Bringing 3-D animation to a new level, Pixologic announced ZSpheres 2 on August 13. The company is best known for its ZBrush software, which was used to create the surface details of Davy Jones and his crew in the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.”
ZSpheres is a tool available within ZBrush that allows for the quick creation of 3-D models by using spheres that can be aligned and expanded. Once the sphere set is created, it will work as a kind of digital skeleton or “armature” at the heart of a 3-D character.
“It’s highly creative,” explained Pixologic Chief Operations Officer Jaime Labelle in a phone interview, adding that the new software provides a vast setting for users to experiment with character design.
“It’s really about creativity and it’s the closest you can have to a real media,” Labelle added.
In the new release, available in the 3.5 version of ZBrush, users will be able to see their character in a transparency mode where they can edit the armature through the digital clay. Once the digital clay is overlaid, it will bind itself to the sphere structure. As you move parts of the structure, the volume created over the top will move along with it.
According to Labelle, the new software will bring a higher level of flexibility to users than the previous version. He said the program “allows for a broader and faster range of creativity,” and allows users to “have performance without the technology getting in the way.”
With the creation of ZSphere 2, the company is introducing some features that will bring new tools to the world of digital animation.
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