What are the main differences between mudbox/zbrush

#1

This has probably been asked before, but i couldnt find it searching around? I am learning maya at the moment and looking for a program like mudbox or zbrush. But what are the main differences? I think I am leaning towards mudbox because I like its style of navigation /maya based (i dont want to learn 3 or 4 programs on the go) - so it seems not too much a stretch.

I am going to download the z brush demo to see how it handles.

So if you are on a budget which one would you go for? Ideally i would get both but its beyond my budget…

#2

best is to try both and make your decision…

i see zbrush more as an desing/concept tool…
it has tons of great tools and is the industy standard sculpting tool…

mudbox is more the pipeline tool…
you can import export objects, cameras, blendshapes, textures…
its a easy to learn sculpting app and the last version is also great in texturing…
and the bridge to maya is getting better and better with every release…
the maya dev team are working in the same building as the mud team…

i recommend to use both…!

#3

Is there any way to change the navigation in Zbrush? I think if it was in a Maya style it would be great…learning Maya on its own is enough to bamboozle me, let alone 2 programs at once…

#4

learn it the zbrush way… :smiley:

#5

I’d have to agree with Oglu. It really depends on what you want to do and what’s your main area of interest. (illustration,concepting,cinematic animated characters,game characters,game environments, etc…) I jumped on the Mudbox bandwagon around the time AD bought Skymatter. And recently i’ve picked up ZB again(R3 is amazing) I still do alot of my work in my 3D app and still polymodel alot of stuff but lately i’ve been using the sculpting apps more and more. In an ideal world if your budget allows, Mud and ZB work great together and cover every eventuality you may have in your workflow.
Mudbox tools can be learned in a good afternoon. ZB requires a bit more time :wink: Simply because it has alot more to it (which is not to say it’s better)
ZB can be strange to get to grips with if you’re used to your traditional 3D app. But as you’re only learning Maya it might be a good time to learn ZB as it won’t feel as alien to you as it does to guys who were raised on 3D apps.

#6

Thanks guys,

PS Musashidan - do you play like him on the old guitar? Hes a bit of a musical note monster!

#7

Hehe! i do play Flamenco, and even if i play for another 50 years i’'l not come close to Paco’s abilities. :buttrock:

#8

also want to add, that in zbrush you can take more subdivisions of model at same configuration of the computer and create more details. mudbox is good for medium details, beginners can make firsts sculps more quick.

zbrush - all in one, you can model in it, make retopology, for retopo in mudbox you can take a topogun - simple and fast application. some principles of work in zbrush better…but now i use mubbox - simple, fast, good connection with my pipeline, such as 3dsmax, bodypaint, real-time work with light, textures, ao. later, i think, go to zbrush, its more powerfull, but more harder to learn.

#9

also want to add, that in zbrush you can take more subdivisions of model at same configuration of the computer and create more details. mudbox is good for medium details, beginners can make firsts sculps more quick.

you mean you can get a higher polycount with zbrush…?

#10

yes, sorry for my bad english.

maybe its looks like opinion, but in ZB scene with more subdivs and details work faster. for my 2core comp 4.5 million polys in MB is critical, 1 mln is not to good, but normal…

#11

the mudbox polycount depends only on your ram…
more ram more poly…

#12

I suppose this can only be answered in each case depending on hardware. And considering that a much more powerful rig is needed to run MB(and it being 64bit) i never feel this to be a fair comparison. And then of course, there’s the whole issue of CPU Vs GPU… hopefully ZB 4 will be 64bit.

#13

How’re the FPS rates on that Oglu? :smiley:

#14

oglu,thanks for the information, but how many ram you have?

i have 4gb…its not good?

#15

rotating not so bad… about 3-5 frames on a 8800GTX…
zooming a bit slower… it took about 12min to bake the normalmap…

and i have 24gigs of ram in my rig and a dual xeon…
but ram usage on these 100mio was baout 10gig…

#16

hm…imposible for me…and interesting - how many polys work at this configuration in ZB?

#17

See my post above about powerful rigs. :wink:

#18

as far as i know is zbrush still not using more than 4gig ram…

#19

Yeah that’s the case alright as it’s still 32bit. Hopefully, ZB4 will address that

#20

24 gigs of ram! i wanna cry haha i only have 4 gigs… but 4 gigs, it’s ok, for students or people that just begins with cg, but for production purposes, defenitely at least 8, but well, im using zbrush, for one year now, and then i downloaded the mudbox trial for try and see if the sculpting process is better than ZB, and defenitely NO, at least for me, in ZB, the sculpting process it feels more traditional, like real clay, also including all the tools that ZB have an Mudbox dont, it’s true that, in the beginning, ZB is a little difficult to get used to the navigation and the interface. but in a week just messing around with all the tools and the interface, becomes the most friendly program to you.

Plus, ZBrush has ten times more tutorials and training kits on the internet than Mudbox, this is the way im learning ZB.

my two cents :).