Well, it’s a been a few months since Pixologic finally released a Mac-native version ZBrush3 (actually ZBrush 3.1) about 15+ months after the initial PC release of Zbrush 3. It is definitely an improvement, both in terms of performance and usability (no more funky playing with Wacom tablets/displays in virtual machines!) Pixologic also announced at Siggraph Zbrush 3.5 will be based on a unified Mac/PC codeline with simultaneously releases in Q4. It remains to be seen, but that would be the next major step to getting their Mac version in parity with their PC version.
I didn’t write a review right away because I was busy, and still skeptical, I didn’t want to jump the gun. So far, it’s been a pretty good tool, but with some definitely rough corners. The most serious of these rough corners is that Displacement Map generation seems to be broken in Zbrush 3.12. This means that Zbrush 3.12 as a pipeline player is clearly still quite weak. I’ve tested several methods of baking usable displacements. The most satisfactory (with my C4D and Modo pipeline) is to export the the high-res model as an .obj, and reimport into Zbrush 3.10 on the PC (you can’t move ZTL files between 3.12 to 3.10 due to file format changes.) Once in ZB on the PC, you can then use “reconstuct subdivision” to recover a base mesh or just reload your original base mesh if you have UV’s created. Not helpful for a pure Mac pipeline, but still doable.
Another alternative is to use xNormal (www.xnormal.net). It’s a nifty free solution, which though is PC only, will be multiplatform in the upcoming months. (The author expects to reach alpa stage in the first quarter of 2009.)
ZB 3.12 is also not as stable as the PC version–this means that it is more testy at importing UVs and the like, but with the aforementioned broken displacement map generator, it is somewhat irrelevant. It does seem to generate OK normal maps (although the more full-featured Zmapper is still MIA after 3+ years.)
So, it’s a split decision on Zbrush 3.12. For sculpting, I think it’s ready for duty on the Mac. For map generation, and more sophisticated pipeline applications, it’s pretty weak unless you’re willing to go back to PC-based applications.
Above is an example of a kangaroo body I sculpted without much issue and probably in a quarter of the time with other products (such as Modo, C4D, etc.)
-Kerwin
P.S. A few hours after posting this, one of the annoyances of the Mac version, the lack of the SubToolMaster plugin, was solved when Pixologic posted the updated plugin for Mac on their download center. Little-by-little, they’re getting there, but it’s been a long, slow ride. :)
-K
