CGpeers?

[Hell_Charm]

Well, after a teacher dropped a hint about cgpeers and how it has the answer to 'all' of my questions (including expired trial licences),

I was wondering if anyone is on that site? After waiting for 2 days for the registrations to open I found out they they are completely closed and users can only join trough an invite.

So yeah, any users, tip, tricks and maybe an invite from someone if you'd be so kind  my teacher is afraid of sending me one because that would link my shady downloads to him and the school might not appreciate that

Edited November 15, 2015 by Hell_Charm

[Onnes]

I thought all software licensing problems could be solved by open coffee shop wifi and bittorrent.

[Hell_Charm]

I thought all software licensing problems could be solved by open coffee shop wifi and bittorrent.

Yeah, only thing is that this website also offers a lot of helpful scrips + tutorials AND I'm 100% sure everything I download is virus free, I hate trojans -.-

[RTDragon]

Considering this is CGPeers i'm not surprised why considering it's a torrent site. Though OP to be honest i really don't know why you would ask this here considering  something like CGPeers usually get's shut down sooner or later just like what happened to other torrent sites.

Though there's something here that the artist Noah Bradley mentioned since your an artist and i've seen this show up a lot in my blogs i watch on tumblr.

http://www.creativebloq.com/career/school-artist-21514258

https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/dont-go-to-art-school-138c5efd45e9

[AshleyAshes]

I thought schools just gave out dumptrucks of free and heavily discounted software. Seriously, I'm still using my free subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud that I clocked in for two separate schools.

[Brass]

I thought schools just gave out dumptrucks of free and heavily discounted software. Seriously, I'm still using my free subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud that I clocked in for two separate schools.

Yeah. Most school have a dreamspark account + other free software

[AshleyAshes]

Yeah. Most school have a dreamspark account + other free software

My schools used something called 'The Hub' I dunno, Canada and all that?  I Creative Cloud CS5, CS6, Creative Cloud for 2 years, Office.  There was also a tonne of like, VM type stuff that I never actually redeamed cause, no need really.

Not all schools are the same, but surely the school offers some avenue towards student discounts?

[Brass]

My schools used something called 'The Hub' I dunno, Canada and all that?  I Creative Cloud CS5, CS6, Creative Cloud for 2 years, Office.  There was also a tonne of like, VM type stuff that I never actually redeamed cause, no need really.

Not all schools are the same, but surely the school offers some avenue towards student discounts?

If not the software company itself sometimes provides a student version if you provide a student ID or university email address. 

[Hell_Charm]

We have a package too but our school always heavily negotiates with the companies that release the software to get it as cheap as possible, the people from zbrush and vray won't bend and neither will our school, forcing us to use trial versions of both, however, my trail of zbrush has run out and I still need it (vray got fixed by our teacher distibuting a crack).

So yeah, and it seems like CGpeers has been around for at least 5 years, don't think it will go anywhere soon.

I just want to try my safest / virus free options first, hence me asking here.

[RTDragon]

If not the software company itself sometimes provides a student version if you provide a student ID or university email address. 

That's the odd part here OP asking for an invite to a torrent site. And yet should know by now there are student licences of software especially with autodesk. Though i do know they're ending prepetual licences to their products next year in favor of subscriptions. considering i've upgraded to sketchbook pro 7 from 6 since i loved sketching using that program.

[RTDragon]

We have a package too but our school always heavily negotiates with the companies that release the software to get it as cheap as possible, the people from zbrush and vray won't bend and neither will our school, forcing us to use trial versions of both, however, my trail of zbrush has run out and I still need it (vray got fixed by our teacher distibuting a crack).

So yeah, and it seems like CGpeers has been around for at least 5 years, don't think it will go anywhere soon.

I just want to try my safest / virus free options first, hence me asking here.

Not exactly a good idea to ask for something like this on a furry forums especially if you know there are other alternative software that's open source. Considering anything like free art programs is too good to be true considering you go to a university.

 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2015 by RTDragon
Sorry for double posting but seems quotes don't work when you edit your original post.

[Hell_Charm]

Not exactly a good idea to ask for something like this on a furry forums especially if you know there are other alternative software that's open source. Considering anything like free art programs is too good to be true considering you go to a university.

 

 

 

That's the problem, I need zbrush to finish this, this is my final project for this course, I started my sculpt of my 3D model I'll be using in zbrush and now I need to do more work on it (my project is only due to new years so I'm nowhere near finished on my sculpt). I've tried mudbox for sculpting but I also need to fur it and the teacher keeps saying zbrush is best for doing this, especially since I'll need to use the splines zbrush creates for you to animate it later on.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Hell_Charm

[RTDragon]

That's the problem, I need zbrush to finish this, this is my final project for this course, I started my sculpt of my 3D model I'll be using in zbrush and now I need to do more work on it (my project is only due to new years so I'm nowhere near finished on my sculpt). I've tried mudbox for sculpting but I also need to fur it and the teacher keeps saying zbrush is best for doing this, especially since I'll need to use the splines zbrush creates for you to animate it later on.

Wait you have Autodesk Mudbox student version, which you switched using a trail of Zbrush. Did you search for tutorials on fur in mudbox?

[Hell_Charm]

Wait you have Autodesk Mudbox student version, which you switched using a trail of Zbrush. Did you search for tutorials on fur in mudbox?

Well, I downloaded a trial version of mudbox so I could at least keep on sculpting (thank god I'm almost done with that)

But it seems mudbox fur is no where near as good as the one in zbrush, especially if you want to animate it later on.

[DrGravitas]

ZBrush and Blender are two completely different 3D applications. There aren't any free 3D sculpting programs like ZBrush with anything but basic capabilities that would be insufficient for what Hell_Charm's class requires. The only free standalone sculpting software I am aware of is Sculptris and it is likewise basic.

I've never heard of CGpeers, it sounds interesting though.

 

 

 

[RTDragon]

Even so at least Sculptris is a basic introduction to Zbrush. And Blender is powerful considering i watch a few people on FA that use Blender to it's fullest.

[DrGravitas]

Mudbox + Maxon Cinema 4D + Blender.

Would not learning in Blender still give one the knowledge one needs to utilize other 3D applications? Unless the companies are too self-absorbed and make special names for 'standard' features (I'm looking at 3DSMax, who has been doing this kind of nonsense since 1998) pretty much everything should be essentially the same.

My understanding was that has a class specific to sculpting. However, after re-reading the blog entry, that is incorrect. while I don't dispute that BIender is an excellent way to learn and do 3D modelling, the problem here is the expired 3D sculpting tool. Mudbox, the equivalent in your chain, still costs money.

Edit: Speaking of the blog, Hell_Charm, in it you mentioned using Maya for your fur. Did you decide to change that to ZBrush's fibermesh, or am I misunderstanding what your continued need for ZBrush is?

 

 

Edited November 16, 2015 by DrGravitas

[Hell_Charm]

My understanding was that has a class specific to sculpting. However, after re-reading the blog entry, that is incorrect. while I don't dispute that BIender is an excellent way to learn and do 3D modelling, the problem here is the expired 3D sculpting tool. Mudbox, the equivalent in your chain, still costs money.

Edit: Speaking of the blog, Hell_Charm, in it you mentioned using Maya for your fur. Did you decide to change that to ZBrush's fibermesh, or am I misunderstanding what your continued need for ZBrush is?

 

 

I'm going with the zbrush fibermesh but will be using maya to animate it to make my fabulous gif and score a spot on the school website with my ambitious project

The only problem is that learning jet another program (zbrush was bad enough already to figure out on my own) will only make me lose even more time, plus for all other folks, this I what I'll be remaking in high res: 

so I need as much realism as possible.

I don't know if I would be able to learn blender or any other program and make stuff like this, the fibermesh on zbrush looks really promising for what I need.

Also if you guys were still wondering, I'm a 3D and VFX student, this assignment counts for 60% of my course since it's my exam assignment.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Hell_Charm

[RTDragon]

3D VFX Student is this some high priced high school and they did'nt teach you the basics in open source software before paying for it. Is this one of those AI schools?

[DrGravitas]

I'm going with the zbrush fibermesh but will be using maya to animate it to make my fabulous gif and score a spot on the school website with my ambitious project

The only problem is that learning jet another program (zbrush was bad enough already to figure out on my own) will only make me lose even more time, plus for all other folks, this I what I'll be remaking in high res: 

so I need as much realism as possible.

I don't know if I would be able to learn blender or any other program and make stuff like this, the fibermesh on zbrush looks really promising for what I need.

Also if you guys were still wondering, I'm a 3D and VFX student, this assignment counts for 60% of my course since it's my exam assignment.

Well, those are certainly high stakes! Go big or go home, I guess. How long do you have left?

I have a smidgen of experience migrating from fibermesh to Maya nHair. So, if you manage to get back in ZBrush and build your fibermesh, I could at least give you some ideas on how to make the fibermesh suitable for exporting for dynamic hair in Maya. If you don't already know how, that is

You might check out this post in my critique request thread, where I talk about my recent work with nHair. There's not much specific to fibermesh there (though the descriptions of the scraps that the images link to has a bit more) but it might be useful. The only real trick is to recognize that what it looks like in ZBrush is going to be way more than what Maya can handle; you'll have to make the fibermesh very basic in ZBrush to use it in Maya. I can try to answer questions, too.

 

Does your school have any sort of student lab with this software available? I'd guess not, based on your professor's advice. If worse comes to worse, you could create the nHair yourself by manually creating a bunch of curves, or applying it directly.

[Hell_Charm]

3D VFX Student is this some high priced high school and they did'nt teach you the basics in open source software before paying for it. Is this one of those AI schools?

Nah, it's just colledge studies, the only thing that is expensive about it is your computer, it's a 3 year program so no, they don't teach us about open software, I've got plenty of things to learn and hope to keep up with as it is.

 

Well, those are certainly high stakes! Go big or go home, I guess. How long do you have left?

I have a smidgen of experience migrating from fibermesh to Maya nHair. So, if you manage to get back in ZBrush and build your fibermesh, I could at least give you some ideas on how to make the fibermesh suitable for exporting for dynamic hair in Maya. If you don't already know how, that is

You might check out this post in my critique request thread, where I talk about my recent work with nHair. There's not much specific to fibermesh there (though the descriptions of the scraps that the images link to has a bit more) but it might be useful. The only real trick is to recognize that what it looks like in ZBrush is going to be way more than what Maya can handle; you'll have to make the fibermesh very basic in ZBrush to use it in Maya. I can try to answer questions, too.

 

Does your school have any sort of student lab with this software available? I'd guess not, based on your professor's advice. If worse comes to worse, you could create the nHair yourself by manually creating a bunch of curves, or applying it directly.

Thanks a lot for the offer  I'll be sure to drop you some screenshots Thursday when I'm done adding hair (since the teacher isn't replying to  my mails I cracked Zbrush).

And it has to be finished by our exam, don't know the planning jet but we start the 4th of January.

It's pretty ambitious but I plan on using this as a portfolio piece later, since this really reflects the kind of thing that I would love to do as a job, making pretty creatures for game/film companies.