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Sketchy, "shameless" seems a bit harsh. Mudbox is a high end utility tool for cinemagraphic and game work. The fact that this tool is available to the average 3D artist, rather than locked away as a proprietary utility by the big studios is very cool. The price of $299 is very reasonable, the upgrade to pro is $395; but think about it - that's only $45 more than buying the pro straight away, makes sense to me. As to value for the cost; real working displacement maps to take to your 3D rendering,rigging and animation software. Created in a true 3D environment (not 2.5D via projection master in ZB), sculpt and texture dense meshes with full OGL display, the ability to layer, to use 16 bit alpha maps (32 bit in pro), an interface that is consistent with other tools in your pipeline, works for me. What other soft does this now, arguably none, ZB while you can create wonderful stuff, is still an odd duck, Silo isn't ready for prime time, Hex is broken, and Modo is offering pie-in-the-sky. As to support: the forums are great, admins are there regularly and are very helpful, not to mention there are some real power users hanging out. The paid support is intended for the guys using this as programmed for: production studios. I own this soft, and consider the $299 to be money very well spent.
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