ZBrushCentral

ZCurve Version 4.1 (Update)

Shared ZScripts & Macros
#1

I have updated ZCurve, see this thread ZCurve 3.2

  [![Zcurve4_0.JPG|700x700](upload://4ldh5AKS8rWXu0cK8bNSd4gnzA7.jpeg)]

What's New?

Morph - Morph between two Curves
Recording - Record your curves and then build them into a 3D Mesh

It was suggested that I make some video tutorials, so I did. I am afraid I don’t have the patience or the talent to create a professional quality tutorials but hopefully this will help a few people get the hang of curvin

[ZCURVE FLASH TUTORIALS](http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/ZCurve/ZCurve4_0.htm)

Feel free to post your own experiments on this thread

If you want ZCurve to startup as a pluging extract the ZCurve_4 folder and ZCurveBooter.zsc into your Zbrush Startup/Zplugins folder



:warning:<b>BugFix 8-31-05</b>:warning:

Dern it! Please update to version 4.1 as I needed to fix a problem with the Morph function working at high resolution. Sorry bout dat

#2

Here is an image I created while testing the script.

[curve3a.JPG](javascript:zb_insimg(‘17050’,‘curve3a.JPG’,1,0))

#3

oh cool!!!

Thanks for all your time and effort with this one…it’s gonna be fun to watch you zcurve away me thinks :D.

Oh yeah…I think I might need a zifworm intervention too…damn these are addicting utilities!!

dohhh…I forgot to mention…way cool image!!!

#4

Excellent upgrade, brilliant interface. The tutorials are powerful yet simple. All the hard work shows, D.

thankyou - Sven

#5

Dear Digits,
your image and utility look amazing.

Whether it would be quite so in the hands of a technophobe such as myself is quite another matter.
Looks complicated with many depths - but wait, I see you’ve posted some Flash tutorials to help us into the light.

Thanks for sharing your hard work.

#6

…and amazing exploration of Geometry possibilities! :sunglasses:
Pilou

#7

Digits…:sunglasses: :+1: :+1:

#8

Thanks for the replies guys!

If you have already installed 4.0 please get the new version 4.1. You can just replace your existing ZCurve_4.zsc with the one in the zip.

#9

Great work on the update - excellent new features. And the tutorials are a tremendous help. I’m sure a lot of people will appreciate your hard work. Thanks! :+1:

#10

You tha man digits… :+1:

#11

Most excellent! Thank you! :+1:

#12

Thanks again for sharing your hard work. Looks like a lot of fun!! :smiley:

#13

Thanks for the support Marcus. I got a little curious to see just how helpful it was to create tutorials for Zcurve so I took a little peek at my webpage statistics over the last few days. The results were suprising.

67 out of 582 (minus return readers) DL’d the script

                                               Perc of the 67 People who DL'd

36 looked at the ZCurve Webpage 53.7%
30 looked at the Intro 44.7%
18 looked at the first tutorial 26.8%
11 looked at the 2nd Tutorial 16.4%
9 looked at the 3rd Tutorial 13.4%
7 looked at the 4th Tutorial 10.4%
9 looked at the 5th Tutorial 13.4%
5 downloaded the Zips 7.4%

At least 2 hits per Tutorial were mine checking out the site.

I am not sure whether or not it reflects the general interest in Zscripts on the whole, that ZCurve is a real Stinker, or just the fact that Zcurve with all its functionality is just too intimidating for the average user to generate any interest beyond just a cursory glance. I suspect that it is a bit of all three.

Anywho, I pretty much zscript solely for my own pleasure not for fame or fortune. I just found it very interesting to spy on the mating habits of our internet culture. Pretty fasinating stuff!

#14

Hi Digits,

I for one am in the -very interested but a bit overwhelmed- category.
I plan on using your scripts once I get more basic functions under my belt.

I am very impressed with what your plugins can help us to achieve with Zbrush. And am very greatful for talented zscripters like yourself. So don’t be disappointed with low web hits. i think I may not be the only one who wants to learn your plugins, but who doesn’t have the time to do it right now.

I have a Digits folder dedicated to all of your plugins and tutorials. I will be refering to it once I’m up-to-speed.

So please keep on with the good work and keep an eye on the long term view.

#15

Dunno if this helps, but here’s what I thought:
The interface looks complicated. The first tut covers the new stuff you’ve added so, if coming to the utility for the first time, it’s really hard to get your head around what’s going on. The assumption I made was that the following tuts would be even more in-depth. They’re not … they are very clear presentations which take little existing knowledge for granted. But of course you don’t know that until you’ve viewed them.

There are a number of procedures to learn. Personally, I learn best with a sheet or two printed off with ‘do this then do that’ step-by-step instructions, with a brief ‘because’ paragraph. Then I can dab away at the utility with a crib sheet on hand. Do a procedure a couple of times and it sticks.

So … my suggestions would be: have a way to hide part of the interface, so that only core elements are visible. A beginner’s version, if you will. Once a user is confident with the basics, they can flick a switch and all the more advanced stuff becomes available. I’ve no idea if that is easy or hard to do, or how much work it would entail. Or even if others would welcome it. But I know I would.

Second idea is a printable crib sheet: step by step no-brainer instructions. Again, I can’t speak for anyone else, but I would absolutely love to use your utility and I’d find practical, simple instructions invaluable. The artistic possiblities are so obvious and exciting … a foot up is all that’s needed.

Thanks again for all your work. I’m not looking for a ‘make art now’ button. Just a way to break down learning your utility into bite-sized chunks, which is all my addled brain and available time allow. :slight_smile:

#16

Heh heh … I now see there’s a link to your previous thread … which contains a pdf! Wahoo! I am off like a rat up a drainpipe. This evening is dedicated to learning ZCurving for me. Cheers!

#17

Ok … reporting back. The pdf tutorials are very good. Thanks! Playing with the dials tends to result in curves disappearing way off screen somewhere, and I can’t work out how to Ctrl+N to clear everything. I’m sure I’m simply missing something (I tried Clear in the Shift+D menu, but that only seemed to remove my last curve, not all of them … I need a destructo button heh heh). I’m going to try the ‘whip’ tutorials tonight.

#18

Thanks for your input Moochie.

Not sure what is going on with the Clear Screen, except it will only clear the current layer and if you have a current object in Edit or Transform Mode it won’t clear that.

For your other problem, I am not sure what is going on there either but here is a procedure that should get you a starting curve every time.

  1. Make sure you are out of edit/transform mode, i.e. no red circle or gyro.
  2. To Set your Start Point press L-SP. This should create a 3D sphere at the current location of your Start point.
  3. Do what you have to do to get into TRANSFORM:MOVE so that you have a Gyro.
  4. Drag the Gyro to the location that you wish to start on the Canvas and press S-SP to save the Start Point.
  5. Now drag the Gyro to the Location that you wish the curve to End and press S-EP to save the End Point.
  6. On the Navigation Panel press the R (Reset) button to set the 2 control points to the default.
  7. Press the CREATE button. This will create a Zsphere object on the Canvas that stretches from your Start Point to your End Point.
  8. To modify Control Point 1 press the Sel-CP1 switch and use the Navigation Panel to move the position of CP1. As you move you should see the Zsphere object start to bend.
  9. To modify Control Point 2 deselect Sel-CP1 and Select Sel-CP2. Use the Navigation Panel to move the position of CP2. As you move it you should see the changes reflected in the Zspheres.
  10. By using the Sel-SP, CP1, CP2 and EP switches you can precisely create the curve that you need. By selecting one or more of the Control points you can also change the diameter of each Control point.

If you can get this to work and practice it a few times so that you can create a curve at will at any location and orientation on the canvas then you should be able to start experimenting with the other functions that are available to you such as Rotate, Flip, Morph and the Recording/Build stuff.

Also, be careful of using the LAY function which uses the existing canvas to adjust the Z-Depth of your object. If the curve lies over portions of the canvas that, for example reaches the backplane of your image you can end up with some interesting shapes if you rotate your object.

I hope this helps.

#19

Got a little inspired by Lemonado’s 4 Meats thread and created this with Zcurve while working on a few new features.

[curve7b.JPG](javascript:zb_insimg(‘18168’,‘curve7b.JPG’,1,0))

#20

wow digits, that is just amazing! very very neat! Can I ask if there is away to save the flash files to hard drive? They are really great!

Thanks so much for updating this fun script!