3D Sculpting Trial, So Far.

Posted on November 2, 2012 by SusanG

Up to this point all my original plans have changed. Some of the reasons for that were my own doing and some were instigated by actions of a third party.

I started with Lightwave, and my trial is still active. As a modeling tool for less organic shapes I see it’s value and reasons for using it in concert with other tools. For organic shapes or sculpting, not so much. Overall, it’s easy to pick up some of the basics and given opportunity or need I suspect some of the more advance features will be equally as accessible.

Since the Zbrush trial is no longer available (I called to make sure I didn’t hallucinate this trial) I chose to give Mudbox a try since by most accounts it seems to be the closest competitor and it is described as a 3D sculpting program that comes from Autodesk.

I have found Mudbox surprisingly easy to use. I think, initially my biggest challenge was learning to navigate within the space. Moving around the object was fairly easy but the zoom in and out and pan took a little more work. I’ve been able to model a few things so far, some items easier than others, and at least one still in the ‘work in progress’ phase.

My ‘work in progress’ piece sent me off to explore the creation of stamps for texture. This has had it’s moments of being kind of cool and kind of frustrating. The help for Mudbox is great for the steps as far as how to setup the document in Photoshop and how to save it so it will work. So I decided to give it a try. My first one I liked, and was able to load it, but nothing showed up when I tried to use it.

A few more tries and I was able to get something to work and I began to understand some of the tricks to be used. I had run out of patience at that point so decided to move on to something else. Of course the minute you do something like that you figure out what you were probably doing wrong.

A side benefit of that little exercise was that I also figured out how to create a custom preset in Photoshop. Not that it is particularly hard. I had not had occasion to need one up to now.

There are some things I still find a bit frustrating in Mudbox. Possibly because i haven’t figured out how to do them yet. As a result, I’m still not satisfied.

So I called Pixologic to ask about the situation with regards to the trial. What I found out was that it had existed and was pulled. However they do have a 30 day return policy.

I have learned a lot so far. I still don’t have an answer as to which software to start with, though, I am getting closer. Mostly, I have learned that the right tool really can make all the difference.

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New Dilemma

Posted on November 1, 2012 by SusanG

I had vacation time I had to take. I didn’t really want to go anywhere, for a variety of excuses. I also didn’t want to spend it just playing video games or something along those lines, and I have no major home projects I’m working on. I decided that it would be the perfect time to learn new software that I want to learn instead of software for work.

Now, I’m on the first of my vacation times. I have, today, tomorrow and the weekend left and then in two weeks I’ll have another ten days or so, including weekends. I spent yesterday trying out Mudbox and seeing how I like it. Which, it’s ok. Today, in addition to playing more in Mudbox I made a phone call. I called Pixologic to see what options I had for resolving my Zbrush dilema. I really want to try Zbrush.

At the moment, my only real option is to purchase the software in order to try it. I was told, when I called, that they do have a 30 day return policy. This is what leads me to my dilemma.

Do I go ahead with my plan of using the vacation time to learn the software through evaluations (i.e. free trials) and abandon the desire to try Zbrush? Or do I purchase Zbrush and use that dedicated time in those first 30 days to decide if I’m going to keep it? I need to decide soon. Lunch first.

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Best Laid Plans, or Not

Posted on November 1, 2012 by SusanG

As you may recall, I had planned to spend some time trialing Lightwave and then concurrent to that I was going to trial Zbrush. This weekend, that just passed, was when I intended to start the Zbrush trial as I have already started the Lightwave trial.

I’m not entirely sure what happened. I went to get the trial of Zbrush only to find it no longer available. I can’t tell if it’s been unavailable for a while and I was working under a false assumption or if it just recently, and abruptly became unavailable. I don’t recall seeing any notice and I only found one reference to it on the forum, so I’m perplexed.

I am also annoyed. Yes, I know, the company is under no obligation to offer a free trial of their software, it’s sort of a courtesy. Or more like a drug dealer. Still I would like a chance to try the software before I shell out the cash for it. At this point I’m stuck trying to decide what to do. I still have more than 60 days on the extended trial I got for Lightwave. I can just continue with that and see how I feel about it in the end. I can wait and see if Pixologic offers a new trial of Zbrush. I could try Sculptris, which someone seemed to think might make a good trial. There are reasons I don’t consider that an option but I won’t go off chasing that topic. Or I can take a moment, remind myself of my greater plan and the reason I was considering the software in the first place.

The original point was to find a relatively inexpensive yet professional grade software package to do 3D modeling in. This is as an intro back into that realm and to find out if I will actually use it and become proficient at it. Zbrush does still meet that. There is another possibility that I may look into before making a final commitment.

Autodesk make Mudbox for about $100 more than Zbrush and it does much the same thing in general. As my end goal is to get to the Autodesk products it may be an option to just start with them.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet. I was almost convinced to just purchase Zbrush, but the new wrinkle of Mudbox means I’m going to have to do a little more research first. As always, stay tuned.

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Slight Deviation of Plans

Posted on October 21, 2012 by SusanG

Originally I had planned to download the 30 day trial copy of Zbrush to see how I like it and give it a go before committing to purchase. Then I would purchase it and learn it and then after a period of time I would move on to the next application on the list, which I had set at being Lightwave.

As I continue to read about and learn about the different software programs and what they can do and how people are using them and the ease of adding a particular product to a pipeline, I find myself re-evaluating my original plan. Such has turned out to be the case with Lightwave. And it was helped along by the discovery of access to an extended trial period for Lightwave.

I had thought of Zbrush for modeling and figured that a good place to start. Got to have a model to put into a scene. From reading about it and watching tutorials I’ve a suspicion that it may not be as effective for full scene creation and walk through. One of the things I read pointed out that Lightwave, in addition to being great for layout and effects, does modeling as well. And supposedly it is easy to pick up and, the tools for modeling are as robust as for Layout. Hmm. Maybe I want to rethink my options.

If I’m going to spend x amount on a program that has a single focus, is it going to be worth it if I can spend more and get a program that does that and more? It may be, but it’s my money and a hefty amount of it so I’d like to be certain, or at least comfortable with my decision.

It turns out that a copy of 3DArtist Magazine, that I picked up a few months ago, included a special 90 day trial for Lightwave. What if I could evaluate the modeling experience in both programs, concurrently? Fortunately the 90 day trial period starts from when you register the product, not from when the magazine was published so I was able to download it, install it and run it. Next up was documentation. I know there are video tutorials and they are good. I wanted something more basic. What tools are available and where are they sort of thing. Hey, I’ve already done/tried the ‘just open the program and start using it’ approach. I’ve got a concussion from beating my head against the metaphorical wall. I’m doing it differently this time.

I’m a little more than a third of the way through the manual on Modeler. There are also manuals for Layout and Surface and Rendering. So far I’ve found some cool tools, a couple I’ve tried and some I can’t wait to try.

I am still planning on trying Zbrush. However, instead of getting the trial at the end of this week I may wait one more week so that 30 days overlaps more of my upcoming time off from work.

I’m glad I’ve taken this slight detour. It’s helped me stay focused on my plan and helped keep me enthusiastic about it. When it comes time for me to commit the cash, I think it’s going to be a tough choice for where it goes first.

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Uncle! Ok, I Give In…

Posted on October 17, 2012 by SusanG

I have been trying for some time to learn to use the open source 3D modeling and animation program Blender. The fact that such a robust and extensive program exists, is free, and open source, is something that I find really exciting. And I want to learn it and support it.

However, for me, it isn’t working out at the moment. It is actually getting in the way of having fun creating art. I am not finding it the easiest program to learn, and I have been trying. I have one of the newer books and I tried to work along with one of the chapters only to find that one of the tools being featured has since been deprecated from that specific incarnation to something and somewhere slightly different. It took me half an hour searching help and the wiki to figure out what to use instead. Were it not for being really determined to work along and try to learn how to use the features, I would have given up and gone and played a game.

I’m not inept at digital art programs and I have had experience with 3D programs, though it has been quite a while, and I can draw. Blender just turns out to be more challenging than I have the patience for at the moment. So I give in.

I still want to create 3D art.

What to do. I suppose the next thing is to look at some of the programs that are not open source and not free and are used in industries that make use of 3D art.

Where to start though. I could try to go back to the program I used in school and see if I can pick up the newer tools and functionality, and hope they kept some of the things that I remember making things a bit easier for creating. I am afraid I will find it to be more challenging than I remember. There is a 30 day trial so I could test it out before committing to it, which is good. If it turns out it is easy to pick up and get going then the next problem becomes the price. Right now, it’s a little high for my budget. Maybe it will be a goal, something to strive for.

I’ve been reading some sites and magazines and have found two other programs closer to my budget, also with 30 day trials. I have decided on one that I think I will enjoy working with the most, initially. I may still want the other once I get proficient with the first one.

I’ve watched several of the training videos on the site, and know once I get the trial I will go back and watch some of them again. I’ve even ordered a book so I have some reference.

I haven’t downloaded the trial yet. I’m hoping to do that this weekend. I am trying to time the 30 days to coincide with some time off from work that I have scheduled, that way I have larger chunks of time to spend with it so I can really see how I like it.

More soon. And who knows, maybe pictures in a post or two.

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