zBrush videos, zbrush tutorials, tips, tools and resources!

I was invited to checkout the new character modelling book by the guys over at Ballistic and really based upon the preview, I think it’s going to blow our z-socks off. I took a few screen captures (well more then a few, but nothing wrong with too much of a good thing right). The pub has 3 amazing authors…Cesar Dacol Jr, Jan-Bart van Beek and Giovanni Nakpil…the artwork is truly inspirational and I’m pretty much jealous of their capabilities.

Here’s a blurb about the book:

d’artiste: Character Modeling 3 presents the techniques of leading character modelers Jan-Bart van Beek, Giovanni Nakpil, and Cesar Dacol Jr. Each master artist showcases his approaches and techniques in modeling characters and creatures for film and game projects through expansive graphic tutorials.

Jan-Bart van Beek of Guerrilla Games takes you behind the scenes of creating characters for the blockbuster PlayStation 3 game ‘Killzone 2′ with tutorials on workflows for creating character heads and the creation of the Helghast Sniper character class.

Some screenshots of their freebie preview from their site (http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/books/dartiste/character_modeling_3/)

I’m not sure when the book is scheduled to be released but it appears if you preorder it now you receive a couple of downloadable meshes as featured in the book…look like it’s for only the first 500 pre orders though…anyways, it sounds pretty cool..here’s an image:

The guys over at pixologic added some new artists to their turntable section…you gotta check them out, talk about some amazing work!

http://www.pixologic.com/turntable/

I just love it when I find gems for zbrush that are freebies. Looks like some new matcaps got released from pixologic…keep the freebies coming!

http://www.pixologic.com/zbrush/downloadcenter/library/

From Pixologic:

The MatCap Library has had a recent update from ZBC Artists RawSunlight and HD CG ADDICT.

These are some great MatCaps to use for your own sculpts and what’s more they are free and located conveniently in the MatCap Library.

These MatCaps were created using ZBrush 3.5
so make sure you’ve upgraded to get the chance to use these great MatCaps.

Happy ZBrushing!!!

Ran across some great models on Trinity3d.com. Check these out!

I ran across this freebie tutorial listing on Shybex. Nothing like freebie zbrush tutorials!

Beginners Part 02 | 97 *.OBJ | 311 MB
Brush Overview

ZBrush is a digital sculpting and painting program that has revolutionized the 3D industry with its powerful features and intuitive workflows. Built with in an elegant interface, ZBrush offers the world’s most advanced tools for today’s digital artists. With an arsenal of features that have been developed with usability in mind, ZBrush creates a user experience that feels incredibly natural while simultaneously inspiring the artist with in. With the ability to sculpt up to a billion polygons, ZBrush allows you to create limited only by your imagination.

Designed around a principle of circularity, the menus in ZBrush work together in a non-linear and mode-free method. This facilitates the interaction of 3D models, 2D images and 2.5D Pixols in new and unique ways.

ZBrush gives you all of the tools needed to quickly sketch out a 2D or 3D concept, then take that idea all the way to completion. You can create realistic renders directly in ZBrush with lighting and atmospheric effects, or with the many powerful export options you can easily prepare you model for 3D printing or use with in any other digital application.

http://www.shytex.com/2009/10/zbrush-for-beginners-part-02.html

Over a thousand digital artists competed for big prizes in the latest CGChallenge. Their mission was to create characters and stories worthy of a James Bond or Bladerunner spy thriller.

Adelaide, South Australia, October 9, 2009  The winners of the CGSociety’s CGChallenge XXIV: ‘Secret Agent’ have been announced. Digital artists, from around the world, used their skills to claim more prizes than an evil henchman could carry on his burly shoulders. Over $100,000 worth of software and hardware were on offer in many categories, including Video, Animation, Modeling and Illustration. To win, the artists’ task was to depict characters and events, which involved espionage, gadgets, guns and evil geniuses, via a still image or video.

The Master Award winners of the three main prize categories – Individual Video, Team Video, and Image – all showed not only outstanding technical ability but were also able to successfully delve into the daring and dangerous world of Secret Agents.

The Image Master was awarded to Portugal’s Jose Alves da Silva (Zeoyn) for his ‘Mouse Love’, a whimsical tale of lab rat revenge. ?Good lighting and a nice story twist,? said judge, Mark Snoswell. ?There’s a wonderful mood in this piece,? added Jon Rush. ?Lots of nice details to look at, but they don’t derail the composition.? The excited artist replied that this ?eight week journey with my fellow challengers definitely pushed me to the limit
if you are willing to listen to what other people say, your work will rise to a whole new level. Knowledge and a great brotherhood spirit are the prizes that all contestants can be sure to take from these Challenges.?

The Individual Video Master Award went to France’s Aurelien Rantet (Aurel0988) for his ‘Run for the Artifact’, a futuristic tale of a bumbling spy and his tenacious attempts at securing a curious object. Hal Milton exclaimed ?Wow! Great gags, great designs … This tells an amazingly satisfying story by brilliantly squeezing meaning into every single second on screen. Once again, you individual contributors scare me with your giant, assumed to be pulsing, brains!” Marc Mordelet added: “Amazing sense of colors. How can a young man do all of this professional work alone? I am feeling old now.” The winning artist said “I’m pretty new in the CG world so this award is a real honor for me, especially considering the level of the other participants…Thanks to everyone who offered me encouragement and critiques during my work.”

The Video (Team) Master Award went to Germany/Japan’s ‘Agent Omicron’.The team consisted of Goro Fujita (Goro), Kory Heinzen, Nico Sanghrajka and Ryosuke Fujita. This campy masterpiece features characters from an imaginary 80s TV show, and has a pulsating jazz soundtrack. Alexandra Ciolac judged it as having a ?lovely graphic style. I believe this piece is the best expression of the classic secret agent concept. Nicely timed animation consistent with the style, full of life characters. Great eyes and facial animations.? Marc Mordelet thought it was ?something between Cobra and Dirty Harry. Great animation and beautiful music. I wish to see this on TV!?

A full list of winners for the Secret Agent CGChallenge and their winning entries can be viewed at The CGSociety website ( http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/secretagent ). Previous CGChallenges can also be viewed at The CGSociety website (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/).

Prizes were awarded in Video, Animation, Art Direction, Best Character, Compositing and Editing, Concept Art, Digital Painting, Landscape/Matte Painting, Lighting, Modeling, Sculpture, Texturing, VFX and Illustration categories.

The prizes were sponsored by BOXX, Autodesk, Wacom, NVIDIA, Luxology, e-on Software, stash DVD Magazine, Maxon, Corel, Craft Animations, Side Effects Software, The Gnomon Workshop, Zbrush, ImagineFX, 3dvia, Ballistic Publishing, and CGSociety.

The judges came from the film, game and illustration worlds, past Challenge winners, and leading luminaries within the CGSociety community. Judges were David Wright, Jeff Mottle , Hal Milton, Coro, Brom, Coro, Sasha Ciolac, Marcin Jakubowski , Vasile Brovcenco, Thiago Pires, Arthur Mirzoyam, Tomasz Jedruszek, Marc Mordelet, Martin Köhler, Yap Kun Rong, ru | bonsaininja, David Luong, Don Seegmiller, Jon Rush, Todd Widup, Bryan Silva, Boaz Livny, Roger Cusson, Mark Snoswell, Leigh A. van der Byl, and Anton Fletcher.

Glauco Longhi from Twitter sent me a url to some of his work along with downloads to some of his speed modelling.

http://longhifineart.com/blog/?page_id=100

Great model on cgtalk I ran across! Checkout the awesome lighting!

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=813101&utm_medium=plugblock&utm_source=cgtalk

Came across this great turntable sample on Pixologic. This specific one comes from a great artist by the name of Maarten Verhoeven!