Zbrush for the Maestros

This is the best program if you are in to character design literally you can sculpt and construct detailed,crazy unrealistic creatures.

Its so easy to use from the start you could already do some interesting stuff that keeps you animated .

There is more to the Program than meets the eye .

There is quite a few tutorials that could familiarize your self with the complete user interface.

Pixoligy z brush classroom.

You could also export your work to applications like 3d max and Maya ,Houdini in an OBJ file format.

Where you could do with it what you like !

Autodesk 3ds Max worth the money !

Most probably the best program for what your money can buy for what you get!

BY THIS I mean .

That there is lots of tutorials available online,easy interface and comparative is well priced depends on what you need .

If you want to go block buster movie effects I recommend Maya or Houdini both have very powerful fluid dynamics but these programs are priced at around $6000 - $10 000 and you need a powerful computer with at least 8 gig RAM to have enough power to render

fast without,your computer crashing .

For those reasons you can get 3d max 2010 plus your plugins like

(SITNI SATI AFTERBURN, FUME FX,DREAMSCAPE)and REALFLOW 4

can give you pretty much the same results.

But make sure you have at least 4gig RAM.

Plus you can get certified world wide trough Autodesk test centers.

This is the most widely used 3d application and delivers great results.

Pushing the frontier in digtal art.

With so many 3d programs ,Houdini, 3dsMax, Zbrush, Maya, Rhino,Realflow,Vue 7,Cinnema 4d and not to talk about the Adobe CS3 and 4.

These programs in dollars amounts to at least $20 000.00 thats before you even got started.

Some of these companies do have "Apprentice" and PLE (personal learning editions) non- commercial versions to help struggling students to get to wraps with the somewhat complex UI (user interface).

But they do have limitations to them .

Some have 30 day trails to get you enticed to buy the product .

There are various ways to go about, getting your program for free.(Not Recommended)

Torrent sites and p2p sites is helpful, for those who feel the that $500 -$10 000 for a program is a bit steep

But there is allot of virus, worms etc... that could harm your computer!

Once past all this red tape you need to start learn the program itself and this could be time consuming and frustrating,plus you have to have a lust for pushing the frontier working in virtual space to make the impossible, possible!

Then you know you are on the right track .

There are tons of tutorials online to help the starting digital artist to get to grips with the programs,also helpful places is forums where pros can be helpful with tips and tricks.

Once you trough deep waters you can start to work independently trough sites like Odesk.com

Limewire.com Guru.com

Where you can submit your portfolio and do some competence test to prove that you know the software you claim to be able to operate .

Then you bid or apply price wise for dozens of jobs which you might just end up getting .

Digital art is here and the medium is definitely pushing the frontier into place where no man has gone before!

blog by

HEIN CROUS