Blender vs. Zbrush

Kent, since you said you come from a Zbrush background, can you say how well blender's sculpting toolkit measures up to Zbrush?

  • Omar Domenech replied

    I don't use Zbursh, only seen it in action, but for sure ZBrush is a better software for sculpting, because of course it's purely dedicated for it. Having used Blender for sculpting, I'd say Blender is super great if you compared the two, more than great really, they both have everything you need to make sculpting great. So I guess the answer is, it measures quite high.

    An analogy would be with that of a car, you have a great car that gets you places, it's comfortable, doesn't break down, it's trustworthy, it has everything you need to get to your destination and more. But then it's true you could also get to where you're going on a luxury car, with all its extra perks and fanciness, yet in the end you're going to be arriving at the same place. So you can make it all about what gets you there, but in reality is not about the what (the car), it's about the who (the driver). 

    So I can go into this tangent. As you advance more and more, you start to realize the tool is not as important as you thought it would be. ZBrush is awesome as well as Blender, but if you put a dentist to make a sculpt in any of them, it's going to be terrible. And yes, cool tools and features like Zbrush can be awesome, but they will never be the reason that you're good at sculpting. It's like people that can make incredible works of art in Microsoft Paint, they don't need Photoshop even though Photoshop will be easier to work on, the software is not making the artist. I know you were just curious about the toolkits of the software's, but you know, going into that tangent is always a must. 

    3 loves
  • coyo (coyohti) replied

    As someone who has used both tools my experience is that ZBrush is incredibly powerful. It can gracefully handle millions of polys, even on my old computer, without a stutter. The downside, and what eventually made me tap out of the ZBrush workflow (aside from cost), is the UI/UX. It's absolutely awful (specifically navigation and saving) and the impression I get from Maxon is that, at the moment, they couldn't fix it if they wanted to and there is currently no incentive to do the code forensics required anyway.

    Obviously though, plenty of people have adapted to ZBrush.

    If you watch Kent's Human course you will, at times, see him struggling with and jumping through hoops to get Blender to produce the result he wants. Some of the issues he faces in that course have been resolved and Blender does perform better now...however, it simply can't match whatever black magic code is powering ZBrush. The trade-off with Blender is that it gives you so many other excellent tools that are just a Tab key away (to put it simply).

    Ultimately it comes down to the preferences of each individual sculptor. As Omar has said, the software itself isn't going to make anyone into a good sculptor. The software is just a tool. If you are just starting out learning sculpting in general my advice would be to stick with Blender at first mainly because it's free and thus an excellent way to get your feet wet. As someone with a real media sculpting background I can't help but recommend getting ones hands on some clay as well - it can be a very good way to help understand forms better (and squishing clay is fun).

    If you find you are getting really into digital sculpting look at the sort of thing you are wanting to create. If you find you are leaning toward creating sculpts with lots of fine detail then you might want to give some thought into moving to ZBrush. Blender, and your computer, will undoubtedly start letting you know when the limits are reached. :D

    1 love
  • Kent Trammell replied

    @Bee Hive Great question with an involved answer...Which is the better sculpting app? Zbrush. It's got loads of tools, features and is super efficient with handling massive polycounts. Since Zbrush devs are primarily focused on sculpting, it only makes sense that it's the best in the business. Though coyo is also right that Zbrush has a notoriously odd user experience. But the app is so powerful that artists still chose to favor it despite complaints.

    Zbrush has always been my favorite of the commercial apps. It was the only app I purchased a license for after college. However since discovering Blender, I've never needed Zbrush again. To me that's a significant reality. It aligns with Omar's car analogy. Zbrush is like a lamboroghini and Blender is like a Toyota Camry. Obviously the lambo wins in a race. But for 99% of my travel needs, the Camry does perfectly well.

    Which brings me to my personal standard for software choice. To me it all comes down to competency. Generally we can expect commercial apps to be competent as they're backed by paid development. This is where open source apps can struggle to achieve competency. It's a 'you get what you pay for' situation. However Blender is a unique example of open source success that has man aged profound competency in my experience.

    When I tried Blender for the first time I put it through it's paces, expecting it to fail in any of the many facets of computer graphics workflow. I was shocked when Blender handled every task I threw at it, including sculpting. After 12+ years with Blender, I'm perfectly content using a competent app even when I know it's not "the best".

    Nothing wrong with choosing a Lamborghini though. If you can afford it.

    4 loves