Archive for the 'Ramblings' Category

What is a Show Stopper?

Published
by
Kerwin
on January 6, 2009
in 3D and Ramblings
. 0 Comments

Apparently the folks at Pixologic don’t get it.   The inability to construct mac-based displacement maps without artifacts is apparently not a “Show stopper” to them.  I was struck by this original concept–the maker of a product, deciding for themselves what is a “show stopper.”   What next?  Cars without brakes?  It’s not a show stopper, just use your feet . . .

It is this kind of nonsense from a manufacturer that engenders the love-hate relationship between Pixologic and it Mac user base.  On the one hand, they build a unique and interesting product.  They promise a mac version for years and when they ultimately deliver, it’s broken in several places.  They promise to fix it in the next version and promise it will be delivered last year.   Then, when called on it they sheepishly announce “we’ll tell you later.”   When further called on it, they derride the concern as not a show stopper.   This, is a PR nightmare and it amazes me to watch a company just dig themselves in deeper.   If you think it is a showstopper, let Pixologic know.

 

References
——————–
http://zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=61998 
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showpost.php?p=517238&postcount=14
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=64630&page=7&pp=15

Zbrush Mac Saga Update, A Date for a Date

Published
by
Kerwin
on December 30, 2008
in 3D and Ramblings
. 0 Comments

We’ll, after saying nothing much since Siggraph (shortly after Pix announced they would deliver ZB 3.5 in Q4 2008 and this would finally unify the Mac and PC version.)   Today, not suprisingly, they finnaly made their next announcement.  

Hi,
The next ZBrush version is currently in development. Information about its release date will be made available 1st Qtr 09.
Thank you for your patience  
Happy ZBrushing! and Happy New Year!
__________________
So, no mention of the fix for displacement mapping, no acknowledgement of the absense of Zmapper, and no ETA for the eccentric behavior of Zbrush canvas (such as arbitrary scaling of the canvas to square form factors.)
It’s a sad thing that Pixologic, which has such a fine sculpting product, can’t do a little better at improving the issues with the Mac version nor provide any form of satisfactory communication as to when they might address the serious issues with the product.
Perhaps we’ll hear more in Mach . . . but given Pixologic’s difficulties with the calendar, I remain on the fence about recommending ZB to anyone who works with Macs.
-K

ZB 3.1 Mac Update

Published
by
Kerwin
on December 18, 2008
in 3D and Ramblings
. 0 Comments

KanBody.png

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

ZBRUSH 3.1 AND THE MAC — A REVIEW

Published
by
Kerwin
on August 19, 2007
in 3D and Ramblings
. 5 Comments

zb3.png
WATCH OUT FOR THAT NEXT STEP!
SOME OF THE BOARDS ARE LOOSE!
I hate writing bad reviews. Writing a bad review about an old friend seems worse, somehow. But, so much misinformation has been pushed out into the web by Pixologic’s zealots (mostly beta testers and those who live in the cottage industry of Zbrush “training” to help users get over ZB’s often bewildering interface), something needs to be said. As someone who has used ZB since versions 1.1, I bit my tongue, tried to make the best of the crumbs that Pixologic tossed the Mac community. For some weeks, I have mulled whether this review was needed–after watching Pixologic now locking any thread that has to do with Mac support, I now feel it’s time that some form of intervention. This review is my intervention.

The fellas at Pixologic got ZBrush 3.0 out the door in May. For the Windows platform, mostly windows XP, as it had issues with Vista. It had some revolutionary tools, such as a projection brush, posing transforms, and (finally) the ability to work on multiple meshes without “flattening” them to 2.5D as is Zbrush’s native desire. It’s been a long strange journey since the aborted delivery of ZB2.5, which never appeared, although the ZMapper tool did appear (again for the PC only.) The offer to Mac users: run ZB in emulation, Bootcamp, or wait indefinitely.

I took up that offer. After all, I haven’t been able to run ZB2 properly on my Intel-based Macs for some time, since Pix *never* patched ZB2 for Intel Macs or even made the remotest effort to support the Mac community as Intel Macs steadily rolled out. A single Mac user and ZB zealot had published much about workarounds, but these are erratic at best. This zealot is now telling end users that ZB3 will be just fine using the Parallels emulator. Anything that doesn’t meet with his approval such as VMware (the foremest company developing Intel-emulation systems) “sucks”. He’s posted such on Pixologic’s forums. I’d take him on, but his buddies at Pixologic immediately lock the thread after he has had his say. Such is the world of Pixologic–only reports positive to their misguided world are allowed, and when the tied goes against them, they silence discussion.

So, based on this one user’s reports, I took the challenge. I installed two copies of Windows XP SP2 (one for my personal laptop and one for my main workstation.) Cost: $450 US. I also licensed both VMware and Parallels. The I set about testing. Well, it isn’t good news. Bootcamp is slow in terms re-booting since it has to reprogram PRAM to support Windows BIOS. Almost 5 minutes between reboots including Windows starting up. Worse, Bootcamp doesn’t support more than 2GB since the extensions to support 4GB. This makes using my 8GB, Quad Intel Xeon 3GHz system seem a little silly as I also don’t seem to get very good threading out of WInXP when it comes to newer processors.

So I tried Parallels. Now I’m running ZB in on 1200MB of RAM (out of max of 1.5GB when it isn’t buggy.) Oh, and it only supports one processor. The bugs in Parallels only magnify the bugs in ZBrush 3. Crashing, out of memory issues abound. And ZB3 was only half-baked with 3.0 release–no Normal map exporting, serious problems with .obj files (which make it useless for morph targets as it messes up point order.) Dozens of hours sculpting later, I can only express frustration with the software’s erratic behavior.

Then the other problems also cropped up in emulation. I needed to spent hours to get to Windows to use a tablet? Why, because most emulators don’t support tablets. And when you have both emulator and Wacom tablet the problems multiply. Essentially, you have to trick Windows, the emulator (like Parallels or VMware) and the tablet driver to play nice. Why is this so important? Sculpting without a pressure sensitive device is like means that you have no control of the strength of your sculpt. Everything is flat, like trying to shade with a new magic marker when you need an airbrush’s delicate touch. Pixologic’s and the zealot’s response? We didn’t test it–we sculpt only with a mouse. Considering that more than 80% (by my survey) sculpt and paint with tablets, this is a shocking omission in terms of user interface.

My experience with VMware was slightly better. At least VMware would let us use 4GB of RAM and two Processors (out of four.) Unfortunately ZB demands for it’s ZMapper utility OpenGL. It doesn’t really need that power to bake maps, but to preview them. Does ZB give you the option to use DirectX (which is far more dominant on Windows)? No. Do they allow you to turn off the calls for OpenGL? No. What they do is throw hundred of OpenGL errors with no way to regain control of ZB but to force-quit ZB.

I could talk about features. ZB3 has many new ones and it looks like it might someday be a nice tool. But Pixologic, through its unofficial spokespeople doesn’t really care about the Mac. I invite anyone to study the posted comments on their own message board. And the official spokesperson? Just locks the thread and says nothing but it might be “months” before we get Mac news. Such is the state of the development at Pix. So do features really matter if they are implemented so badly and unreliably on the proposed platform? In a future article, I’ll try to address some of ZB3’s new features and how they might fit into a sculpting pipeline. For now, suffice it to say that in terms of features, Pixologic has done great things to anticipate the needs of sculptors, even if those features are mostly inaccessible to the poor state of ZB3 on the Mac.

I have also been testing Nevercenter’s Silo 2 and Luxology’s Modo 301. I can say that when Modo301 one comes out, it will clearly be the Mac solution. Not only will you have one of the best SDS modelers available (despite the scoffs of ZBrush zealots who haven’t even tried the program), but it will have mesh, displacement, and bump sculpting. Moreover, you will have virtually *every* important feature in the ZB toolset other than some of ZB’s 2D effects. I have been personally beta testing Modo 301 for the last few weeks and I can say that a beta from Luxology beats a production release of Pixologic any day of the week.

I know my opinions are strong, but Pixologic has mislead the Macintosh community, constantly broke promises to repair the defects in the products, and now their misleading Mac users again. Don’t be fooled. Pixologic’s ZBrush is no longer the pro-tool of choice. Do yourself a favor and investigate your options before plunking down hard-earned dollars on ZB3.

Using ZBrush3 in VMware Fusion

Published
by
Kerwin
on July 6, 2007
in Ramblings
. 6 Comments

NOTE 8/23/07: I no longer recommend ZB3 on the Mac. See my review: http://www.lovecraftforest.com/blog/2007/08/19/zbrush-31-and-the-mac-a-review/___________________________________________________________________zb3.pngOK, so Pixologic dropped the ball for Mac users by releasing Zbrush3 without OSX support and probably none for several months. However, if you have an Intel-based Mac, your in luck, because Pixologic will give you a PC activation key to use it in a virtual machine, such VMware fusion so you can run Zbrush 3 under Windows XP.(ZBrush3 also works well under Parallels3 or BootCamp.)VMW.pngThis tutorial assumes you’re on a Mac and want to use Zbrush3 under VMware Fusion (currently at release candidate 1) hosting Windows XP Pro SP2 with a Wacom tablet. Make sure Wacom tablet is functioning in OSX first. Make sure you have a second mouse connected to the computer before you begin–I will refer to this as your “other mouse” when you need to use it.The steps:

  1. Install and license VMware Fusion according to their directions
  2. Install Windows XP as directed by VMware. This amounts to selecting the new button and walking through the Wizard for an XP install. Note where you created your virtual machine! Don’t activate Windows yet, as you may need to do adjustments that would require re-activation.
  3. Run the Windows updater from the start menu and go get a cup of coffee while all the updates are installed and applied, don’t worry of you have to reboot Windows a couple times during this process as directed, this is normal.
  4. Install VMware Tools from the Virtual Machine menu
  5. Download Wacom’s drives for your tablet from www.wacom.com, but don’t install them yet.
  6. Shut down Windows.
  7. Go to the directory where you created your virtual machine in Step 2. There should be a single big file there with the name of your virtual machine, such as “Windows XP Professional”. Right click on it to show package contents. This will reveal all the pieces of your virtual machine.
  8. With a plain text editor, like TextMate, BBedit, TextWrangler open the file yourvmname.vmx (such as “Windows XP Professional.vmx”). This is the configuration file for your virtual machine. If you’re uncomfortable with this, make a backup of this file first.
  9. Add the line “usb.generic.allowHID = TRUE” to the end of the first group.
  10. OPTIONAL: Add the line usb.autoConnect.device0 = “0xXXXX:0xYYYY” (such as “usb.autoConnect.device0 = “0×00b7:0×056a” just below the line you added in the previous step where XXXX and YYYY are the Product ID and the Vendor ID of your tablet (which can be found in system profiler.) Sometimes this will allow the VM to automatically connect the tablet–it hasn’t always worked for me.
  11. Save the VM configuration file
  12. Close the package for the virtual machine you opened in step 7 and go back to the directory where you virtual machine resides. Start VMware Fusion by double-clicking the virtual machine. If VMware complains it hasn’t seen your VM before, just click “I moved it” and continue on. VMware will correct any issues.
  13. Assuming you use Windows XP in a mac window, mouse along the USB icons in the lower left of the window until the tool-help tells you you’re over the one for your Wacom tablet. Click on it to connect Wacom tablet to the VM. (If it’s an Intous3 it will identify itself as PTZ-something.) Your Wacom tablet is now connect to Windows, and will not be accessible to OSX until you disconnected.
  14. Using your *other* mouse (either a wired one, the notebook trackpad or a wireless mouse), click in the Windows VM window and run the Wacom installer. It should go normally and your Wacom tablet will come to life inside Microsoft Windows but *invisible*.
  15. Invisible mice aren’t very helpful, so we’ll now fix this. Using your *other mouse*, go to windows settings for the mouse (Start -> Control Panel -> Printers & Other Hardware -> Mouse.) On the tab that says “Pointer Options”, select “Mouse Trails” and set the slider to short. Now when you move your Wacom mouse, it should be visible. Yayyy!
  16. Configure your Wacom tablet to suit with the Wacom settings panel *in Windows*.
  17. Go back the USB icon you used to connect your tablet, it should be glowing blue. Disconnect your tablet by clicking on the USB icon and shut down Windows.
  18. Time to adjust some Key VM settings:
    • Under Display, turn on “Accelerate 3D Graphics”.
    • Under Memory, set the memory size of your VM. You usually need to leave 500MB to 1 Gigabyte of RAM free for OSX, the virtual machine, other programs, etc. Do not make your VM too big or your performance will get very bad in Windows, because the VM will start swapping virtual memory in and out. I usually tell people to start with 1GB free and then assign the rest to your VM, up to 4 Gigabytes. (Unless you have a 64 bit version of Windows, such as XP-64, or Vista 64 , you’re probably not going to be able to effectively use more.)
    • If you have a multiprocessor mac, set virtual processors to two (the current max for Fusion.)
    • Set any other parameters to suit.
  19. Restart Windows, reconnect your tablet with the USB icon as before
  20. Install and activate Zbrush3 as directed.
  21. In Zbrush, select Preference -> Tablet -> Use Tablet if not already selected
  22. Zbrush happy.

NOTES:

  1. If everything is OK, now would be a good time to activate your copy of windows. I’d play with it for a day or so, as long as your Windows grace period allows to make sure you’re happy with your VM settings. Windows will remind you to activate it if you forget.
  2. Should you have trouble with you Wacom tablet when starting windows later, just use your *other mouse* disconnect and connect it with the USB icon in the lower left corner of your VMware window. Sometimes the USB emulator “looses it” and needs to be reminded.
  3. Remember that your Wacom is a slave to windows when connected to it. If you need to go back to hybrid mouse mode, you’ll need use your other mouse to click on the USB icon to release it. If you quit VMware and let it suspend Windows, it will usually return the Wacom back to OSX. If shutdown or suspend inside of windows, sometimes it won’t give back the Wacom to OSX, so disconnect your Wacom from Windows *before* using shutdown or suspend from the Windows start menu.

I’ve been using this setup without problem, but remember that VMware Fusion is still in Beta until August, so save your work frequently. Enjoy!