Sculpting in Zbrush

When using the tools in Zbrush, the one I liked the most is Clay Tubes, depending on the size of your brush you can add tiny details with it or huge facial things like nose or eyes. It's different working with Clay because I find it quicker working on Zbrush and makes your model look smoother and professional. When working with clay, it gets stuck on your tools or if you do one thing wrong you've got to start all over again but on zbrush if you do something wrong I can easily change it by adding or using low subdivision and use the move tool, and line it up with my image planes and create the jaw line or nose far more easier than I can with clay. When image planes are added it makes the process of modeling far more easier, I can make the model almost see through and I can grab parts of the face and line it up to make it more similar to the face i desgined. Another reason I liked zbrush more than clay is that when you make a clay model once you have completed it you have to start from scratch again to make a new one, but on zbrush you can use an old file and experiment or create a new face, which is a lot more resourceful than Clay. Using Zbrush is a lot more flexible than using clay which I like a lot, when using Zbrush you can delete your mistakes, create molds easier and your objects will be placed where you want it to be, and not get squished or stuck like it does when you use clay. Another easy thing was going into Maya and creating Teeth or Hair, and importing it into Zbrush, it a lot less time consuming than creating hair and teeth in clay, because you have to spend a while to get it precise. Another feature Zbrush has is Alphas, where Zbrush uses the different shades of grey on the black and white image to determine the depth of the picture features, thus making a 3D brush, you can create these for your self in Photoshop or use the ready made ones in the files, they are useful to add a lot of depth detail in your model, making it easier than just scratching on marks, this can create a professional look for your 3D model. Another tool that is useful tool in this program is the smoothing tool, when you add clay to your model it can look ridged and untidy, but smoothing tool can make it look sleek and more tidier, this is really useful to smooth your your details and make your model look clean. A thing bad about Zbrush is the camera angles, when using zbrush it's hard to get a precise angle of your model because it turns too easy and the sensitivity of the camera is too high, this can be time consuming trying to get your model facing towards you again or trying to turn your model around, it can end up upside down.

When using Clay I find it to be squishy and more practical, you have to use the same amounts of two different clay and sit there for a bit to squish it together, after a while it hurts your fingers because of the friction it creates. You apply the none sticky clay into the foil and mold it into a face, after you think you've got a basic shape, only using the images you have printed out as reference on the table, you can start taking little bits of clay and create facial features like nose and eyes, with the nose I found it easier for the clay to be fresh and squishy and apply it onto the face, using the tools to shape it into place though because of this, if I pick up the model and accidentally budge the nose, it would be ruined and I would have to start it again. Because the chin was too small it was easy to add a chunk of clay to the bottom of my model and mold it into a descent looking chin, the mold was again squishy and not very sticky and adding such a huge chunk made it unstable and easily fell off, I learned to leave the mold for a bit so I can push it on and it stays, i also used other bits of clay like glue and massaged it in, so it looks smooth and and not just simply pushed on. You can also use clay to scratch details on like I did with the clay mouth, I grabbed a scopul and gently scratched the details of the teeth on, I left the model to dry a bit first so it wasn't too squishy when I tried to do this, otherwise it would just become a mess because it hasn't dried enough to do an action, this can take a while and if you do it wrong you have to start again because it is too visible that you have done something incorrect. A mistake a made when making my model was when adding the eyes I didn't leave the clay to dry long enough when i rolled it up into an eye ball shape, so when inserting the eyes balls into the sockets, they became flat and marked easily, it didn't come out how I wanted, but after doing this mistake I learned that I have to be patient with clay models, or it will come out wrong. One thing I found easier to do with clay than on Zbrush was making the skin flaps around the face, using soft, fresh clay I rolled it into a ball and flattened it out onto the table, using the tools I picked it up, it didn't matter if it had scratched or bits fell off the pancaked piece of clay, because it would add more detail to the skin tearing off effect. I rolled it up side ways then unraveled it onto the model, using the tools I raised it slightly so around the mouth and jaw, it looked like the skin was coming off, this was a lot more harder to do on Zbrush. When we modeled with Greenstuff, it cured a lot quicker than the clay did and was also more sticker, making little details was hard but using clay it wasn't sticky at all and can do a lot more details than you can on green stuff. Another problem you have with Clay is that once it has dried you have to chisel off your mistakes, when you work on Zbrush you can just CTRL ALT DELETE and your mistake will be gone, chiseling is a lot of work and you could break your model if you are too rough.

The different with Clay that is alot more easier with Zbrush that it comes naturally, everyone know show to pick up a piece of clay and mold it into a basic shape and add details, but it's just having the eye and the steady hand to create something amazing. In Zbrush you have to learn different tools and how to work in it before you can make anything, which can take time, but i still find it easier and quicker to make than Clay with better results.