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Yes, this. I completely agree!
I thought they went sub only with Cinema4d, seems i was wrong in that.
They acquired Redshift a couple of years ago, and made it subscription only a number of months ago.
Thing is, Blender already impreoved HUGELY its interface when THE GREAT 2.8 update happaned.
So i dunno if there is still much sense in b4artists, unlike older days of 2.6-2.7 blender crazyness
One reason BforArtist is still valid is the fact it's lighter on computer resources, I believe this is due to not having all plugins turned on with the software or something like that. How much resource a program takes up on one's computer is an issue everyone needs to be concerned with, no one wants to lose their render or animation during a crash. What I can say for sure, running Blender makes my computer groan, BforArtist does not, and that includes renders.
I'm talking about the differences between Blender and BforArtist, Blender does use more resources then it's clone and does make my computer work harder, it is heavier on the system then BforArtist.
Also Daz can give me grief on occasion as well, never said it didn't, also depends on which computer I'm using. Currently in the middle of building My Library again since I have changed computers 4 times in the last year.
As for system requirements between Blender and BforArtist, that is not what I read on their website, however I did read on their site that their program is lighter and less resource intensive then Blender. Are we getting are information from the same site, though I must admit, it's been about 4 months since I have been there and they might have changed that information. Now I will have to go look.
This proves they do not have the same system requirements
And they have a whole section where they list the differences between them and normal blender and don't list "more resource friendly." You'd think if they were they'd use that as a selling point. (Downloading point? Selling doesn't really work in this context)
Not bundling as many add-ons could shrink the file size of the program, but they don't require any extra memory unless until the point you click them and make them do stuff.That sounds about right, seem to remember someone else has said something similar regarding addon's and other stuff.
I agree they should promte the differences better then they have for the reason's you state.
Ouch!
$39.95 / Month for ZBrush now, that's absurd!
I never upgraded my Quicken 2017 software because now they want a monthly subscription too.
Who has the money for all these monthly software subscriptions and streaming fees?
the sculpting in Blender is like 15y behind Zbrush. The whole industry is working with Zbrush for a good reason. it can handle 50million polys, all the plugins and tools inside. all brushes by artists etc. blender doesn't even have a quad remesher, you have to buy it.
They've posted some clarification:
Perpetual customers who purchased prior to ZBrush becoming part of Maxon on December 29, 2021 were guaranteed free updates for one year from their purchase date, including feature updates, patches and bug fixes. This will be honored. Customers who purchased farther back but never upgraded to ZBrush 2022 will still be able to do so, ensuring a consistent baseline for support. Those users will not receive free upgrades to newer versions. Customers who purchased a perpetual ZBrush license after December 29, 2021, will not be eligible for free upgrades.
So I guess if you bought a few years ago you can go to ZBrush 2022 and then the upgrades end.
They've also said that perpetual licences are forever, good they've put that in writing.
This argument has nowhere to go. The situation is what it is. Some will buy in, some won't. Some will be satisfied with what Blender offers, others will give 3D Coat a spin. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That's confusing... if you hold an older perpetual license and qualify for free upgrades, what are they upgrading you to... there is no more perpetual license only subscription... so does that mean it's free lifetime subscription?
Because generally an upgrade is to the next version, but generally subscription really doesn't do "versions" it's just graded by year... like Photoshop 2021 or something... most companies make the claim that you are instantly getting the newest features as they become available, negating the need for version releases and upgrades.
At least with most of "the reason we are subscription only now" claims I've read they say that.. so like if they add a new feature like a menu option or tool, you don't have to wait for the next version release to drop, you get that when it's ready...
I don't know if anyone actually does that though, since I abandon anything that's subscription only.
Faeryl Womyn,
I don't use ZBrush so I don't have any valid opinion about the issue. But as a newbie Blender user, I'm beginning to bump against the complexity of the UI. While my hardware appears to handle Blender quite well (running two together doesn't slow my PC down), I'm eager to try anything that will ease the UI learning curve. Thanks for the BforArtists info! I'll check it out. Glad I lurked on this thread; I wouldn't have heard about BforArtists otherwise.
Cheers!
I should say that Blender really gives me hope in the face of cynical, profit generating tactics by the commercial operations out there.
Having said that, I have spent time in Blender tutorials and have realised that unless you use it every day (like I do DAZ Studio) then it is impossible to become comfortable with all its features and complexities. The only people with the time and dedication to do that are professionals and, it seems to me, they are precisely the people who have the money to buy expensive software such as ZBrush. They are the people that these big, subscription-based outfits are targeting, not people like me.
Blender is daunting because it attempts to provide pro-level features in a package that is mostly going to be attactive to hobbyists and most of us don't have the time or inclination to learn its complexities. So we use it for certain tasks without being familiar with what it can do in other areas. I, for example, use it for making morphs and not much else. I don't need ZBrush to do that and I believe that Blender is an absolute gift to people like me. I think it helps the commercial software vendors too in as much as Blender provides a viable alternative for hobbyists, some of whom might have been tempted to go the Warez route.
They're still offering perpetual licences but now they won't upgrade for free. The exception is people who purchased in the year before 29 December 2021 get free upgrades for 12 months from the date of purchase. Older perpetual licence holders can upgrade to ZBrush 2022 but then no more free upgrades after that. Subscription is still the same.
I wouldn't be surprised if they keep offering perpetual licences but make the upgrades quite expensive so that subscription is the most cost-effective method for people who always want to be using the latest version.
It does seem overwhelming at first, but I use blender almost every day and tend to only use the same handful of features over and over again, which means that once you know a handful of commands and shortcuts, you can create anything you want. It's then just a matter of adding to the basics one tutorial at a time. Keep at it, it will all click into place.
...I primarily work with Blender in what it originally was designed for, modelling. The new UI makes it easier to concentrate more on that particular learning curve instead of the one the old UI had.
You don't have to become comfortable with everything. You can pick one thing, get some traction, and follow your needs and interests to other things. There may be things you never use, and that's ok!
I hate Blender's UI with a passion.
Hopefully Zbrush's subscription cost doesn't significantly increase. At present level, it's... not great, but pretty reasonable. I mean, look at some other top tier applications and hoo boy.
Frankly, at this point the perpetual license has begun to feel like a steal.
My biggest worry is what market they aim for; if they focus on top level professionals, they might end up pricing it out of the range of most small timers (like myself).
Hey now. Were you there for Blender 2.49?
I had to walk uphill both ways in the rain
Actually I followed one tutorial and then gave up for several years until Blender 2.5. which had a ui that didn't physically hurt to look at, and a viewport that didn't suddenly lose track of everything. Seriously, in 2.49 you'd try to adjust the viewport slightly, and suddenly it would move 50 miles from your object and it would take you 5 minutes to get it centered again.
The old Blender interface never clicked for me. I tried several times and just could not grasp it. Then they updated and it made a big difference for me. The current interface is much more accessible for me. Currently, I use Blender for modeling. Also, I have been getting more comfortable with the UVMapping function.
It only took about a decade.
Yes, that's really the point I was trying to make ... just use it for what you need to do. I still have paid-for courses on animation and other features of Blender but I am still trying to animate in DAZ Studio. I can only try to explain that I find the Diffeo export daunting because I don't know what to do with the figure once I get it into Blender. I don't know how to fit clothes, I find posing in Blender a pain and I don't like the render results I get with Eevee (my results in Cycles are not as good as my IRay renders either). The materials node system is a huge disincentive for me personally - that is a learning curve of months just to get started.
There was a time when I used Blender as a Video Editor and I liked it better than a paid-for version of Sony Vegas but since then I have moved on to the free version of DaVinci Resolve.
v22 was sub-only from what I remember but most of the releases offer you the choice. I went subscription myself, since being stuck on R13 Visualize and knowing an upgrade to at the time modern R23 was $3,000+... The idea of a 'mere' $93 a month which was totally within my personal spending budget was more palatable to me than saving up that much and then knowing I'd still need to pay $2,000 something every time the program updates or worse, skip some versions then have to pay full cost again because I waited too long.
Yeah I know, "Why not use Blender?" and wave the costs away, but even in the latest releases I always felt like I wasn't "welcome there". I kept trying, even looking at some super beginner friendly courses - commercial and free - but it just never 'clicked' for me mentally. I just didn't like using the program :/ So I've just stuck with Cinema 4D, despite some of my friends suggesting that if I insisted on paying for a program I go Maya instead. Sure, I'd probably find a huge amount of learning resources and stuff for it but agh...
I still have a disc version of zBrush myself, but rarely use it. Been meaning to change that though, just never really get around to doing so :/
@Marble +1
I like this mindset really: "Use what you like, and for what you want". All our situations are different, be it financial or artistic or whatever else, and what works or flows well for one person might not for another. It's large part of why there's still so many different applications that more or less sometimes does the same things - Blender might be free and very VERY capable but its not for everyone even so. Maya/MAX might be the Industry Standard for a lot of things, but they too might not be what works for someone.
I've tried making do with After Effects for a while putting up with Adobe's cloud thing, but I just liked how Resolve worked so much more. The only things I miss from AE is some of the plugins Red Giant have which is only for AE :(
Blender has proven useful in the past and recently I had a good experience using it too smooth out an obj and it retained all the material zones afterwards unlike ZBrush would have done.
Wonder if Maxon might make the UI a little more user friendly. the change is going to certainly widen the fissure between hobbyist and more expert and make the program unobtainable to the hobbyist in terms of the continued expense to pay out for a program that if you don't use it weekly, you'll end up forgetting all the things you learned on how to use it. I'm sure Filter Forge will be the next one to do this. I recently had to upgrade to the next PS [which turned PS from a single edition to a monthly sub
] in order to use FF. It's aggravating. But I've had zbrush since they offered it for I think 199 on DAZ and I've been upgrading ever since and I still don't know how in hell to use the thing. I learn the basics, move to something else and come back and can't remember how to move a figure or anything and end up having to do the beginner tut again. Rinse and repeat. Zbrush is an awesome program but a little complicated when you're the hobbyist of all trades kind of person. I wish I could be the type of person who can just focus on a program and absorb it, a pit bull like brain. But no, I'm more squirrel brained, always something shinier getting my attention [insert Dog from Up! here].
...for myself, trying to learn modelling using the old UI was more like attempting a free climb of El Capitan while wearing oven mitts. The current one is a vast improvement.
I actually gave up trying to learn modelling for years the other two altrernatives, Hexagon would freeze up and crash if you looked at it cross-eyed, and Wings had a UI that was all "grey on grey" which made it difficult to look at and work with..