Adobe PhotoShop vs. ZBrush

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe PhotoShop
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Photoshop is the best known graphics product on the market.
$20
per month
ZBrush
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Pixologic in Los Angeles offers ZBrush, a digital sculpting and painting program for the 3D industry. Built within its interface, ZBrush offers tools for digital artists with an arsenal of features that have been developed with usability in mind, to create a user experience designed to feel natural while simultaneously inspiring the artist. With the ability to sculpt up to a billion polygons, ZBrush allows users to create almost limitless models.
$39.95
per month
Pricing
Adobe PhotoShopZBrush
Editions & Modules
Single App
$20.00
per month
Individual
$39.95
per month
Individual
$179.95
per 6 months
Individual
$895.00
perpetual license
Companies & Students
price varies
floating perpetual license
Companies & Students
price varies
academic perpetual license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe PhotoShopZBrush
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe PhotoShopZBrush
Best Alternatives
Adobe PhotoShopZBrush
Small Businesses
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.8 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
GIMP
GIMP
Score 9.3 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.8 out of 10
Navisworks
Navisworks
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe PhotoShopZBrush
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
4.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe PhotoShopZBrush
Likelihood to Recommend
I use Adobe PhotoShop to do practically all of my business from my home in Turkey. Many customers find the cost of Adobe PhotoShop to be prohibitive, thus they turn to substitute alternatives and illegally downloaded pirated software. Regulations like torrents, sales, and price increases lead to a number of financial issues. Change can be advantageous.
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The comprehensive toolkit enables us to take advantage of its wide range of tools, such as customizable brushes, particles and materials, custom deformers, mesh manipulation tools, and more, to bring art creations to life with high levels of detail and realism. On the flip side, if an artist needs very specific tools tailored towards animation-type projects rather than 3D model design, then they would likely find programs like Maya or Blender more beneficial.
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Pros
  • Brush customization. There are many available brushes for illustration, and each can be customized to fit the needs of your specific style.
  • Integration with other Adobe products. It is essential that the images I create be accessible in Adobe Indesign and Illustrator, and [Adobe] Photoshop can be placed and edited easily within those programs.
  • Advanced editing. The possibilities for editing photos [are] endless, with new features being added constantly.
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  • Best for sculpting characters even down to the smallest pore.
  • Great for points of light on a character.
  • So fast sculpting and crafting for product design.
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Cons
  • Expensive - It is too expensive to buy Photoshop alone, and hence leading the user to purchase the entire Creative Cloud Package though he/she is not even aware of half of those apps.
  • High System Spec - Requires high system specifications to run the application smoothly, and to use it at its best.
  • Process lag - When it comes to large-sized files, the application becomes laggy taking much time even to render a single layer.
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  • Slowdowns when using certain tools or features.
  • Difficulty to access certain shortcuts or commands.
  • Lack of a dedicated animation timeline system.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 2014 is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud family of software products. Therefore, when you get a license to use Adobe Photoshop for a monthly fee, you are constantly up-to-date on any upgrades or new releases of the software. So, if you are using the product, you never have to renew and you are always using the latest version of the software, for perpetuity.
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No answers on this topic
Usability
I've used it for a long time and would consider myself a Pro user at this point. I know where everything I need is, have custom actions set up to make common actions faster, and have my workflows automated so much that everything is easy. Occasionally, a new version of Photoshop will change a common usability feature which will slow things down for a short time before I'm able to adjust, but generally I really like my setup. However, if you're new to Photoshop, it is likely going to take you a while to figure out how you can best use the features.
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No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
Adobe Photoshop is very reliable, but is never 100%. There have been times when Adobe Photoshop has had trouble opening, but nothing a little computer restart couldn't fix. I use Adobe Photoshop on a Mac for both work and at home on a daily basis, and I would be lost without it.
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No answers on this topic
Performance
Speed can be an issue when you are dealing with large files for large format printing or billboards. When working on web images, speed is not an issue.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
While I never contacted Adobe directly, there is so much content out there in the form of YouTube videos, Lynda/LinkedIn learning that almost any issue, including bugs, can be worked around (and this method is generally faster as there's no turnaround time involved).
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No answers on this topic
In-Person Training
So, I received the training at the HQ and it was train the trainer training. A good time, I spent a week at their campus
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
I took a course so it really helped. I didn’t take the course until much later after beginning to use it, so I wish work would have sent me right off the bat. It would have alleviated a lot of frustratinon
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Every software has its kind of users, and Photoshop is ranked as one of the most competitive softwares and is used mainly by professionals. Figma is great for working in collaboration and designing Ui/Ux interface. Illustrator is great for vector-based work, such as logos and branding. InDesign works best if one is building large documents that require a lot of text formatting.
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Even though it's 4x as old, ZBrush is still better in my opinion. Plus, I'm just so used to it by now after 20 years. Blender will indeed become better over time and the leading industry standard soon, but for now, ZBrush is still better for me for sure. Love it!
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Scalability
It seems expensive compared to the free/cheap programs now available
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Adobe PhotoShop in general is a great time saver.
  • It does take a long time for the program to start up, however
  • The most difficult task is onboarding new employees into Adobe PhotoShop who don't have experience with it. It's an investment for their future so we see value in it.
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  • Expensive
  • Will create a 3D mesh exactly as you had designed
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ScreenShots