Next version of ZBrush

Pixologic have announced the next update to ZBrush at their summit which will be 4r7 (version 5 is due to be released this year sometime as well apparently). This will be the last 32bit version of ZBrush. So far it seems to have some new dynamic sub-D modelling tools and a bridge to Keyshot (with a Keyshot bundle that will be available for $349 with an intro price of $249).

Somebody did a capture of the livestream (EDIT - video replaced with better quality one):



Day 2 reveal video (beginning is a rehash of the first presentation, new stuff about 12 minutes in):



Day 3 video:

That was pretty cool to watch Banj, thanks. Will you be picking up this version? I like the bridging part, and being able to switch back and forth between the two.

Thats awesome- Looks more building or city scape model friendly.

Digital Dave wrote: That was pretty cool to watch Banj, thanks. Will you be picking up this version? I like the bridging part, and being able to switch back and forth between the two.

As far as I know the update itself will be free to existing license holders like the previous versions (EDIT - confirmed at end of second video), so I should be grabbing it as soon as it's available. It's the Keyshot bundle that costs, but that is actually a pretty low price considering how much Keyshot normally costs, so I'm tempted to get that. I need to see more info on it though.

The stuff in the video didn't really blow me away as I can already do that kind of thing using ZBrush and GoZ it over to Modo to model, but I guess it is convenient to have that stuff directly in ZB.

EDIT - Updated first post with new video.

After watching the second vid, I can see where one might spend a lot of time just sitting there creating stuff. Looks like a lot of fun too. I liked the bridge he did, though, wasn't too sure when he first started it so I can see where it can be literally un-ending if one wanted to keep going and going with it. ... Though I'm not familiar with Keyshot at all, I'm guessing it's a program one can paint in, or can you also modify? I'm guessing by the vid, you would have to bounce back and forth between the two for this?

Being the Z-Brush guy (man, that sounds so French, Zeebrush-guy ) can it also be bridged to PS? Or do they have something in place for this? Or is Keyshot the better program to finish it up in?

So for someone who doesn't have either program, would the intro price of $249 get them both? If so, I might indeed be interested in picking it up myself. Or would you have to purchase ZB first and then upgrade?

Thanks in advance and hope you don't mind all the questions. I looked at getting into ZB a while back, but never did.

I've been actively watching the Zbrush Summit since Friday. It's been really interesting. I'd love to pick it up but it's still too pricey for me to justify buying it as a hobbyist. So I play around in Sculptris instead, or I did until it broke. Still haven't isolated what I suspect is a driver conflict on my pc, but I just loaded it on my surface pro 2 and it appears to be working.

Digital Dave wrote: I'm not familiar with Keyshot at all, I'm guessing it's a program one can paint in, or can you also modify? I'm guessing by the vid, you would have to bounce back and forth between the two for this?

Being the Z-Brush guy (man, that sounds so French, Zeebrush-guy ) can it also be bridged to PS? Or do they have something in place for this? Or is Keyshot the better program to finish it up in?

So for someone who doesn't have either program, would the intro price of $249 get them both? If so, I might indeed be interested in picking it up myself. Or would you have to purchase ZB first and then upgrade?

Keyshot is just a renderer, so you import your objects and light them, then render them out. So that's pretty much all it does, but it does so fairly quickly and simply (I've never used it so I can't say much more than that).

I would assume based on what has been said that the $249/$349 price is a bundle for existing license holders and not a price for a full version (considering the usual prices of both Keyshot and Zbrush normally).

ZB has a plugin for various other applications called GoZ which provides a single click button for sending to the supported app and back again. There is a GoZ plugin for Photoshop so you can send back and forth between the two. I've never used the Photoshop GoZ because I only have an older version of PS which isn't supported (I believe you need one with 3D functionality), but I do use GoZ back and forth with Modo and Sculptris. GoZ bascially just automates something you can do manually though through import and export.

Keyshot website: www.keyshot.com

I don't know whether the version they will bundle with ZB is going to be a special cut down version or what at the moment.

Kynamh wrote: So I play around in Sculptris instead, or I did until it broke. Still haven't isolated what I suspect is a driver conflict on my pc, but I just loaded it on my surface pro 2 and it appears to be working.

What problem are you having with Sculptris?

Third video added to opening post.

Yeah, I was doing some work on my mother's house all day yesterday, but when I got home last night, I watched the last couple hours of the Summit myself. They had the guy that designs a lot of the Marvel characters on there, and it was pretty neat watching. He did some briefs on his 'Groot' character, but I haven't seen the movie, so not that familiar. ... Will check the new vid out when I get the time.

Not really sure I would want/need keyshot, just seems they were using it quite a bit showing how compatible the two are. So I was wondering what all it did. I would mind just fooling with sculpting itself really, and if I can then take it into PS, that would be fine with me. - Is Sculptris similar to Zbrush in it's operation, or are the two totally different? I did look into Z-brush some while watching last night, and I'm guessing it's seen similar to how people see PS for art programs. Or at least that's how I took what I was reading, that Z-brush was the top sculpting program for artist. But I didn't look into Sculptris, so don't know how that one operates.

Are ZBrush and Sculptris similar or completely different? Er, yes is the answer They use very different methods for creating the geometry but the basic process of sculpting is fairly similar I guess.

Sculptris is free so you can try it out yourself: pixologic.com/sculptris/ (as I recall you are using Maverics on the Mac so you will probably need to edit the config.text file to get it to work correctly by changing "enable_shaders 1" to "enable_shaders 0" ).

Keyshot probably isn't necessary really. ZBrush has it's own native renderer already.