Finally, after many years, ZBrush is ditching their incredibly confusing interface.
ZBrush is a powerful tool for creating organic 3D models. If you are looking at a complex sculpture or figurine, it’s likely it was designed using ZBrush.
I used ZBrush for a while, but eventually gave up. The reason? The interface was so incredibly difficult to learn — and remember — that it was impossible to use on a casual basis. By the time you returned to the program, you’d forget how to do things.
The interface, as I recall, was mostly composed of obscure keyboard shortcuts, presented in a not-obvious manner, all along with invisible context switches that changed how things operate.
Regular ZBrush users would protest, but that’s how many 3D designers see the tool: it’s too hard to learn. You really have to use ZBrush daily in order to get it properly burned into your brain.
At the recent ZBrush Summit event, Maxon announced a new interface for the tool. Apparently the new interface is based on their iPad app interface, and has been a major piece of work for the company. Evidently not only has the interface been ported, but some “new” things have been added as well.
Maxon’s goal is to make the experience the same regardless of whether you are running on the desktop or on an iPad. It seems they are quite conscious of the user workflow.
This video of the Summit event shows the presentation of the new UI at 8:50:00 into the recording:
The video is not comprehensive and is mostly artistic, so you can see only slight glimpses of what the new UI actually looks like. But it’s clearly vastly superior to the original interface, at least visually.
They say they are particularly proud of the contextual environment. For example, if you hit a shift key, the visible commands change to those available in that context. This feature alone is absolutely going to significantly improve life for new ZBrush users.
For stubborn old timers, they say that the new interface will be selectable — you can turn it on or off as desired. I would be using the new interface, as will be any new users to ZBrush.
While you can see much of the desktop improvements by using the iPad app, Maxon hasn’t specified a date for release of the new UI. It is a major project for the company, and it seems that the beta version of the new UI will come out at a future date.
Via CGChannel
