Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49505 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
"...excellent guide to digital sculpting in ZBrush...well-illustrated, packed with information...this book is both authoritative and a pleasure to read." --3D World, September 2008

From the Back Cover

Break Free from the 3D Mold

ZBrush is taking the world of 3D modeling by storm, allowing CG artists to create spectacular organic models in a way that feels like traditional sculpting and painting. Like the software itself, this beautiful four–color guide perfectly blends technology with artistry to give you a thorough, hands–on tutorial in creating 3D characters with this revolutionary software.

Digital sculptor Scott Spencer guides you through the full array of ZBrush tools, including brushes, textures, and detailing. You′ll learn how to sculpt in ZBrush, design a character bust, and dazzle viewers with your creations. Above all, you′ll discover how to apply time–honored methods of traditional sculpting and painting to a digital format—and emerge a better artist, no matter what the medium.

• Bridge the transition from traditional sculpting to digital

• Explore the ZBrush interface and toolsets

• Learn valuable techniques for texturing, posing, and rendering in ZBrush

• Master ZScripts, macros, and other methods for customizing the interface

• Transfer your ZBrush creations into Maya® and prepare for use in film, game, or other formats

• Gain valuable insights and tips from guest artists throughout the book

VALUABLE COMPANION DVD

Support files for the book′s tutorials are included on the DVD, so you can try out the techniques as you go. It also includes ZBrush movies to further illustrate the step–by–step sculpting process, as well as a trial version of ZBrush 3.1 for the Microsoft Windows operating system.

About the Author

Scott Spencer is Digital Art Director at Gentle Giant Studios. Creating creatures and characters for film, games, and the collectable figure market, Scott′s credits include Iron Man, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Golden Axe, Species 3, and others. He teaches digital sculpting and anatomy at The Gnomon School of Visual Effects, and serves as beta tester and consultant to Pixologic.

Customer Reviews

Best Zbrush Book Out There!
If your an intermediate modeller or just getting to grips with Zbrush this book it the best period. It is extremely thorough and will teach you all the latest theories and techniques. I think this book is more valuable than every other tutorial I've seen combined.

excellent
excellent book my daughter has used it a lot and it has come in useful for her BA Hons in Modelmaking

Great learning tool
I am only half way through this book. However I feel it deserves a review all ready.

I have been studying a number of tutorial DVD's recently and have to admit I have learnt a great deal about ZBrush. However I found that this book actually gets you more involved in sitting down and using ZBrush with the book along side. I found that I was previously watching the DVD's and then having a go at ZBrush.

I originally purchased 'Essential ZBrush', which I gave up on by page 27 due to hitting a brick wall with the instructions. I also found the illustrations to be very hard to follow (all in B&W).

I was a little apprehensive when I took the plunge and decided to purchase 'ZBrush Character Creation' due to my disappointment with the above. But I found a huge difference. This book provides full colour illustrations and is easy to follow. There are a few instructions which throw you, however it doesn't take long to work them out. This is useful as it forces you to learn a little more about ZBrush without realizing it.

The DVD that comes with the book provides some really beneficial material, which runs in parallel with the book. Be careful with the DVD as it doesn't work on some systems (works on PC). I finally got the thing to work on my Mac after some effort. This is due to the format SYBEX use.

My only personal bug about the book is that it includes a few hints on using Maya, which is part of the commercial workflow. If you can afford Maya then you have no problem. My workflow doesn't include Maya (mainly due to the cost). Therefore I just passed over the pages containing the Maya tutorials and still found it intuitive.

I think a really important element to consider is how much respect I have for this book. I always look forward to opening the book and can't wait to continue the remaining tutorials.

Scot does a great job of instructing you what to do. But more importantly he explains why, which is a big part of learning.

I would recommend this book to any ZBrusher. However if you have never used ZBrush before, check out a couple of tutorial DVD's or a book introducing you to ZBrush just to understand the basics first.

I have become a fan of Scott Spencer (author) and his work and I thank him for sharing his skill to inspire others. A great book worth the money.