’t so much “technical” as it is just a pain in the ass to use but it’s definitely the harder of the two to use.

#9

Sorry man didn’t know that you needed a upgrade, anyways heres what I think I, Mudbox is better in terms of ease of use, A proper perspective viewport ( not the warped one in zbrush) better paint tools, paint in diffrent channels diffuse…specualr… bump ( Diffuse only in zbrush).

#10

The people behind Z-Brush are clever and industrious. They were the ones to reimagine modeling in 3d and they will likely be the ones to continue pushing the boundaries. They seem to have no head for business.

Autodesk has enough money to compete and better understanding of pipeline politics.

There are many things your can do in ZBrush that are not possible in Mudbox, zspheres and the topology tools being at the top of that list. The feature that Mudbox has over ZBrush are largely superficial but, I’m sure they brighten the work experience with a closer approximation of the finished result.

The learning curve for a decent use of ZBrush at speed is a few days, its just not an application that you can pick up instantly coming off of Maya. Its not a big deal but its the main reason why Mudbox is a competitor at all and it is a bit of a testament to pixologics inability to see what industry needs in order to be comfortable.

#11

Very very interesting! Thank so much for all of your replies. It looks like from what all of you have said, I will give Mudbox a go once I get a dang better computer.

Is Mudbox integration back to Maya just as painful as Zbrush with the displacement normal etc maps and dealing with subdivision levels?

Im also looking for a program that can transpose or pose a character well and then get it back into a 3d program. Zbrush transpose tool can be a pain as well as the zoom in and out among other tidbits.

Thanks again!

#12

Since it’s a Mudbox thread, I’m the stupid to write here…But look at the results that are created with ZB.

Go, give a chance to both, and decide what is your need. ZB has great features, and it’s true that you can’t paint every type of map (yet) it’s really a an artist tool. I’m a pencil and paint artist as well, and I think mudbox is closer to the technical part of 3D (with falloff curves, etc) while ZB is closer to my right side of brain. But as I stated, they are different, and you have to decide what fits to your need.

IMO working with ZB is more like working with a clay, but that’s my point. Others have other points. I don’t understand why you guys had to react so vehemently, but it’s your problem, not mine.

All in all, to me the fact that I can work in ZB without the understanding of polygons (ZSpheres) and I can texture without UV mapping (polypaint) and using ten millions of polygons on my Geforce9400 is more value.

#13

And go visit the ZBrushcentral site to have proper help in case of emergency with Transpose. It’s not as hard as it is stated here, but the contrary. Not harder then skinning.

#14

The learning curve for a decent use of ZBrush at speed is a few days,

That’s a bit optimistic. I was coming from years with Maya, Photoshop, and tons of other application experience but it took weeks of casual use and lots of digging to get a basic handle on ZBrush’s annoying workflows. Mudbox was so easy to pick up that I felt like an idiot having spent money on Digital Tutors DVDs.

I also come from a fine arts background (painting and drawing with some sculpture) and I agree that ZBrush feels more organic but I just can’t stand using it. The multiple object workflow and retopo especially make me want to tear my eyes out.

#15

I have a budget geforce 9600gt 512mb ( a cheap brand), mudbox works great, I can tumble 25 to 30 millions…my limit here is the memory of 4gb

#16

if your working with other 3d apps then the new announcement of GoZ for zbrush may push you toward zbrush rather than mudbox as there will be single click send/recieve from zbrush to your other apps such as maya, modo cinema4d and others come june-august 2009

also upgrades have been free for the last 2 releases…i bought zb2 and got 3.1 for nothing and zb4 wil also be free…

#17

ya but we all know how long you have to wait for Pixologic to actually release stuff. And they just released yet another plug-in that only works on Windows. Mudbox at least has complete feature parity for Mac.

The other slight advantage for Mudbox is that if you spend a lot of time rendering in the background, it doesn’t affect your sculpting like it does with ZBrush since MB uses the GPU.

#18

you might want to swap that half empty cup for a half full cup…it sure looks a lot better!

btw those windows only plugins will be on mac in less than 30 days…
then there will be a mac onnly plugin for 30-60days with goZ
then in august both mac and pc will have a new FULL version update for ZERO cost to users
all the wayback to those who purchased version 2.0…free 3.0 update and free 4.0 update.

re which to buy?
…i’d really reccomend TRYING them both,they both have demo’s and you should really try out mudbox to see how it performs with your graphics card s unlike zbrush it needs a decent card to get good performance esp if your using it on a tablet pc or laptop computer.

#19

don’t get me wrong - I think ZBrush is a great app but I’m not the only guy saying Pixologic’s support and interface design need work.

#20

the thing i always go on is>>

i’ll buy what it is “today” rather than what it ‘might be’ in future…

also factor in other choices too

blender also sculpts and costs nothing.
modo sculpts
silo sculpts
3d coat has a very fast development and is pushing ahead on some fronts