ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting

This is a pretty good book. I always have reservations about buying books on 3d software. It usually follows the example of, make a cube (giving detailed instructions of course), then says shape it into a torso and the next image is a fully detailed torso showcasing the pecs, abs, wrinkles and a battle wound, I honestly didn't know what to expect here. I was hoping for lots of theory, and workflow techniques (these are here, thankfully) i figured I would never do any of the exercises and just try and read the theory (I took a zbrush class before, but when someone as talented as Scott Spencer comes out with a book, you best read it).

Thankfully, it seems Scott Spencer and the publishers thought the tutorials would be weird to show here too (especially since zbrush by nature is very organic, and fun, most of the time your just playing around and having fun).

Almost every exercise show here in the book is also available on dvd. The bad part is, most of the videos on the dvd have no audio, but this is still a big improvement, and I thank Scott deeply for this.

The dvd also has some really good lectures on the disc, specifically on topology and zspheres, that alone are worth the cost of the book.

In the end, after reading the book over the course of 2 weeks, and referencing it heavily since I bought it (same week it came out) my work has improved, and I have a more thorough understanding of zbrush.

When you only watch videos, you never get theory, you just view step by step. When you follow tutorials online, again, no theory, your just playing a game of monkey see monkey do. This book gives you everything, step by step tutorials, lectures, theory, and videos. This is a course in zbrush in and of itself. The most valuable aspects, are when Scott talks about how he approaches something (or many of the other talented artists that are inside this book) and helps give me a better understanding of the material.

Thanks for writing this book, and creating those wonderful videos. If I had to criticize this book at all, I would say next time give us a few more videos with audio (like the class videos, wow are those good!), but really, I'm more than happy with what I got. This is a very low price, and as such, a very high knowledge to price ratio. I don't see how you can buy this book and not improve.

If your looking for a good well rounded book on ZBrush, this is it! This book covers nearly everything you need to know in order to work effectively with ZBrush and create create characters...or nearly anything else. This book is well written by an industry expert, informative and certainly one of the better titles available on the subject. I would recommend this book highly to anyone interested in working with ZBrush.

The DVD alone is worth the price of the book. I love the video on painting. Meats Meiers DVD on Zbrush is fabulous but I really like Scott Spencer as well. This book will get you up and running with the big boys in no time.

In a world flooded with basic introductory books on major 3D packages (cough*Maya*cough), Scott Spencer's 'ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Sculpting Techniques', while quite a mouthful is a breath of fresh air. This is not a book that focuses on a pure beginner. Understanding the concepts of a 3D environment and mild experience with ZBrush are huge advantages in getting the most out of this book. That is not to say this book is not accessible to those who are not proficient in ZBrush. It covers many of the basic concepts, but covers them in such depth, that it would be easily overwhelming to a beginner.
The book begins by explaining the relationship to traditional sculpting techniques, to those applied while digital sculpting in ZBrush. This is one of the great strengths of the book. It covers not only the technical aspects of ZBrush, but also the artistic, the true driving force and advantage of ZBrush. From this initial chapter, you will then be lectured on such topics as; Sculpting Techniques, Detailing, PolyPainting, ZSpheres, and Displacement mapping, among many, many other topics I will let you discover for yourself.
Another great strength of this book is the mini-tutorials from various other artists that are added into the already information-packed pages. Contributing artists include; Cesar Dacol, Ian Joyner, Jim McPherson, Zach Petroc, Alex Alvarez, Ryan Kingslien, and Fabian Loing. Having all of these different techniques and perspectives on the art of digital sculpting, adds a lot of knowledge and expertise to this book.
I cannot say enough towards the value of this book. It is hands down the best ZBrush resource available in print as of this time. I hope that Scott and company with continue to share their extensive knowledge of the arts and of technology with the digital art community.

I would recommened this book to anyone looking to advance their digital sculpting skills further, regardless if youre a beginner, intermediate or expert. This is a very thick and heavy book with some great tips, tons of which I had no idea you could do. The included cd has a bunch of lessons and video clips to help illustrate processes, along with the great pictures in the book.
Finally Zsphere hands were explained and demonstrated easily!