What I Tell Game Artists To Do Now!

[@AAR3D0N]

Zbrush can never be dead! Sculpting is just so organic, but yes I do agree PBR is rising to the top but to me, those are my secondary tools.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

well said.

[@Meloncov]

1. ZBrush isn't going anywhere. While some tasks can be done by both ZBrush and Substance, no one is about to start sculpting characters in Substance. 2. You're about five years too late for Substance being the future. Substance is very much the present, and there's no shortage of great Substance artists looking for jobs. If you're trying to get ahead of the curve, look into procedural modeling/world building tools like Houdini.

[@TheIcemanModdeler]

Kevin Baker Well said, Houdini has the potential of becoming an all in one program, it already has gamedev tools, terrain generation and so on.

[@Meloncov]

Eh, I don't think Houdini has much of a chance of being an all-in-one tool, at least not unless it gets a massive house-cleaning upgrade. Too many simple things are too much of a pain in the ass. But the number of studios that want to use Houdini is currently rising faster than the supply of skilled Houdini artists.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

There is a sweet spot for entry, right? To early and your Lyft and some "fast copier" comes in and steals the thunder. To slow and it doesn't matter. I agree, though, the window is closing on Substance, as well, and Houdini is doing aaaamazing things, but substance is still the skills that helps my students the most. Either way, the key is to find that shift and jump in! Thanks for you input Kevin Baker

[@Gigok77]

I agree with you! ALthough i have seen some pretty amazing "Sculpt like" things done in Substance designer! But I actually want to know if you are a Houdini User. I would very ,much love to make the shift from Maya since that procedural modeling stuff looks amazing, usefull and time saving in case of revisions. So if you are a houdini user, Do you think it ill take a lot of time to adapt from Maya to Houdini?? I am a freelance artist and I can't aford to waste much time on relearning a main pipeline software.

[@Meloncov]

I'm in the process of learning it, I'm far from an expert at this point. If you're looking for a general-purpose replacement for Maya, you're probably going to be disappointed. It does some things really, really well, but as I said above, a lot of simple things are needlessly complex. It's also not a gentle learning curve, especially if you don't have any programming experience.

[@artistryartistry7239]

Frankly I love all the thumbs down on such a great video. It means that there's a bunch of dense people out there who don't get it, and with whom I don't have to compete. Legitimately worried thought about the 62 upvotes (at the time of this writing) who do get it. Great, great video Ryan. I agree with you. People who can do Zbrush well are a commodity at this point.

[@johnbaker6853]

"Is ZBrush Dead?" How about "Is Clickbait Alive?" Lol, just busting your balls. Keep up the good work.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Fair enough... :)

[@TheIcemanModdeler]

Well unless Alleghorithmic come out with a sculpting app that combines the sculpting of Zbrush with the procedural nodal workflow of designer then this will be the case, otherwise it's compairing 3d Sculpting and Modelling of Zbrush with 2d Texturing of Substance apps that don't really modify the geometry( at most it can use heightmaps that were created in zbrush in combination with paralax occlusion or tesselation). As you said in a previous video everything is becoming specialized and every role has their own softwares that they are required to know ( Character - Maya/Max , Zbrush./Mudbox ,Marvelous Designer, Painter , Photoshop ; Env Artists - Maya/Max , Zbrush/Mudbox , Designer, Photoshop ; Prop Artists - Maya/Max , Painter , Photoshop , Zbrush/Mudbox). Zbrush has been loosing ground in the clothing department just because Marvelous Designer took a realistic approach to creating clothing and now clothes are physically accurate on the characters instead of copying or estimating folds , on the skin detail side of games it's more efficient to texture it in painter or control it in the shader than have millions and millions of polys to get to that quality of sculpt but for 3d printing it needs to be in the sculpt and without Zbrush 3d printing would suffer a lot.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

I'm looking at it from Dragonour's perspective. What are the skills you need to learn today to help you get a job. Sculpting is a core skill. It's needed. The problem is that students tend to stop there or colleges tend to only do that part. We can do more and better.

[@sebastianfdelrio]

if you are great in what you do, and really love it. dont have to be afraid, the job will come, just keep working hard and show in the medias

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

You know, I'm really torn between the follow your bliss and build a life conversation. Arguments go both ways. But I feel the confidence from your words. Thanks for sharing.

[@Dragonours]

Incredible how so many people in the comments section missed the point of the video... I like your analysis and was going through the same ideas myself as to what would be the most valuable skill to acquire today. You sure have a point even though getting into Substance now might be the last chance before it gets a crazy crowded market. I've always wanted to learn it but was never sure it was something I could do as it's very different from what I started 3D art for; modeling and sculpting.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Dragonours, You have a limited amount of time. You have a limited amount of money. What can you do to improve your chances of getting a job... that is the question. I hear alot of aspiring artists talk like they are independently wealthy...

[@MegaMitrandir]

Agree with Ryan. Zbro is mostly for sci fi fantasy creatures now, and for what couldn't be scanned. All of the industry is going toward iterative process. Field in which zbro is used are quite narrow now

[@skibididapadada]

Hey Ryan, what kind of changes in the next 5 years should I adjust for in my learning journey for 3D character art/sculpting?

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

AlexMercer, the most important thing you can do is to create finished characters. Screw the tech, the software, the debate. Get off KZbin. Go into a cave with a power supply and create finished characters: sculpt to texture to in-game.

[@skibididapadada]

@@RyanKingslienVertexSchool Thanks for your time!

[@stromgrom]

It is a hard truth to some extent. With the rise of more advanced AI it'll become much harder for straightforward 3d modelling workflow to be applied as it used to be. Procedural is definitely on the rise as well as versatile concept 2d intertwined with 3d stuff. Sculpting is of course not gonna die out but it will require much more artistic sort of thinking instead of just transferring image in 3d format since AI is already capable of some transferring.

[@EricWilliamsCG]

Sensational title indeed, your like to dislike ratio is going to suffer on this one. That being said, I'm not five min in but I agree with the idea I think is coming. Follow the industry trends, learn new software and try to stay ahead of the curve. But also stay practiced at what is now standard.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

I know, right?! Got 12 to 22 now. But this is a danger that I have to warn people about. You can't do what I did today... That ship has sailed. Gotta focus on the next shift in the industry and it's procedural in nature.

[@322ss]

Thanks for the video Ryan! I think what you could mention is ...procedural content generation. IMHO I don't think it's that much about physically based rendering, it's just a mature way to define surfaces. Substance painter and designer are filling the void of missing tools for procedural surfacing. Houdini is doing that for modeling. I'm waiting for a package that would merge procedural modeling sculpting and surfacing ;)

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Very good way to describe that. Agree totally

[@makanansari144]

This a great point, the shift, I think the real shift is Open Source, for example Blender! look at Grease Pencil! I'm drawing inside Blender now and I can animate my drawings! Evee, the way they listen to community, they are based on community! look at Godot or Armory3D! Krita! we already have PixaFlux alternative to Substance Desinger! there are plugins for Blender that behave like Substance! I'm sure in near future Open Source apps will be the real shift in industry! and they don't fall because they are based on what people want, oh they made a Pixar movie alike with Blender! Evee is also pushing PBR too! there are plugins for Blender that does the job like Marvelous Designer! they are not perfect but for next three years they will be really powerful! Other than Open Source I believe Houdini is the right program that people can do crazy stuff with it! you even can make A.I in Houdini! Also 3D-Coat is also really nice fast PBR texturing specially for Concept art! But for now Substance Designer is leading and I agree I always were thinking like that texturing can make most of the detail job because of that you can try all sort of sculpting programs like Blender and finish the details in substance or quixel or 3d coat, but the shit sir I believe will be open source and Zbrush never dies because it's the best sculpting app but if they go only sculpting they never can grow more, but programs like Blender since they add new stuff everyday and they are open source free based of community requests they will dominate them in future!

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

That makes sense. I've seen what Blender Guru has done for his community. Amazing stuff.

[@makanansari144]

I forgot to mention Armory Paint alternative to Substance Painter, a free open source PBR texture painting app! still is in alpha but next year or two will be released! and I'm sure many people will like it and start funding it! :D

[@natemercieca666]

What if your goal is to get into the collectibles industry? I'm still utilizing MD and Substance for height maps in my workflow because it expedites the process, but I feel like my weakest points that would prevent me from getting a job is posing and kinesiology. Take Daniel Bel for example (I really appreciate that you interviewed him by the way), I feel like what sets him apart from others is how well he understands anatomy in motion, and how balanced his poses are despite being extremely dynamic.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Nathan, agreed. Go for it. Daniel Bel is amazing. If your heart takes you there then go, go, go.

[@natemercieca666]

Thanks Ryan! Seems like an incredibly competitive industry, but like you said, gotta follow my heart while I have the luxury of being able to do so. And definitely, Daniel is my #1 inspiration at the moment. Maybe you could see what his schedule is like for teaching a class one of these days :D

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

It is competitive. But the heart wants what the heart wants. I got lucky. Today you just gotta work harder. I'd rather teach Daniel how to create his own class, these days, but I'll check in with him on that.

[@natemercieca666]

Eh I wouldn't say you got lucky. I have no doubt you worked your ass off to get to where you did back in the day. I understand your sentiment though. If anything I feel like I'm the lucky one because sculpting still doesn't feel like work, so I don't mind putting in long hours to try and get better. And I think that's a cool idea of teaching artists to create their own classes. Either one would definitely make me a happy man haha

[@hungrybearcircus8427]

'When the teacher points to the moon, the student often sees only the finger' ... Reading a lot of comments here i realized how true that statement is. Most people completely missed the point about what he was trying to say. Its not about the tools or software u need to learn. Its about knowing where u are and where u shud be or need to be. Being aware of that and working towards being ahead of the curve was the whole point of this talk. Come on people, ure not even close to wat he's achieved artistically and very successfully at that, so pls, some respect and thought before u start dismissing everything in a flash.

[@calintz9997]

Agreed but what about defining the surface as much as possible in Zb vs getting into substance ASAP...

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

The problem comes down to ease of iteration. Harder to iterate in ZBrush. Easier to iterate in Substance. That's why they're winning this.

[@CFreire77]

Thank you Ryan for the food for thought.

[@DakicSlobodan]

Ryan what's your opinion on the future of Foundry's MODO and what about Kanova if you are familiar with that development?

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Slobodan Dakic The problem is that the whole modeling and sculpting field has already shifted. We did a fantastic job of that at pixologic during my time there and they’ve done an even better job since. VR is not there yet because of Hardware adoption. People always miss that one of the most important things that we did at pixologic was focus on the processor and not the graphics card and focus on the tablet as opposed to the three key mouse. That gave us an edge in hardware adoption that VR can’t come close to yet. Make sense?

[@DakicSlobodan]

Yes it makes sense, thank you for your answer. BTW i love your stuff and advices, especially when you talked about "The Valley of the suck", you are very talented in the pedagogical field too. Also, take a look at the latest Alessandro Baldasseroni (ex-Blur Studio, now Riot Games) interview on Blender Guru channel where he talks about similar shifts in technology concerning character face modeling, with the new AI driven software that does perfect topology based on photometric data or similar input data. It might replace human modelers in the movie industry in the future. He also talks about Marvelous Designer and how he too needs to learn it.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Yeah, figured the title would trigger some old farts but it needs to happen for the new generation to get out of the hypnosis of digital sculpting and wake up to the next series of shifts happening in the industry: Procedural, AI, Simulations....

[@ayior]

Your Anatomy Course is still the most comphrehensive Ressource I know :D Theres nothing more helpful than seeing all that broken down in 3D, even for a 2D Artist like me~ (Can't reply to you on the poll)

[@atl301086]

what do you think about 3d coat , is at the level of substance ?

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

not at all.

[@Amelia_PC]

Substance Painter? I hope ArmorPaint receives more love from its developers. Well, it's free and generates PBR. Now, Zbrush is not going anywhere. Not everybody has access to a person or a place to scan. Besides, many games are about fantasy stuff like demon hunters and dragons, and there's no such thing in the real world to scan (I'm making a game set in a contemporary world. Still, I have to model a lot of things). People are always talking about AI and algorithms doing the job. Yeah? Think again. They say everyone can create animations with mocap. How many game devs do you know that have this resource like easy facial and body capture? Or what about neural animation to make an organic character movement? It's just BS. I'm still looking for an affordable facial mocap. I've been testing a lot of things on Github and barely anything works (even AI modeling from a single photo). Yeah. There will be a future where AI will do everything... But not for everyone.

[@dascodraws6040]

I know you can't give anything substantial because you're selling help. I don't have 25 minutes to sit here to see if its worth it. I'm an unfulfilled artist my time is a commodity, I can't sit here to hear how you're great and the romanticised hopes of "making it". I should just buy into this, you wore me down.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

it's simple. don't take 25 min. 1) dont do what everyone else is doing. Do what they WILL be doing 2) get good at it 3) teach it, share it, love it. Enjoy.

[@dascodraws6040]

thank you.

[@Narakafurin]

Truth, Lots of respect to you for saying it.

[@KenHeslip]

Thumbs up for the Surface Studio.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

my precious...

[@farhanakhtar2390]

It'll never be a good idea to totally depend on a software what people should do is to learn all fundamentals and basics. Then if industry requires a new software it won't take too long to learn where all buttons are. Yes it's a good idea to look forward what will be the future but based on this leaving everything what is happening today's industry and only focus on what will be it's too risky. So my point is we should learn all fundamental things and also look forward.

[@amey_1337]

Zbrush is like a Pokemon that keeps showing new fancy attacks every now and then but absolutely refuses to evolve into the next level.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Ouch!

[@sert87]

Yeah, cause ZBrush is only used for surface detail.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

uh...

[@KaltatheNobleMind]

your argument was that you should abandon zbrush because substance is doing a lot of texturing things that people used zbrush for. this comment is mocking the notion that an overall sculpting tool used in every 3d indsutry for making concepts, for boolean operations and preparing high density scans among other things will be abadoned in favor for a texture app. you soudnt have said zbrush was dead just that zbrush doesnt cut it anymore.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Meir Teichman Thanks. Never said you should abandon it but i do think its over hyped In the learner’s journey.

[@KaltatheNobleMind]

then you should have the title say that you need more than just zbrush to cut it in today's market. plus i dont think any one tool guarrentees you a long and successful career but having knowledge and skill in several apps and having unique problemsolving workflows will ensure you get steady work and can hop from one career to the next with ease. anyway you seem to be getting a lot of hate for promising the death of zbrush and just talking about the product you are selling a learning course on , especially when you barely mention the other "zbrush killer" promised in your description.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Meir Teichman Oh I’ve been doing this for over 12 years. I used to actually help develop zbrush. So I know my Zbrushers. A little conflict is not a bad thing. :-)

[@Easterhands]

Ok. Enough. You sound more and more like you want to tell me about your Lamborgini Garage in the Hollywood hills.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Devon, I don't believe this is fair.

[@Easterhands]

I don't believe in your intentions

[@Easterhands]

You speak like an evangelist and you stand to make money by cashing in on the hope you try to inspire. I don't believe you are genuine. If I'm wrong I'm sorry but that's just the way I feel.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

fair enough. You don't need to believe me. Just don't believe the hypnosis that all you have to do is digital sculpting, please. It's 1/6 or less of most game pipelines out there.

[@Easterhands]

I 100% agree with you there and try to broaden myself as much as I can, but you can frame this discussion in a much more constructive manner than "Is Zbrush dead?"

[@hfuegohc.7871]

The divine combination: Substance texture inside Quixel Mixer, with some knowledge of Houdini from sidefx specially 3d procedural models know how to Connect modules in one piece, to integrate All inside Unreal Engine or Unity. AI has to arrive to artist is not ready yet.

[@MauroSanna]

PBR is the future and present. 3D Coat is PBR. 3D Coat is the future.

[@47humza]

why there is so much dislike on this video?

[@alperenozgur]

this video isfrom 2010? 🤔 infinite res. AI scaled on the fly procedural texturing is the future, not CURRENT Substance. P.S. i think Maya is dead and Blender is new thing.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

yep... true... but they aren't productized just yet... not something a student of mine can just jump in and start building a career around... not yet. Checked out your site. Looks like you're definitely exploring the future!

[@alperenozgur]

@@RyanKingslienVertexSchool hahaha thanks, i don't feel like that. Because german clients are so strict about their NDA 😭

[@renny_est]

wait wait ... are you telling me that I should start devoting substance and not zbrush? Does it make sense what you say but do you really consider zbrush dying in 2 or 5 years?

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

depends on your goals. I don't see it dying that fast, though, as Jeff Bezos pointed out... even Amazon will go bankrupt one day. Most important... what are your goals? what helps you get to those goals fastest? Those are the questions to ask.

[@FareedNagy]

your analysis is correct but your conclusion is all wrong, what does substance has to offer beyond surfacing ?it will revolutionize the texturing world and it has, but beyond that comparing substance to zbrush is apples to oranges, nothing in common except they're both good for you. the future is in the innovators and my reference for that would someone like vitaly bulgarov, he took what people spent months doing and he crammed it in a single day flat, thats what innovation looks like to me. faster and without sacrifice in quality.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Thanks for the note. Love Vitaly's work. What conclusion is wrong, though? That ZBrush is a crowded market? That Substance is a faster path to developing your career? Let me know. Keep in mind, my focus is always my students. What gets them better jobs faster than anything else. For that goal, ZBrush is not the ticket. Certainly not what it was when I started. Make sense or no?

[@FareedNagy]

Sculpting is indeed a crowded market, that analysis is spot on for sure, Substance painter is a great way to develop your career, as a texturing, surfacing or look development artist ( and for video games, Mostly but i think it has its very good uses in film and otherwise ) My issue with your argument is you're comparing 2 different career paths. modeling and lookdev/surfacing, while in some instance an artist would have to do both they are still individual careers paths, thats why i have an issue with comparing zbrush as a thing of the past and substance as a thing of the future, One does not replace the other. I do agree however that substance is an easier way to carve yourself a comfy place in the industry, only if you don't care what you end up doing. you yourself ( and iam assuming ) that you just enjoy art as a whole, for someone like me modeling and making shapes is a passion, a better path For me would to try to push the envelope and innovate in my area, and sure alot of others would feel the same. Long rant i know, sorry for that :P

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

love the long rant. However, when I look at character pipelines the role of ZBrush has diminished greatly over the years from when I started. Armor is done in polygon modeling, The Face is done with xyz textures. Cloths in Marvelous. Surfacing used to be one of our biggest skill sets in ZBrush but that all went to Substance. I did endless tutorials on concrete, pitted armor... Faces are even scanned now. ZBrush has moved more into touch-up. That said, Photoshop is huge and used in touch-up too. :D

[@KaltatheNobleMind]

what makes bodies and creatures though? do they scan the actors' bodies the same as the face? i dont think thare are monsters and aliens for people to scan so these need to be sculpted.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

Meir Teichman absolutely.

[@sinedseeme5483]

Zbrush +Sab the best frends

[@Shige2213]

Oh man people overestimate AI, too many movies I guess, also this video is now 4 years old and photogrammetry still looks like hot gargabe and needs lots of cleaning up

[@halogenic]

I like your videos, I just wish they were shorter and get to the point faster, with less rambling. 25 minutes is too long.

[@artistryartistry7239]

I'm so glad there's people like you in the world. Hayseeds who wouldn't know wisdom if it slapped them in the face and who have the attention span of children. Every time I see one of you, I'm glad because I know that you're one less bit of competition. Everything has to be bitesized because you people can barely stand to sit still longer than it takes to read a tweet. I love it. And of course Ryan isn't going to listen to your suggestion because frankly, it's stupid. If you think what he said was repetitive or should fit into a soundbite, I promise you, you're the problem, not Ryan.

[@halogenic]

I'm just busy with work, trying to support my family, and don't have a lot of free time. I wish I had more, but I don't.

[@RyanKingslienVertexSchool]

I could certainly use with a little bit of simplification. I'll keep working on it.