Zbrush Review

After trying out Zbrush for a few weeks, I think I am finally competent enough to give a short review. I will be comparing it to my previous long-time sculpting program (Mudbox) regarding workflow,  navigation, tools, and ease of use.

The Program's Purpose:
For all the high-quality results presented by digital sculptors from around the world, Zbrush was originally not designed to be a high-poly sculpting program. It was originally meant to be a 2.5D illustration program. Basically this means it's supposed to be like MS paint but with a depth-enabled canvas, hence the name "Z" brush. Its purpose as a high-poly sculpting program was realized when people started importing low-poly models from other programs, such as 3ds Max, subdividing the model and sculpting large amounts of detail, bake the detail into displacement/normal maps, then going back into 3ds Max and applying the sculpted detail into the low-poly model. In this way, artists can animate a low-poly model while being able to render high-quality details.

Developers have subsequently improved its standard features and added new ones on further versions such as Zbrush 2, 3, and 4. It can be safely said that more artists use Zbrush primarily for sculpting models than for creating 2.5D illustrations. But the program itself still retains the interface and workflow logic it used since Zbrush 1. And, in my opinion, the program isn't optimized for high-poly sculpting.

For example, 3d models are actually called "tools". This is because in the early days 3d models were used as a brush to "paint" identical 3d models onto the depth-enabled canvas. So all the models you create (and import) appears in the "tools" window because they are meant to be brush tools. You can't even use the Save function in the Zbrush menu to save the sculpted model because all it will save is the snapshot of the model. You have to save your model as a "tool" using the "Save Tool" function in the tools window.

The Interface:
The interface has its own pros and cons. What I love about it is that all buttons can display a detailed tooltip when you hover the mouse over them and holding CTRL. The toolbars and other windows can also be customized and moved around (though not in the way you are probably accustomed to). But the thing with the interface is that I mostly find it cluttered and confusing when compared to Mudbox, or even 3ds Max.

For example, some of the most used features for sculpting are hidden among buttons and rollouts that are barely used. To perform a series of functions that would normally be straightforward in Mudbox, I had to open and close several rollouts; navigating my way among a myriad of buttons and being careful not to accidentally click a random button. It's no wonder why many people complain about the interface.

Navigation:
It's true that navigating inside a new 3d program needs some getting used to. But this is especially true with Zbrush. The first thing I noticed are the pan, zoom, and rotate buttons at the side of the viewport, adding to the already cluttered interface. You basically have to click and drag the mouse on these buttons to perform the required action even though you can perform the same actions through mouse/keyboard gestures.

But that's where the other problems lie. To rotate the view, you can do one of three things. (1) click and drag on the rotate button at the sidebar. (2) Left click on an empty space in the viewport. (3) Right click anywhere. The problem I find most annoying is that while I'm sculpting an object, whenever the brush cursor strays into an empty space in the viewport the view suddenly rotates without my consent. In Mudbox whenever the cusror strays outside the visible area of the model and into an empty space, nothing happens.

I also find the Zoom function a little daunting. I have to first hold ALT, then hold the right mouse button (or a similar function in the Wacom pen), then let go of ALT; in that exact sequence. If I do that wrong then the view either pans or rotates instead. It's this complication of a simple action such as Zooming in and out that annoys me alot on Zbrush's navigation logic.

Tools:
The tools are what I actually love about Zbrush. Though, again, the sculpting tools can also get cluttered (yey). I can access a mini-version of the sculpting tools sidebar by right-clicking anywhere. In this mini-window I can also change the size and strength of my sculpting brush by dragging sliders around. Though in Mudbox this task is slightly easier as I can  re-map the hotkeys of the size and strength functions (Q and A respectively) then all I had to do was hold Q or A and I could change my brush size/strength on the fly.

There is about 4x more sculpting tools available in Z-brush than in Mudbox. But again, the most used tools are mixed in with tools that are barely used and I had to sort through all of them before I found the tool I want. Plus, to select a tool I have to open popups either in the left sidebar or by right-clicking and opening up its mini-version. Then I have to find and click on the tool I want.

In Mudbox the main tools are hotkeyed to the 1-9 buttons so all I had to do was hit 1, 2, 3, 4, etc and the tools are automatically made available for immediate use, a very useful timesaver I might say.

But for all the various pros and cons of the program, the Z-Sphere is the feature that wins an applaud from me, no questions asked. Basically I can assemble together a bunch of spheres to make a quick mock-up of a model before converting them into a mesh and then sculpting; great for organic models!

Conclusion:
While Zbrush is a very capable program, I find it a little too alien. Its interface and workflow logic is not optimized for my needs; sculpting details into high-poly models. Compared to Zbrush, Mudbox is built specifically for that task; its interface is simple and direct and its tools and other features are neatly stored away in easy-to-access panels. Navigation is also quick as I can just hold ALT then drag using the left mouse, right mouse, and mid mouse to pan, rotate, and zoom (respectively).  

While generally lacking in first versions, Mudbox is also catching up to Zbrush in terms of features such as the Pose feature, or "Render a turntable movie" feature, or texture painting. I can also record a time-lapse movie in Mudbox while I'm sculpting my model, similar to Zbrush.

My prediction will be that, in the future, Mudbox will exceed Zbrush as a high-poly sculpting program. Zbrush's sculpting uses were only realized as an afterthought while Mudbox was primarily designed for that task. Mudbox will probably incorporate a feature similar to Z-Spheres in Zbrush in the future. Who knows.

So right now, I will still use Mudbox as my main sculpting program and rely on Zbrush only when I need to, like when I need to use Z-Spheres.