I've been looking at what people called a 'Zbrush' alternative, though I don't think it's as good, but it certainly is a lot cheaper...affordable for the majority out there. It's a nifty tool, however I've found the painter has conflictions with my model (appear to be only editor displays) and UVMapping, don't know what, but I imagine it wouldn't matter.
There's a 15-day trial to test out.
Program Name: 3D Coat
Price: $120 ($89 educational)
Website:
Click!
Verdict...who cares about the painting features?...I love the UVMapper and normal mapper! It provides real time UV previews as you select seams, so the old 'trial and error' of UV Mapping is fairly quick and I quite literally can get good UVs quickly. The normal mapper...now when you import a model, it will provide you a sub-divide version you can sculpt - you can view your lower poly version, your subdivided version also presents itself on a normal map for the low polygon version.
Here's my little 'fun' with the little app:
The UV Mapper (it segments which parts of the model you want to UV Map, don't worry, they all go to one UV Map file)
View the preview Normal Map (colour shades are different for different UV segments)
The Painter
"Experience never provides its judgments with true or strict universality; but only (through induction) with assumed and comparative universality." - Immanuel Kant
