Hey guys and gals! I just thought I'd open this question to all in the know. I'm trying to get my college to invest in ZBrush, I've been talking to managers for some time now about how amazing it is and combined with 3DSMax (which we already have) it would be a pretty good 3D setup.

However, our senior faculty manager has been talking to few people and has been told to get Blender instead of ZBrush...they're suggesting it's the same thing and is free.

Now I've never used Blender, only 'played' with it a while back and thought it was very similar to 3DSMax.

What I'm after from you guys/gals is a little feedback ragarding this issue. Again, I only really know ZBrush and looking at it from a sculpting package can't see much in terms of competition...or am I wrong? Can Blender do the same? I'm looking at the possibilities for the college and especially the practicality across many faculties, i.e. Sculture, Ceramic Concepting, Ring/Jewellry Design, Character Design, all with the possibily of exporting to a 3D printer.

So...ZBrush or Blender?

Zbrush is the answer, no comparison.

Blender is still an amazing package and with a free price tag it's hard to compete with for a generalist package. However, what you should get your faculty to do is investigate and find out how many production studios use blender. What you will find is that it will no doubt be less than 2% of the global market.

The thing to remember, you are studying cg to get a job. Blender will give you a basic understanding of the concepts, but hands on experience using software that the majority of studios use is the key.

Having said that, I totally get that getting hired is about the artist, not the package, all I'm trying to say is that you will have a greater chance of getting a job if you train with Zbrush. If two applicants had the same skills, but one used Zbrush and one used Blender I know which person I would be hiring.

Furthermore, Blender has very basic "sculpting" tools when compared to Zbrush and it shouldn't even be considered in the same realm as Zbrush. It just seems to me that your school is pinching pennies... why drive around in a VW Bettle when you can cruise around in a Ferrari!

cheers
Andrew

Thanks for the reply Andrew, no surprise really. It's just a case of gathering the feedback and responses.

If it's ok with you, I'll forward this on to the Campus manager...that should be interesting.

If anyone else has feedback, please post a reply.

Thanks again, much appreciated!

I'm more than happy for you to show my reply to your Campus Manager. I truly believe Zbrush is worth it's weight in gold for any artist who is interested in building assets for production. (Don't forget about considering Mudbox as an option)

You might try suggesting that the campus starts with just a single floating license of Zbrush as not everyone studying is going to be interested in becoming a modeler/texture artist. This way you get the best of both worlds, Blender for basic theory, Zbrush for production specific skills.

cheers
Andrew

Andrew wrote:


Having said that, I totally get that getting hired is about the artist, not the package.

I wish I could agree with that, I really do. What I've found though since the industry has changed around me to using Maya and Modo, they wont look at anyone who works within anyone else. Studios have seem to become package orientated - well here anywhere in scotland. I've had a few studios really interested in employing me then once they found out my training is mostly stressed on NewTek Lightwave they shun you, never to hear from them again. They simply dont want to take the time to train anyone up at all.

I dont mind completely because I want to know how to use Modo, Maya, Zbrush etc it's just the time I have is limited when working and learning.