ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting

This is a pretty good book. I always have reservations about buying books on 3d software. It usually follows the example of, make a cube (giving detailed instructions of course), then says shape it into a torso and the next image is a fully detailed torso showcasing the pecs, abs, wrinkles and a battle wound, I honestly didn't know what to expect here. I was hoping for lots of theory, and workflow techniques (these are here, thankfully) i figured I would never do any of the exercises and just try and read the theory (I took a zbrush class before, but when someone as talented as Scott Spencer comes out with a book, you best read it).Thankfully, it seems Scott Spencer and the publishers thought the tutorials would be weird to show here too (especially since zbrush by nature is very organic, and fun, most of the time your just playing around and having fun).Almost every exercise show here in the book is also available on dvd. The bad part is, most of the videos on the dvd have no audio, but this is still a big improvement, and I thank Scott deeply for this.The dvd also has some really good lectures on the disc, specifically on topology and zspheres, that alone are worth the cost of the book.In the end, after reading the book over the course of 2 weeks, and referencing it heavily since I bought it (same week it came out) my work has improved, and I have a more thorough understanding of zbrush.When you only watch videos, you never get theory, you just view step by step. When you follow tutorials online, again, no theory, your just playing a game of monkey see monkey do. This book gives you everything, step by step tutorials, lectures, theory, and videos. This is a course in zbrush in and of itself. The most valuable aspects, are when Scott talks about how he approaches something (or many of the other talented artists that are inside this book) and helps give me a better understanding of the material.Thanks for writing this book, and creating those wonderful videos. If I had to criticize this book at all, I would say next time give us a few more videos with audio (like the class videos, wow are those good!), but really, I'm more than happy with what I got. This is a very low price, and as such, a very high knowledge to price ratio. I don't see how you can buy this book and not improve.

The good:The author, Scott Spencer knows his stuff. Not only does he teaches you the technical aspects of Zbrush but he covers some asthetic aspects of making art with Zbrush (There is a strong emphasis on Anatomy for example).The Bad:I started to notice editing mistakes starting with chapter 3. There were some paragraphs in which it instructs you to use the 'Simple Brush' when they meant to say that you should use the 'Standard Brush'. Also another time, one of the instructions refers you to a picture which is not shown in the book. I found some other errors too but I won't bore you with all those details.Bottom line, this is an advanced book. You do need some technical grasp on how Zbrush works before you start reading this book. If you are completely new to Zbrush, you should start with "Introducing Zbrush" by Keller or maybe a beginners instructional DVD.

I've been a hobbyist for years and I've read A LOT of material. You will find few books as clear, concise and comprehensive as this one. Scott Spencer's experience translates clearly in his commentary and writing style. He explains the not only the how, but also the why at appropriate times, without bloated language to confuse you. Spencer covers artistic and technical aspects, with clear illustrations and CD resources to help you along the way. This book assumes that you're oriented enough with 3D to understand the basics of modeling and texturing to not bore intermediate users - at the same time, being accessible and intuitive enough for beginners to start to grasp these concepts. Advanced users will probably not benefit much from this book. If you're a beginner, this book will teach you the best techniques and practices in Zbrush (for games or film) - if you're intermediate, you will learn some new tricks, crystallize what you already know and be left with no doubts about your workflow. You WILL be a better sculptor after reading this book.

I purchased "ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting by Scott Spencer" with the intent of finding a better way to create meshes to animate in Maya, but there are a few more tricks up Zbrush's sleeve. The book is layed out as tutorials, walking the reader through the ways traditional maquette artists could translate their skills to the computer. There are some basic anatomy lessons with special attention on the human head, and then non-human fantasy character heads (which apparently is the authors forte. The book supplies plenty of useful information to integrate ZBrush into Maya, including re-topology, creating UV's and painting them and all the practical problems that arise from transferring files. I'm still working on it, but this book has so far answered all the questions I've had and taken my modeling to the next level with a minimum amount of frustration. Anybody interested in making complex 3d models, especially for animation would be well served by this well written manual.

I would recommened this book to anyone looking to advance their digital sculpting skills further, regardless if youre a beginner, intermediate or expert. This is a very thick and heavy book with some great tips, tons of which I had no idea you could do. The included cd has a bunch of lessons and video clips to help illustrate processes, along with the great pictures in the book.Finally Zsphere hands were explained and demonstrated easily!