January 30, 2015 Update
ZBrush 4R7 is available for download here https://pixologic.com/zbrush/downloadcenter/instructions/
Original Article Aug 10, 2014
I attended the first ever ZBrush summit online. The summit had great presenters like Dominic Qwek a creature & character artist for Blizzard Entertainment, freelance artist Maarten Verhoeven and 3D Systems/Gentle Giant Studios. During this summit Pixologic announced that Zbrush will be getting new features making it an even more powerful tool.
New ZBrush features for 4R7
New dynamic subdivision mode: This appears to be similar to splines in other 3d apps but it allows the artist to crease and uncrease any edge on the fly with extremely low polycounts.
New box modelling mode: ZBrush will now allow artists to box model in a method similar to Silo. It is even easier than Silo to put holes in objects and join them together.
New Nano-mesh mode: Allows an artist to auto populate a scene with hundreds of clones of a single modelled object at low polycounts.
Export to KeyShot: A special version of KeyShot will be made available for $349 US to create quick high quality renders of ZBrush models. The introductory price will be $249 US but it will go to the regular price of $349 later.
Finally 64 bit ZBrush: Although ZBrush 4R7 will be the last 32 bit version of ZBrush, Pixological will also release a public beta of a 64 bit version of ZBrush 4R7! ZBrush 5 will be fully 64b bit. With access to more memory plus all the previously mentioned low polycount modes, ZBrush could handle even larger more complex models than it currently does.
FREE Upgrade for existing ZBrush users
As with previous versions of ZBrush, the upgrade to 4R7 is free. Will the upgrade to ZBrush 5 be free?
Speculation
If Pixologic adds animation capabilities more sophisticated than ZSphere rigging to ZBrush, then potentially it becomes a rival for Maya and 3DS Max.
More info at ZBrushCentral
