Got ZB4 running, and man GoZ by itself makes the upgrade. So I can toss stuff (fully mapped) between ZB and Cinema4D, and thus into Unity no problem. Plus the new spotlight is crazy - basically search the internet, your own files for textures and spray them straight on the model in various ways.
There is piles of other stuff in the new release as well (animation, shadowbox quick object design…)
Almost all 3D (mudbox) or 2.5D(like zbrush) sculpting tools are awesome. They’re actually more than awesome, they’re downright invaluable for real-time normal maps.
i like coat3D
I still haven’t received the upgrade email. I’ve been looking at the videos they posted for Z4 and keep getting drooly faced.
So ZBrush works with Unity? Could you explain the work flow?
I make something in ZB, hit GoZ and it ends up in Cinema4D…a short trip from there to Unity.
ZB has an amazing unwrap plugin, and so many ways to retopo meshes, merge meshes together etc. Plus it’s painting is better than BodyPaint (IMO) that actually comes with Cinema4D.
(GoZ also goes to Maya, 3DS, Modo…forget whatelse)
Oh and GoZ is bi-directional, so from C4D I can kick stuff back to ZB, you can go back and forth it’s awesome.
(Check out the pixologic website…lots of cool videos)
Now I just have to be a better artist…
You’ll have to explain this one to me. Last I checked, Zbrush has that Zsphere retopo poly system, and that was it (not to mention it was unbearably slow to retopo things). So are there other ways to retopo meshes in Zbrush? Because I definitely want to know. 
I think you can reskin tools with the unified mesh thing? Can’t remember the name. I don’t think that would give good results though.
I always used the zsphere method.
Aside: I’ve got some spare cash, should I get topogun?
Many thanks quentinp for the heads up.
I must admit that I have had my eyes on ZBrush for quite some time, but somehow, never quite reached for my credit card.
I think the main reason for not buying it is their licensing. I believe, you can only install it on either Mac or PC, depending on which you buy. They do have an option of buying the second OS at half-price, but that is still an additional $300.
If they had a modo/unity license setup I would have purchased it without a second thought.
Regards,
Matt.
Zbrush licensing is awesome though, you never have to pay for an upgrade. Unlike maya or max, which you have to pay like 1k a year the updates and support. You could always email zbrush about licensing questions and concerns.
I personally love sculptris for doing basic concept sculpts or doodling.
I’m sad to suck too much at pure sculpting for being able to use ZBrush properly 
I know you can install it on 2 pc’s but not sure if you can split MAC/PC?
And I have confirmed with support that the licenses are platform specific. No OSX and PC on the same license. You will need one PC license and one OSX license.
This is a shame although it shouldn’t be a show stopper. Most of my development is currently on PC but I’m hoping to get my hands on a new iMac shortly so that may change.
Guess I’ll have to wait a while longer until my dev machine issues are resolved.
Regards
Matt.
Well one bonus thing for you now is that both versions are now at parity. (I had windows, so I’ve had certain features longer, but the mac got GoZ first) Now ZB4 is the same all around (and all the plugins are available this time)
Now I need to stop messing with it and start making something specific and planned
I just got my confirmation email today… figures I would be in the last batch… but it is pretty awesome stuff with version 4. I agree that the spotlight would be a new version in and of itself, but everything else is nice too.
Very useful and can’t wait to do some sculpts with it.
Here’s a quicky I did, the main new features I used where GoZ, kicked the basic shape from C4D to ZB, Lightbox (to choose two included textures), Spotlight to manipulate the textures and apply to the model.
Maybe took 15 minutes?
(edit: rendered in C4D, hopefully can get it into a Unity scene tonight)
(edit2: added an in-game shot)
Now if only I could figure out how they did the alpha editing with spotlight in their demo videos…
I am making some doors for a boardgame of mine and it is ridiculous how fast this thing is.
Here’s a sword, took me around 30 minutes. It’s around 270 polys (is that reasonable for a weapon in a game these days?)
Heavy use of lightbox/spotlight with a few random pictures from the web to paint the texture and bumps on the sword.
edit: added Shield I whipped up in between other things (need to work on the shape of the base mesh)
Looks nice, 270 polys is definitely fine IMO.
(Average character models ‘these days’ are around 3-5k)
If it is a single player game, and the main character is the only one using that weapon, perfectly fine.
If every NPC will be holding it (or every player in an online game) you may need to optimize more.
I’m thinking about getting z-brush very soon.
So you make a high poly sculpt, normal map it, and throw it on a low poly version to make it look very similar to the high poly? Sounds sweet.