Boy, what a difference Z Brush makes!

So, in my continuing foray into the world of modeling I have finally discovered Z Brush. With this program, a viewer can be fooled into thinking that the low polygon object at which they're looking actually has a much higher level of resolution and surface detail. For example, I modelled the following arm and hand in Maya at a meager 640 faces.

I then imported it into Z Brush, pumped up the resolution to 655,360 polys and began what can be best described as either 3-Dimensional drawing or true digital sculpting. Using my Wacom stylus and tablet, I was able to add and subtract mesh as a sculptor adds and subtracts clay, before finally sculpting the fingernails and carving all of the intricate wrinkles and folds in all their glorious minutia (we all know I'm a detail whore).

Finally, a "normal map" is generated and exported out of Z Brush: a kind of trompe-l'œil texture map that reacts to light and shadow as if there were actually surface geometry. In reality, however, it's just the same 'ol 640 face arm and hand.