This Paperback Book item from Sybex was reviewed on 21-Oct-2008.
Search ISBN:047024996X offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting Reference Book. Classifications : Graphics & Visualization Computer Science New & Used Textbooks Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books General AAS Computer Science New & Used Textbooks Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books Sculpture Vis . Click the following link to view the cover of ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting. Related topics: Computer Science. Custom Stores. Specialty Stores. Books. General AAS. Computer Science. Custom Stores. Specialty Stores. Books. Sculpture. requestid: b319ec07-4de4-485a-85da-5e085bee3115
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1) Paperback Book ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting by Sybex. If your looking for a good well rounded book on ZBrush, this is it! This book covers nearly everything you need to know in order to work effectively with ZBrush and create create characters...or nearly anything else. This book is well written by an industry expert, informative and certainly one of the better titles available on the subject. I would recommend this book highly to anyone interested in working with ZBrush.¤ 2) Paperback Book ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting by Sybex. The DVD alone is worth the price of the book. I love the video on painting. Meats Meiers DVD on Zbrush is fabulous but I really like Scott Spencer as well. This book will get you up and running with the big boys in no time.¤ 3) Paperback Book ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting by Sybex.
In a world flooded with basic introductory books on major 3D packages (cough*Maya*cough), Scott Spencer´s ´ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Sculpting Techniques´, while quite a mouthful is a breath of fresh air. This is not a book that focuses on a pure beginner. Understanding the concepts of a 3D environment and mild experience with ZBrush are huge advantages in getting the most out of this book. That is not to say this book is not accessible to those who are not proficient in ZBrush. It covers many of the basic concepts, but covers them in such depth, that it would be easily overwhelming to a beginner.
The book begins by explaining the relationship to traditional sculpting techniques, to those applied while digital sculpting in ZBrush. This is one of the great strengths of the book. It covers not only the technical aspects of ZBrush, but also the artistic, the true driving force and advantage of ZBrush. From this initial chapter, you will then be lectured on such topics as; Sculpting Techniques, Detailing, PolyPainting, ZSpheres, and Displacement mapping, among many, many other topics I will let you discover for yourself.
Another great strength of this book is the mini-tutorials from various other artists that are added into the already information-packed pages. Contributing artists include; Cesar Dacol, Ian Joyner, Jim McPherson, Zach Petroc, Alex Alvarez, Ryan Kingslien, and Fabian Loing. Having all of these different techniques and perspectives on the art of digital sculpting, adds a lot of knowledge and expertise to this book.
I cannot say enough towards the value of this book. It is hands down the best ZBrush resource available in print as of this time. I hope that Scott and company with continue to share their extensive knowledge of the arts and of technology with the digital art community.¤ 4) Paperback Book ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting by Sybex. I would recommened this book to anyone looking to advance their digital sculpting skills further, regardless if youre a beginner, intermediate or expert. This is a very thick and heavy book with some great tips, tons of which I had no idea you could do. The included cd has a bunch of lessons and video clips to help illustrate processes, along with the great pictures in the book.
Finally Zsphere hands were explained and demonstrated easily!¤ 5) Paperback Book ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting by Sybex. Very useful, and gives you a breakdown of traditional form to digital which is a must. The tutorials are helpful as well. But overall great book if you want to understand form and gesture, he also explains the interface of Zbrush and why the menus are organized the way they are.
Buy this book.¤ 6) Paperback Book ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting by Sybex. ZBrush´s popularity is exploding giving more CG artists the power to create stunning digital art with a distinctively fine art feel. ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting is the must-have guide to creating highly detailed, lush, organic models using the revolutionary ZBrush software. Digital sculptor Scott Spencer guides you through the full array of ZBrush tools, including brushes, textures and detailing. With a focus on both the artistry and the technical know-how, you´ll learn how to apply traditional sculpting and painting techniques to 3D art while uncovering the "why" behind the "how" for each step. You´ll gain inspiration and insight from the beautiful full-color illustrations and professional tips from experienced ZBrush artists included in the book. And, above all, you´ll have a solid understanding of how applying time-honored artistic methods to your workflow can turn ordinary digital art into breathtaking digital masterpieces.¤ 7) Paperback Book ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting by Sybex. Amazon Exclusive: Scott Spencer´s Favorite ZBrush Tricks
1. Move your light often. When sculpting try and use the basic material instead of the matcap shaders. The basic material allows you to interactively light the surface as you work. This makes judging your forms much easier since you can see shadows moving across the surface.
2. Use specular highlights. When working make sure you have some level of specular shine on the surface material. Specular highlights allows you to easily see the high points of the sculpt as well as pick out the fine details of the surface texture.
3. Store morph targets. When adding high frequency details it is a good habit to store a morph target of the model with no high frequency details. This will allow you to use the morph brush as a kind of "detail eraser", blending out the skin texture partially or completely as you work.
4. Use custom alphas. While ZBrush has many wonderful alphas preinstalled, get in the habit of finding useful images and storing them as your personal alpha library. You can quickly build up an in-depth and original collection of skin textures. Not only will this help you avoid clichéd alphas, it will also help you learn about the various kinds of wrinkle and scale patterns in nature by looking at the reference you collect.
5. Create and use custom menus.Use the custom menu options under preferences to group your most used buttons and options in one personal menu. This menu can then be mapped with a hotkey and called up at the touch of a button from anywhere in the user interface. This is an incredibly useful tool for speeding up your working time.
6. Create and use hotkeys. Another method to increase speed is using hotkeys. ZBrush has default hotkeys which can be found in the tool tip when hovering over a menu option. You can change these keys and set new hotkeys by pressing control and clicking on a menu option. ZBrush will the ask you to press the key combination you wish to assign as a hotkey.
7. Combine extraneous subtools. Your subtool menu can quickly become cluttered with extraneous parts. Two separate eyeballs for example are unnecessary and just add to the length of the subtool menu. Using meshInsert to take one eyeball and combine it into the other reducing two subtools into one. This can also be accomplished with the ZBrush plug-in SubtoolMaster. For this to work make sure the two tools have the same number of subdivision levels. This will ensure that both models retail their multiple levels of resolution when combined.
8. Frequent the ZBrushCentral website. The ZBrush user community is one of the most supportive user communities I have encountered. Visit ZBrush Central for updates on new tools, techniques, and plug-ins as well as conversations with other artist seeking critique on their work. If you have a question, posting in the forum will get an answer for you in no time.
9. Use ZMapper to check UVs. ZMapper´s morph UV function is a quick and easy way to verify the UV set on a particular ZTool. This can be extremely useful in a production pipeline where you need to verify UV coordinates before proceeding. By simply loading the ZTool into ZMapper and activating morphUV you can check for the correct UV layout as well as visually can for any obvious overlaps or errors in the UV shells.
10. Sketch in ZBrush. Using a ZBrush primitive or a generic mesh, sketch characters often. These don’t have to be show reel pieces just little experiments in using the tools and learning about form. I do at least one sketch a day I never plan on showing publicly. This frees me to make mistakes and just relax. It also helps me learn new things about both using the ZBrush tools as well as sculpting form. Just like you may keep a private sketchbook for ideas and fragments, keeping a ZBrush sketch folder will help you stay active. It can also serve as a great source of inspiration when you want to pick up a rough character and take it to a finish.
11. Use reference. Always have reference handy when working. I personally use photo of real people as well as figurative sculptures when I work. It is hard to go wrong referencing how Michelangelo, Bernini, or Giambologna approached a particular problem in figure sculpture when you work. By referencing the masters you will learn while your work benefits. It is also a good idea to do master copies in your spare time. By trying to copy your reference exactly, you learn an amazing amount about how an artist thought and dealt with specific problems.
¤Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 18-Nov-2008, 047024996X9780470249963, 430-470-740-6X0-960-330-080-341-801-881-8 
ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting, Book, Image © Sybex
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