Beginner's Guide to ZBrush

My review is related to general user experience, NOT to meritoric value of the book, because I haven't yet the possibility to validate its content. Since more than a week I've kept this book outside, because it smells so badly and toxic with cheapest prints, that I can not keep it in the house, not mentioning reading. Every person passing it by notices it, and asks what that smell?
Well, the book wasn't the cheapest, so I wonder why my experience is so low in quality.

Awesome book for beginners!!

Like so many out there, I have struggled to come to terms with Z-Brush and it's more than a little unique way of doing things. Even as someone who has taught design student visual communication, and worked professionally in 3D, my trying to lean Z-Brush from the vast array of stuff out there has been a massive challenge.As the quote goes - 'You must think in Russian...'.In three days of sitting down with this book, I have learnt (and done) more than I have in the past year. I put this down to the simple fact that right up front, in simple to understand terms, they teach you how to 'think like Z-brush'. And once you do that, you can break through the ceiling and can get on with learning to use it as a modeller, instead of pulling your hair out wondering how to make it 'go'.The book is beautifully produced, with excellent images (plenty of of screen grabs), very well written text and a clear flow. The three projects walk you through all you need to know to really get going with a majority of the tools and power hidden within.But be warned! While it's brilliant and a must for anyone trying to learn ZB, it does not cover everything and there are areas that need explaining or more detail. For me, the 'Intro to Z-Brush' videos by 'Flipped Normals' are a brilliant companion to the book, helping to pad, or flesh out aspects that are either not covered, or explained in depth within the book. That the videos are very professional yet 'conversational', make the series a perfect match for the book and I am now going between the two to get deeper into ZB.

I really like the fact the this book follows the 3 little projects to show complexity and software workflows.For complete beginners, it might be tricky to dive into the UI and navigation, etc. But after figuring out a few things by yourself, this book is really helpful to illustrate different scenarios and requirements of multiple projects.

I'm new in ZBrush and find this book very useful to get a solid base and supplement my previous studies. Easy to handle.