I was wondering if anybody could tell me the difference between the 2 and what features ZBrush has over 3D Coat to justify its bigger price tag. Also, I am interested in cnc bas relief work, this can be accomplished in ZBrush right?
I’ve used 3dCoat for years. It’s a GREAT program. But I would recommend Zbrush. Zbrush is literally the vanguard of the 3d modeling revolution. 3d Coat is still great though and if you are truly curious I would recommend getting the 3dCoat demo and trying it out for an extended period of time.
3D Coat is very easy to use, but ZBrush is much more feature rich and constantly developing. For students and people of my age group, the onetime payment for ZBrush makes it incredibly good value which no other 3D software maker offers, to the best if my knowledge.
3d coat has better retopo features, and that’s the only thing I use it for. Zbrush for everything else. Merry Christmas!
I use both on a regular basis at my office. 3Dcoat for retopo and texture painting (with photoshop of course). Zbrush is used for all sculpting and basic texture work. Zbrush is also used for 3D concepting.
We have a few people in the office that use mudbox as well. I find Zbrush to be much more artist/sculptor friendly than mudbox or 3Dcoat. While mudbox and 3Dcoat have a quick to pick up UI and Navigation I find them lacking in many areas of trying to create something. If you already have a solid idea or concept then they are perfectly fine pieces of software, but if you need to create something Zbrush brings so much to the table.
I make everyone in our office learn to use Zbrush. They all hate it for a couple of weeks and then they all love it. 3Dcoat and Mudbox both have something to offer to artists, I just find Zbrush offers me much more and at a better cost in the long run. I haven’t paid for a new version since version 2.
I prefer Zbrush mostly, probably because I am more accustomed with it and recently because of multi mesh insert tool. Use it for R&D on an art side and when I need something especially detailed and complicated.
Still have to admit that many game art related things are much easier and quicker to do in 3dcoat. They just take less time. It still has better retopo tools, an ability to easily paint not only square tillable textures, variable brush dabs. A very helpful extra thing over Zbrush is an ability to paint an object with a complete material from a library : color, bamp and specular at once. So you can forget of the surface noise and all the jumps through a hoop to make decent specular textures in Zbrush.
At the same time to prepare those material libraries I use predominantly Zbrush. So my advise is to get both programs, especially if you work for games.
I like ZBrush for sculpting and rendering, the latter being light years ahead of 3D Coat (though still no where near renderers like V-ray). Most everything else I prefer 3D Coat for, especially retopology. Voxels can be a lot of fun and very liberating, very much like real clay in fact, though ZBrush has made decent strides in this area lately too thanks to Dynamesh. It’s impossible to decide which one is better really. They are both extremely useful tools.
One thing I really love about 3D Coat is how attentive the developer is to artists. Updates are very frequent and Andrew will usually fix a reported bug, or even add a requested feature, when asked. Now is an especially great time to get involved because he’s working hard on v4, which is going to be the next major release, and is seeking opinions and bug reports from users. Pixologic has shown they are paying attention too with their latest updates, which though not as frequent, are usually major despite being point releases. Either will give you great value for your dollar really and allow you to do everything you need from beginning to end.
As for your other question, perhaps this will answer it for you?
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?167730-my-book-cover
…also try Blender + Sculptris who are the third free challenger! 