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I'd say ZBrush core hasn't caught on yet simply because it's still new. Add in that people who get ZBrush Core are actually more likely to go ahead and either save up for full ZB, or wait for a big sale (you can get it as low as $400 depending on the sale) and that kinda explains it all.
I used to model in Lightwave, and then moved over to Blender when I had to do something that Lightwave couldn't handle (I can't remember what is was - perhaps water simulations, but I can't remember) within a very short space of time I ended up going over to Blender full time. The program is amazing. It's got everything you'd need.
It does have a steeper learning curve, just because it's geared towards more advanced users who want a faster workflow, (hint- get to know the keyboard shortcuts) but with a good tutorial you'll be up and running within about a week.
Greetings,
No pro here, but I use Hexagon all the time to clean up autofitted clothes. I find its interface confusing, oddly enough. I keep having to click the same sequence of things, as it keeps falling out of the mode I need it to be in.
I might not kill, but I'd at least pause and really consider maiming someone for a DAZ Studio <-> Silo bridge as nice as the Hexagon one... ;-) I've modeled one semi-complicated thing 'in anger' with Silo (an attempt at a pair of AR wraparound goggles) and it was absolutely amazing how straightforward it was, plus it's super-lightweight, and you can find some super discounted deals on Steam occasionally.
-- Morgan
Carrara 8.5 Pro is down to $21.84 for PC+ members in today's blowout sale (probably even less with a coupon). Just sayin' . . .
I haven't used Hex for 3D text yet- I've always used Carrara for that. Nice idea.
Sickleyeild brings up an interesting stat. Only the top 10% of PAs get invited to the DAZ summits. So in a room of 25-30 top PAs, that Hexagon gets a show of 15 hands says something at least in this tiny slice of market. In the end the tool choice doesn't matter, what matters is that hard work and creative talent that makes stuff happen, the tools just help bring it to completion. I also on occassion crack open Blender, if I need something it can do. Same with Carrara, physics mostly.
3D-Coat is a very affordable alternative to Zbrush and its very easy to use.
And for those interested, I was able to get Carrara 8.5 Pro for just over $16 US today.
Software pedigree doesn't matter at all in what we do! Only results matter. And results can be obtained in several ways. It's hard to get around Zbrush and MD if you make certain things, because each of those is really outstanding in its own specialty (Zbrush at hirez sculpting, MD at cloth design and some kinds of sim), and lately I'm finding Substance Painter more and more indispensable for gritting up hard surfaces quickly, but for base meshing, for UV, for morphs? You can do those in a LOT of different programs, and we all have to rig in Studio at some point.
One thing to think about is the future is you software going to be updated and is it going to be using the latest technology. Lets face it, it doesn't look like Hex and Carrara will ever be updated all the resources are being put into DS, well that's just my opinion. So one day you are going to have to learn another software package. I think you're better off putting your time into something that has a future and you can get good at.
Overall most used.. probably z-brush, but not for modeling the base mesh.. that's all over the place, as already stated. I use Hexagon and Marvelous designer for base meshes.
Hi
I’m an amateur modeller so I can’t afford, and don’t have time to learn to use, the expensive professional modelling apps. So for a long time I thought I would be stuck with the choice of Hexagon or Blender but there seem to be quite a lot of new free 3d apps around at the moment and I have been testing some of them out. One of the easiest to use is Rocket 3F. It is quick to learn and works well with Moi3d and 3D Coat, which are my other two favourites at the moment. Where rocket also scores highly in my book is its low cost to power ratio. If you are happy to renew your license each month (a few mouse clicks) its free to use with no restrictions. It’s much easier to learn than Wings or Blender so a good for beginners as well as experienced modelers who want quick results. Vectory might also be worth a look but it’s not quite so easy to pick up and runs in a browser.
Keith
I am not an experienced modeler, but have done some in the past with Sketch-up. I have been using Blender more lately due to price, versatility, and finally getting over the hump of 'getting' its UI. I upgraded to version 2.78a and that seem to help me 'get' it more than previous versions. I do my texture painting in Gimp and started to use Photoshop lately. I have tried some things in Hexagon. I got Carrara cheap enough, but have not cracked it open yet. Some say it has it's usefulness in scenes, etc.
Has anybody hacked Hexagon to get past the 32 bit limit? I saw words mentioned of this, but not if it actually worked or how to do it.
Modders fix popular games all the time, like Durante who basically fixed a bunch or terrible pc ports of games. He made games run at entirely new resolutions, broke the 30 fps limit so the game ran at 60 or higher, and fixed many other graphical bugs, all by himself in his spare time. Squaresoft would sometimes release a buggy Final Fantasy port, and he had a fan made patch with days. Too bad he's not a Dazzer <.<
No need to hack it (not to mention asking for hacks might get the admins upset since that might be a TOS violation)... just search Google for a program called "Large Address Aware"
Description:
"This is an application that assists in making applications large address aware. When a 32-bit application is large address aware, it can access up to 4 GiB on x64 operating systems and all memory that isn't used by the operating system and other applications on x86. 64-bit versions of Windows require no modifications to the operating system to benefit from this application; however, in 32-bit versions of Windows, you must increase the user memory setting."
It's easy to find and I've used it on numerous older programs so that they'll function better in Win 7 on my laptop I5... It's also usefull for games and other programs, basically works on any older program that was designed for 32 bit rather than 64 bit systems...
Having said all that even without LAA, I've never had Hexagon crash out from reaching the 2gb limit, and I use it exclusively for everything I make. Though I would add my voice to the many, many, many, others who've been asking for years for a properly updated Hexagon (sadly DAZ just doesn't seem to care about that or any of the others they've bought out over the years)...
You've never had Hexagon crash??? I can load a Genesis 3 figure with textures, then try...well, anything. Within 5 clicks or less I can guarantee a crash. Hex crashed on me the first time I used it. And the second, and the third...It doesn't matter if I use 3dl textures, either.
I can load it up without textures and keep it from crashing so much, but then I can't see what I am doing. Am I stretching the UV too much here? I cannot tell! Even if I try loading up a basic texture on this G3 figure, like a checkerboard pattern, it will crash. It might take a little longer, but it will eventually die..
Now when I say crash, it doesn't crash to desktop, it gives an error, and I cannot continue. It will not save, nor redo once this error pops up.
This LAA is what I saw, but I didn't see what the abbreviation stood for or where to find it. After some searching, I found the fix freely posted in the forums in a thread about Hexagon crashing a lot (go figure.) So I will also post that thread, just for anyone who happens to find this as maybe it will help them:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/16493/hexagon-crashes-very-often/p1
I'm going to mod software if I need to fix it, just like I will mod my car if it needs fixing. Hexagon has been abandoned. If Daz had any intention of an update, they would have done one...This is my speculation...but come on, everybody is speculating this. Just make it open source, problem solved. It gets all of the "please update Hexagon" threads out of your hair, and certainly somebody would give it a shot. WIN-WIN. So much win it would overflow. Dazzers would be partying in the streets, with tears in their eyes. That is also my speculation, but I know I would be, or the very least in a modest sized parking lot.
I use 3d Max to start my projects. Then I use Hexagon for tweeking once i'm happy with the models and after it's been mapped. I find Hex's shading domains easiest to work with.
Nope... I suppose I've been one of the lucky ones, but I've never had a serious issue with Hexagon and have even found a few "glitches" that can actually work in my favour as a modeller. I do know from many years of using it that others are not always so fortunate and the stability of the program seems to be reliant on the software and hardware environment it's being used in. Some people (like myself) have been able to use it with no major issues, others find it glitchy as heck, and even others have been unable to get it to work at all. I've been using it for well over 8 years now and was even at one point a featured user story here at DAZ a few years back... it's a good program for all that it is, once you get used to its capabilities and limitations there's very little it can't do (I've even been able to post WIP's in Lightwave and other 3D forums and gotten compliments on the work I do with it)...
Like anything else, it's just a matter of taking time to learn how to use it effectively, but as always... what works for one person may not be the best solution for another...
I too wish that Daz would excrete or get off the pot when it comes to Hexagon.
They remind of of Homer Simpsons in that BBQ episode where he's chasing after the pig, except they're running away from the responsibility of maintaining the software while chanting "It's just a little buggy, it's just a little buggy".
Maintain your software or make it open source so others can. As soon as I become king of the world that's going to be law. Sadly it's just not as easy to raise a personal army as it was in the olden days.
In some cases, and this may be one of those, the effort needed to update an application may not be worth the time and money required. The reason I say this is that there are so many alternatives to Hexagon (and yes, I own it too) and the amount of work needed to, as I understand it, rip out a no longer maintained library and replace it with something else is not cost effective for them.
All the more reason why they should make it open source.
I agree 1000%. Release Hexagon from this prison so users can try to breath life into it. It deserves it. There are alternatives, sure, but those alternative are not as easy to use as Hexagon, and lack the very handy Daz bridge. There is a reason why people still use Hexagon today, in spite of all its problems, and that reason is quite simply because of how much easier it is to use. Hexagon doesn't make my head spin with 100 sub menus and infinite hot keys you must remember to use it properly.
There is not a single negative for making Hexagon open source. I can understand why Carrara and Bryce would never go that way, but not Hexagon.
With sickleyield telling us how many PA's still use Hexagon, it is crazy to think its so out of date. This is proof that either updating Hexagon or making it open source would help PA's make more content for Daz Studio. And at the end of the day...isn't that what everybody wants? The more people that make content, the more money Daz gets from their sales. Just think about how many more PA's could potentially join the store if the bar to entry was lowered with improvements to Hexagon.
I got to ask, how old is you equipment? That is probably why it works for you. I have Windows 10, and a pretty modern pc overall. I'm starting to think the best way to use Hexagon might be to dust off my old beater from 2007 with its Core 2 Quad.
ZBrush is probably the one most used. I use it primarily for morphs, zremeshing, and some textures. For straight modeling Modo and Blender.
I'm using an older HP Probook quad-core laptop with 8gb ram (need to upgrade the ram but ah well), 3gb video and Win7... so older gear, but not completely ancient as yet and still quite serviceable (haven't had any issues using Hexagon on any system I've owned in the past 8 or more years)... I have an old dual core Desktop that I mainly use for storage and older games that wouldn't work properly in Win7, but it hasn't been used for 3D work in years. I'd love to get a newer machine, but can't afford the cost at this point yet...
I've been seeing a ton of people all over the place complaining about programs not working in Win10... but that's Microsucks for ya... "Trust us... it'll be much better this time... ", the great people who ask you not what Windows can do for you but what you can buy for Windows... lol
That assumes it doesn't need proprietary code or licensed libraries ripped out in order to make it open-source friendly, which I think was the point.
My system is less than 6 months old, with Win 10, and it hasn't crashed on me yet. Yet. So far, it's run smoother than the older system I had that was 10 years old before the HD wiped out 3/4 of it's hard drive on me.
I just installed Hexagon on a Surface Pro 4 i7 with 16GB of RAM and it ran fine for me. Admittedly, I'm not doing anything complex - I just did a "model a mug," tutorial from Youtube.
Blender, Photoshop, and Substance Painter/Designer are my goto tools at the moment.
I haven't rebuilt my computer (yet, other than a new video card), it was one step down from top of the line about 4 1/2 years ago. I had Win 7 on it, I had to put Win 10 on it about 9 months ago. So far less Hex instability with Win 10. And I've never had it crash from the 32 bit limit either.. lots of other reason over the years but not that. If I'm trying to work on a G3 morph at Sub-D 2 it is very slow, especially with symmetry on, but it doesn't crash - just lags. But then I almost never work in Hex with textures applied, I have textureless material presets for all the Genesis** people (DZ Default shader makes Hex the happiest) and when I'm making morphs I keep my clothing/accessories textureless. If I need to see where material zone borders are I'll change the diffuse colors, but no textures.
There are things I've just learned over the years that Hex doesn't like.. selecting polygons and making them into material zones dirrectly off the UV view it doesn't like.. if getting the selection is easiest to do that way right click on main view and then click on the edge somewhere to get rid of the pop-up menu to get the focus back on the main view without losing the selection before making the new material zone. It doesn't like flipping normals, always save before doing that. There are other little things that I've internalised so much over the years that I can't even remember them to tell you, and somethings got better in the few updates they did do years back. Right now it seems to most dislike turning smoothing on and then rotating the view too quickly afterwards.. when I really get into the groove I'm just a little too fast for it and it'll crash. Oh! It also doesn't like working with the surface sculpting tools on a mesh created or imported dirrectly into Hex, it will crash almost every time, but it never seems to have a problem when the mesh is brought in via the bridge from DS (thank god).
I've had better luck than others with Hexagon I guess. It rarely crashes on me on any of my computers (all Windows 8.1.1)
Laurie