has anyone here used zbrush before, if so is it actually useable for xna framework, ive never did any 3d programming so this is all new to me and when i was younger i played with zbrush when it game out (i lack alot of artistic ability) but just wanted some info.... if not please guide me to the best software for modeling 3d objects, no matter what the price.

Basicly you can use any 3d package out there... The easiest way is to use one that supports the formats that the XNA Framework uses. But worse case you can always use a 3rd party exporter or converter to format your model to one of the supported formats.

At the moment on of the best is still 3d Studio Max, but it comes with a heavy price tag. On the other end of the market is Blender, it has all of the functions and systems of the high end commercial packages, but is Free.

The common practice with ZBrush as I understand is to use it as a complementary for another 3D-building suite, being able to quickly create meshes and then importing them. The most commonly used would as already said 3DsMAX or Maya, where Maya is a tad cheaper (+they got a free learning edition).

Blender could certainly work too, it feels really different from other software though :)

Since all 3D-applications takes alot of time to get intimate with, you should pick one that you feel comfortable working in. Adapting to a new environment / application later on won't be as frustrating as starting to understand them all at once, since the basics are pretty much the same.

Just my 2 cents.

I remain,
TatteredEel

I've managed to get simple ZBrush objects (via .OBJ) into Cinema4D R8.5 (but I don't have advanced render, so I can't do normal mapping).  It works, I think I had to flip the textures.

 

I've gotten stuff from C4D into XNA no problem as it has an FBX exporter.

ZBrush is great for painting normal and displacement maps, and to a lesser extent also painting color maps in 3d. It *can* be used as a modeler, but moreso for characters. Best bet out there for you might be modo....one of the fastest modelers out there and also has built in 3d painting (good, though not as good as Zbrush). It allows you to very quickly create nice looking normal and ambient occlusion maps as well.

I totally agree. For modeling modo is one of the best out there. It's fairly new but as a maya user it worth it. I mean for painting and doing normal map or scupting this is of of the best. A bake normal mapping occlusion and lightmap in one pass.
for zbrush as you said you need a real artistic talent. Since I do drawing it's not so dificult but the fact is zbrush is not a 3d modeler so you cannot create a entire scene you need to have another tool with it.

best package maya/modo ( 5500 $) less price lightwave/modo (1500$).

lightwave has some great booleans and colne tool pretty handy if you are doing level or stuff like that. It has also as modo a surfacebaker. Pretty handy.

I hope it helps

Iv used Lightwave for years myself and i love it, so i would definatly recommend it (its also pretty cheap).

Modo was ceated by the original developers behind Lightwave, so they took a lot of the ideas over to it and produced a very good modeler (which was lightwaves strongest area too, modeling). Iv used it myself too but im not so keen on it but i know a lot of ppl who like it.

As for ZBrush, as has been said you can model with it but a big issue you will have when building stuff for games is the polygon count of the zbrush generated geometry. Its much better used as part of your work flow from a 3D modeler (modo, maya, lightwave) in which you create the base mesh (as it will be loaded in your game). Then use zbrush to paint detail into a high res model which you generate normal maps from, and then apply the normal maps to the low polygon mesh in your game.

I have noticed a lot of people looking for 3D models and having to resort to places like turbosquid, which is fine but most of the models on there are not designed for games so generally dont have the low polygon counts that games require.

Im trying to find the time to make some low polygon models of things people commonly look for to put up as freebies on my blog (currently I have a few models on there that I made quick for people on IRC, and some other friends).

It would be nice if their was a resource which dealt with game spicific models which are suitable for XNA though.

Skonk.

EDIT: Forgot to say, you really dont need modo and lightwave since modo was pretty much based off of lightwaves modeler. Lightwave can do everything modo can do pretty much.

If you want some tuts on ZBrush I recomend this YouTube channel, not used ZBrush myself, but have used his PhotoShop tuts and they have helped me a lot.

I've not had much experience with Zbrush, but I just started experimenting with the sculpt tool in Blender. The sculpt tool is similar to zbrush, and blender will let you 'bake' the hi-res sculpted model as a displacement or normal map to a low-res model's UV coordinates.

If you'd like to give it a try there are a bunch of videos on youtube (search for 'blender sculpt')

In general, if you're not looking to pay for a 3d application then you can't beat blender. It has a dizzying array of professional features in a very small, free, package.
A lot of people complain about the interface at first, and it does take a little effort to learn, but the more you use it the more you realize why it's set up the way it is. After my initial 'getting used to it' period I've found it much faster and easier to use than 3ds max or xsi.