ZBrushCentral

simple workflow scripts

Shared ZScripts & Macros
#1

***Instructions - simply extract all of the contents from each .zip into your Zstartup/Zplugs folder and then in zbrush under Zplugin you will see a “E” panel – where each of these plug-ins reside. ***

These are just a few very, very simple work flow scripts that I find very useful and others just for fun. I would reccomend using these as hotkeys if you like them. Just throw any of these into your ZStartup/Zplugs folder

<b>      1. PivotLocal_center. - </b>This script automates setting a local pivot of your model and then maximizes your model to the view port.
     
<b>      2. PivotClear_center - </b>this script automates un hiding all parts of your mesh and then clears its pivot and then maximizes the model in the view port. 
      <b>
      3. mouse average 3 -</b> this script basically just changes your mouse average to 3. 
      
<b>      4. mudbox - </b>this script copies mudbox's lighting and material and color as close as I could. (I used to use zmats to save them, but I hate how the script panel at the bottom keeps popping up while working. And yeah you can manually move it back down but that is annoying.)
     
      All of these scripts are intended to be assigned to hotkeys, they are pretty pointless to use any other way in my opinion because the time it takes to go the plug-in panel and click on these buttons you could have just done what these do manually. So once again these are just quick workflow scripts to help speed up working in zbrush.
      
      Big thanks to marcus for creating the zbrush hotkey editor which I would not have made these scripts otherwise and also thanks to TV Eyes for helping me out with one of these scripts.
#2

***Instructions - simply extract all of the contents from each .zip into your Zstartup/Zplugs folder and then in zbrush under Zplugin you will see a “E” panel – where each of these plug-ins reside. ***

          Okay so here are a few more simple work flow scripts for working with bump maps. I would also recommend assigning these to hotkeys. Just makes zlife [i]faster![/i]
          <b>
          1. bump_map_setup -</b> this script sets you up to start working with a bump map. It automates setting your RGB color to 128, 128, 128 for a total 50% grey map. And then creates a 4096 x4096 texture off of that color and then loads the bump viewer material. And then sets your RGB color to 255, 255, 255. 
          
          <b>2. txtbmp_2_alphbmp - </b>this script automates converting your bump map  from a texture to an alpha and then sets the displace settings to mode and the intensity to .05. And then creates a new white place holder texture in the texture slot. This is for proper viewing of your bump map after picking it up from projection master
          
          <b>3. alphbmp_2_txtbmp - </b>this script simply converts your alpha bump map back to a texture bump map so you can work on it again in projection master after you are done looking at it in the view port real-time.
          
          I really hate the tedious aspect of working with bump maps so that is why I created these to speed up the workflow a lot and make it much easier to work with them.
          
          Let me know what you guys think or if you have any suggestions. 
          
          Note: these are intended to be used on p3dmeshes, obj’s and ztools that are in edit mode
#3

So I just realized that I didn’t have the show actions command turned off in my scripts. This wasn’t an issue on 3 out of 4 of the computers that I tested these scripts on but on the 4th it was an issue because for some reason on that particular computer zbrush defaults to having show actions turned on. So I have added the command to all of my zscripts and re uploaded them all.

 So if any of you were having issues with that. You will just need to re download them and delete your old ones. Sorry for the inconvenience guys
#4

I love this! Thanks E. :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1:

This is the type of stuff that just makes lives easier. :slight_smile:

r

#5

Great work --E–, :+1:
And thanks for sharing.
Yeah, I reckon that ShowActions has got most of us at one time or another. :slight_smile:

#6

i don’t know how much help the scripts will be for me, but thank you for your effort to provide them.

ciao voolger

#7

ryankingslien - Glad I could make your life easier! and thank you for taking the time to try them out. That is pretty cool :smiley:

marcus_civis - Thanks a lot, that means a lot coming from you. They aren’t the most efficent scripts as I am still learning zscripting. But I do think they make a big step forward in speeding up the workflow.

voolger - If you like to work faster with less moving the mouse all over the screen and chance for mistakes then I am sure they will help you out! :smiley:

-I am updating the mudbox script as I noticed that a user can receive an error if they are already using the basic material and then try to use the mudbox script.

#8

I updated the bump_map_setup zscript to create a texture at RGB 128 128 128 texture instead of the original RGB 125 125 125, don’t ask me why I had it at 125.

Any way since you can’t do 127.5 I figure 128 is close enough to 50% grey if you round up. So now the default color is as close as zbrush can get to 50% grey like it should be.
#9

cool stuff, but could you make a workflow script to facilitate the meats mier wire technique???:stuck_out_tongue:

#10

Thanks for the scripts, -E-
Very useful indeed, and all working great this end :+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:

cheers

Chris

#11

***Instructions - simply extract all of the contents from each .zip into your Zstartup/Zplugs folder and then in zbrush under Zplugin you will see a “E” panel – where each of these plug-ins reside. ***

   Once again a few more very simple workflow Zscripts. These scripts speed up going from the lowest sub D level on your tool to the highest and vise versa.

1. Max_SubD_Level – This script simply when executed automatically goes to the highest sub d level that your current tool has.

2. Min_SubD_Level – This script simply does the reverse, it automatically goes to the lowest sub d level of your current tool.

 These speed up workflow quite a bit especially when assigned to hotkeys. I use these a lot while modeling especially when I save my tool because I always save at sub D level 1 and then I want to go right back to my highest Sub D level afterwards. And constantly hitting “Shift + d” over and over to go down to level one and then “d” over and over to go up and it gets old after awhile. This comes in real handy if you are like me and you manually save your tool every 5 min or so to avoid loosing any work.
 
  Don't forget if you like them, assign them to hotkeys to really speed things up! :D
#12

Hi E, thanks for these, but when I copy all the files from each of these zips to my ZStartup\Zplugs dir, including the BumpViewerMaterial.zmt material, every time I run a script I get an error saying “Error has been encountered while trying to load a material. Loading has been aborted”. Any ideas why?
The root of ZStartup\Zplugs dir has the following files:

alphbmp_2_txtbmp.zsc
BasicMaterial.ZMT
bump_map_setup.zsc
BumpViewerMaterial.zmt
txtbmp_2_alphbmp.zsc

Obviously I also still have the BumpViewerMaterial.zmt in the default C:\Program Files\Pixologic\ZBrush2\ZMaterials dir also.

Seán

#13

Hey seanforsyth, sorry you are having troubles with it.

 Normally the only files that go into ZStartup\Zplugs are .zsc files, and ofcourse then sub dir's. 

   
  The .zmt file is actually inside of a "bump_map_setup_data" folder and if you remove it from that folder and place it in the root of ZStartup\Zplugs, then it will not run. 
(Which is a little hard to notice if you use winzip. but if you use the extract feature instead of just clicking and dragging the files out of winzip or if you use winrar to open winzip files. You won’t have the problem you are having.)

      So it should go ZStartup\Zplugs with the .zsc script and then 
 
 ZStartup\Zplugs\bump_map_setup_data with the .zmt material. 
 
 
 All of the files and folders needed to run the script are in the .zip
 
 let me know if you have any more problems and thanks for trying them out.
#14

Ah, I see where your mistake was now. In making this idiot proof, you obviously thought you’d taken care of everything. But here’s the rub, there’s always another kind of idiot around the corner, and this time I’M that idiot! I just extracted everything into that dir without using folder names, so the folders never got created. My bad entirely! Thanks for the help, and - more importantly, thanks for the scripts!

Seán

#15

!!!I have noticed a few people have been downloading rev C in my previous post. Do not download rev C. it is old. Download the file attached to this post. !!!

I am updating the "bump_map_setup" script
      
 the "rev D" changes are:
  • I changed the script to set your DSmooth to "1" so that your artifacts in PM will be minimized.
  • I also added it to load in lights that are better for bump map painting
***For some odd reason ZBC isn't letting me edit my previous posts. So here is the updated script until i can change the previous post. ***
#16

Thank you very much for these scripts !!!

#17

Hey No problem Monji, I am glad they help you.

Since zbrushcentral won’t let me edit posts that are very old. I would suggest anyone that is going to download these to just get them off of my site; it is the only way to ensure that you are getting the latest revision of the script.

www.ericblondin.com/zscripts.html

#18

Until we get the hotkey editor back up and running, I made these to speed up changing brushes.

This script will make the following brushes mapped to the following keyboard buttons.

 "1" - Standard Brush
 "2" - Tweak Brush
 "3" - Flatten Brush
 "4" - Pinch Brush
 
 If any one wants these mapped to something different or wants more hotkeys mapped let me know and I will see what I can do.

Instructions - simply put the .zsc files in “C:\Program Files\Pixologic\ZBrush3\ZStartup\ZPlugs” . and start zbrsuh, it should automatically work for you, if not you might have to manually run it.

#19

Thank you so much Eric your script is incredibly helpful. I love Zbrush 3 so far but when I saw that you couldn’t edit hotkeys I was a bit disappointed. Your script should tide me over until the new hotkey manager comes out. Thanks again.

P.S.

If you could impliment clay and inflat I would be extremely grateful, as those are two other brushes I find myself using quite often.

#20

:+1: Amazing! Thanks so much! This makes it alot easier… I’m getting sore muscles from expiermenting with all this new stuff!