Which 3D programs - Polyloop

Nate Owens · 24th September 2006, 07:23

Color me curious (not yellow, please)....

Which 3D programs are there (at any price) that do displacement painting like Silo beta, Hexagon...

Z-Brush looks pretty awesome, but that interface is beyond me.
MudBox is exciting, but not available (does it actually do models from the ground up.... like line tools, lofting, box modeling... etc.?)

Is the playing field really that limited?
What's out there? Where izzit?

jbshorty · 24th September 2006, 07:50

hex, silo, zbrush, mudbox, blender (?)... that's it as far as i know.

dooki · 24th September 2006, 08:19

Hey Nate,

ZB does have a complex interface but once you do a couple of the tuts you realize that you can get by with a handfull of basic tools (much like any other app). One reason I REALLY like ZB is that it can run on pretty much any hardware set up. Hex2 comes close but weeds out A LOT of machines! I can't of the other apps mentioned.

If you have never used ZB it is pretty much pick a brush size/adjust the pressure/ and paint away!

-Dooki

jbshorty · 24th September 2006, 08:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by dooki

If you have never used ZB it is pretty much pick a brush size/adjust the pressure/ and paint away!-Dooki

and with it's AUV tiling, that's pretty much all you have to do to start sculpting on a primitive...

jbshorty · 24th September 2006, 09:37

Nate, there is also a (quite expensive) plug-in for Rhino 3 called ClayTools that handles displacement sculpting. What makes it interesting it that you use it with a "carving tool" attached to a mechanical arm that sits on your desktop. When the tool pushes into the model on screen, the arm gives you a resistance so you feel like you're sculpting clay

! It's a very cool idea in theory, but ZB and Silo seem to have better sculpting results. Although it has some nice features like setting limits to displacement areas by using nurbs curves. and also seems to create smooth blends among touching objects (something like metaballs)...

E-Z · 6th October 2006, 12:46

ZSphere are Cool

Patrick210 · 6th October 2006, 14:42

"Is the playing field really that limited?"

Yep, It's all brand new. Z-Brush was first.

taz20 · 8th October 2006, 18:19

Have you seen this? (its free)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sharp3d

I'm currently playing with the beta of Silo2 as well - its shaping up to be a really good app so far. I'd recommend Silo2 over Hexagon any day (just my opinion Hex fans).

Nate Owens · 8th October 2006, 23:11

I'm pulling for Silo... waiting to see what develops.
There are some basics I think Silo needs to address and I am sure that they will. I think Silo has been concentrating on the trees which is a great thing, but when they get done with the trees, they may need to step back a few steps and look at the forest. (ie: the little details vs. the big basics picture).

seleneyue · 25th October 2006, 18:43

sharpconstruct 3d looks promising, but at stage .12 candidate... you might want to wait.

Medyl · 13th November 2006, 10:02

hmmmmmmmm their are many I have used, Pixar Studio Pro, Character studio for Cinema 4d, Poser 6, Pixologic's Zbrush2, Deep Paint and a few others. Silo I havent tried, But I just got my hands on SoftImages Avid 3, and have to say between it and Zbrush 2 and Silo, of what I know about it from reading, they are at the forefront in that area of expertise. But like technology, things change very rapidly. So the wait will be not long. Oh and Zbrushes UI is equivilant to Pixar Studio Pro. Once you get the hang of it, it fairly easy, compared to a Max 8, Maya 7 or Lightwave 8.

Grendel · 13th November 2006, 15:35

I think z-brush is still the best for this, I have not tried mudbox but it looks close. The interface is terrible but you probably won't use 80% of it anyway. I agree with dooki that once you do a few little tutorials on painting and exporting most of the pain goes away. I do all my modeling and uv work in Hex2 and paint/displace in Z-brush. Z has great auv/guv tiling options but they are unworkable in a 2d app(photoshop) later if you need to tweak something so I use standard unwrapping in Hex2.

24th September 2006, 07:23	#1 (permalink)
Nate Owens Doodlin' Dude Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: South Carolina, USA Posts: 1,013	Which 3D programs Color me curious (not yellow, please).... Which 3D programs are there (at any price) that do displacement painting like Silo beta, Hexagon... Z-Brush looks pretty awesome, but that interface is beyond me. MudBox is exciting, but not available (does it actually do models from the ground up.... like line tools, lofting, box modeling... etc.?) Is the playing field really that limited? What's out there? Where izzit? __________________ Shirts, MousePads, Stuff / The Gallery / Videos / Blog

24th September 2006, 08:19	#3 (permalink)
dooki Box modeling Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Northern Calif. Posts: 273	Hey Nate, ZB does have a complex interface but once you do a couple of the tuts you realize that you can get by with a handfull of basic tools (much like any other app). One reason I REALLY like ZB is that it can run on pretty much any hardware set up. Hex2 comes close but weeds out A LOT of machines! I can't of the other apps mentioned. If you have never used ZB it is pretty much pick a brush size/adjust the pressure/ and paint away! -Dooki __________________ PC/ P4/ /XP/ 2.4GHz/ 512RAM/ ATI Radeon 9550/256RAM Macbook Pro/Leopard/2.4GHz/4RAM/NVIDIA 8600M (256MB) eMac/ G4/Tiger/ 1.25 GHz/ 768RAM/ ATI Radeon 9200

8th October 2006, 23:11	#9 (permalink)
Nate Owens Doodlin' Dude Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: South Carolina, USA Posts: 1,013	I'm pulling for Silo... waiting to see what develops. There are some basics I think Silo needs to address and I am sure that they will. I think Silo has been concentrating on the trees which is a great thing, but when they get done with the trees, they may need to step back a few steps and look at the forest. (ie: the little details vs. the big basics picture). __________________ Shirts, MousePads, Stuff / The Gallery / Videos / Blog

13th November 2006, 10:02	#11 (permalink)
Medyl Vertex Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, The Commonwealth Posts: 6	hmmmmmmmm their are many I have used, Pixar Studio Pro, Character studio for Cinema 4d, Poser 6, Pixologic's Zbrush2, Deep Paint and a few others. Silo I havent tried, But I just got my hands on SoftImages Avid 3, and have to say between it and Zbrush 2 and Silo, of what I know about it from reading, they are at the forefront in that area of expertise. But like technology, things change very rapidly. So the wait will be not long. Oh and Zbrushes UI is equivilant to Pixar Studio Pro. Once you get the hang of it, it fairly easy, compared to a Max 8, Maya 7 or Lightwave 8. __________________ "Never liked having a Signature, So how many years am I serving?"

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24th September 2006, 07:50	#2 (permalink)
jbshorty proud to be a nurb Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: only in your mind Posts: 1,365	hex, silo, zbrush, mudbox, blender (?)... that's it as far as i know.

24th September 2006, 09:37	#5 (permalink)
jbshorty proud to be a nurb Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: only in your mind Posts: 1,365	Nate, there is also a (quite expensive) plug-in for Rhino 3 called ClayTools that handles displacement sculpting. What makes it interesting it that you use it with a "carving tool" attached to a mechanical arm that sits on your desktop. When the tool pushes into the model on screen, the arm gives you a resistance so you feel like you're sculpting clay ! It's a very cool idea in theory, but ZB and Silo seem to have better sculpting results. Although it has some nice features like setting limits to displacement areas by using nurbs curves. and also seems to create smooth blends among touching objects (something like metaballs)...

6th October 2006, 12:46	#6 (permalink)
E-Z Edge modeling Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 379	ZSphere are Cool

6th October 2006, 14:42	#7 (permalink)
Patrick210 Pixar want to hire me! Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Florida, USA Posts: 549	"Is the playing field really that limited?" Yep, It's all brand new. Z-Brush was first.

8th October 2006, 18:19	#8 (permalink)
taz20 Vertex Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 27	Have you seen this? (its free) http://sourceforge.net/projects/sharp3d I'm currently playing with the beta of Silo2 as well - its shaping up to be a really good app so far. I'd recommend Silo2 over Hexagon any day (just my opinion Hex fans).

25th October 2006, 18:43	#10 (permalink)
seleneyue Vertex Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 17	sharpconstruct 3d looks promising, but at stage .12 candidate... you might want to wait.

13th November 2006, 15:35	#12 (permalink)
Grendel Moderator Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 1,264	I think z-brush is still the best for this, I have not tried mudbox but it looks close. The interface is terrible but you probably won't use 80% of it anyway. I agree with dooki that once you do a few little tutorials on painting and exporting most of the pain goes away. I do all my modeling and uv work in Hex2 and paint/displace in Z-brush. Z has great auv/guv tiling options but they are unworkable in a 2d app(photoshop) later if you need to tweak something so I use standard unwrapping in Hex2.