Finished Zplugins: Tiny Tools

[TVeyes]

TinyToolsLogo.jpg





Tiny Tools consists of 5 small zplugins, each one expanding upon an existing Zbrush function.






InterfacePreview.jpg






:b1:Render Region:b1:
What: Renders multiple 192*192 render tiles.
Why: The default Cursor Selective Render ( CTRL/CMD + R ) does not always render a large enough area, therefore requiring repeated Cursor Selective Renders. Render Region is useful when test rendering small to medium sized areas of a document.
How: Press the Render Region button to access the interface. Press :qu: for more help. Use the shortcut, Shift + R, to render the area under the cursor.

:b1:Max Doc:b1:
What: Maximizes the Document Window or switches between the current and a user defined User Interface.
Why: The default Maximize Document View button removes any undocked palettes and interface items. Loading a UI configuration is then needed to return to the previous UI.
How: Press the Max Doc button to maximize the document view, press again to restore the user interface. Shift + press the Max Doc button to access the settings. Press :qu: for more help.

:b1:Fit Doc:b1:
What: Adjusts the zoom factor to fit the current document in the Document Window.
Why: For viewing the entire document on screen. Handy when working with large documents.
How: Press Fit Doc once to fit both document axes into the Document Window. Press again to fit the smallest document axis into the Document Window. Shift + Press for help.

:b1:Subdivision Switch:b1:
What: Quick access to 2 subdivision levels.
Why: When making global changes to a model it is good practice to edit at a low subdivision level and view the results at a higher subdivision level. A single button to change the subdivision levels makes it easier.
How: With a subdivided PolyMesh tool simply press the Subdivision Switch button to switch between subdivision levels. Shift + press the Subdivision Switch button to change settings. Press :qu: for more help.

:b1:Axis Shortcuts:b1:
What: Symmetry axis and Deformation axis shortcuts.
Why: At high monitor resolutions the deformation axis switches can be difficult to press, especially when Zbrushing long into the night.
How: Hover the cursor over a deformation slider and press the X, Y and Z shortcut keys to toggle a deformation axis. When the cursor is not over a deformation slider the shortcuts act as normal and toggle the symmetry axes. Shift + press one of the 3 Axis Shortcut buttons to open the interface. Press :qu: for more help.


How to install:
Download the compressed TinyTools.zip file from below and unzip into the Zstartup/Zplugs folder. If you do not have a Zplugs folder then create one. Make sure you unzip the file with its folders intact.

Next time you start Zbrush you will find 7 buttons in the Zplugin > TV tools > Tiny Tools subpalette. These can moved around the Zbrush interface like other buttons and their positions stored in the User Interface Configuration (CTRL/CMD + SHIFT + I).

Hope you enjoy.

I would like thank Marcus_Civis (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/member.php?userid=20323) for helping me with the Shift + press functionality, it is a great way to cut down on interface clutter. Thanks, I would never have figured it out without you. Also a special thanks to Chadtheartist (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/member.php?userid=23397) for catching a few features (bugs) and Mac testing the zplugins.:tu:

[jotajota]

:tu: :tu:

[souleat]

thats one of the usefulls! thank you!

[aminuts]

Excellent, Tveyes!!!

This is gonna be a very handy plugin!!!

Thanks for your time and effort!!!:D

[Moochie]

Excellent! Thank you.:D

[marcus_civis]

:tu: These are great little plugins - size matters! ;) Not only are they very handy and speed the workflow but the design is beautiful. Those buttons fit snugly on the right shelf.

[Frenchy Pilou]

Pilou

[Reactor]

Excellent work! These really are going to come in handy. I haven't been the biggest fan of recent Zscripts (they just didn't seem to help me much at all) but these certainly will, especially the render region.

[andreseloy]

Thanks Mark, i suppose right !!! you was working hard f:D or us¡¡

Thanks for this very helpful tool!!
Andreseloy

[marciani]

Thx man for your work.
Very appreciated!
I'll try after
bye
Leo

[Digits]

:tu: Awesome addition to Zbrush, I can't wait to get back from vacation to try it out, nice work buddy!

[chadtheartist]

Thanks again for letting me test these out. I'm really quite impressed with how helpful these are.

[Svengali]

Fills a need... with style.

Sven

[willog]

Thanks mate very usefull set of tools to have.

Much appreciated my friend and again thanks for all the work you put into it.


Bill :tu:

[matvara]

:tu: ;)

[kev1n]

thanks, it will be usefull but : http://ourouk.3dvf.net/tinytools/pages/tinytools.htm

:)

[Aztec...soljA]

Wow, so very thankful, ur cool TV!

[Atwooki]

Excellent collection of useful plug-ins you've compiled there, Mark!

It did immediately cross my mind that the name 'Tiny Tools' was associated with the Maya srcipts of the same name, but no matter - these are certainly going to prive most useful.

Thanks for you kind generosity :tu::tu::tu:

Chris

[50'sKID]

There have been several times I wished for a 'drag-rectangle stroke' render selection so you could get just the area you want. I will certainly try this out. Thanks for your many tools, TVeyes. 50.

[Buckie]

Excellent TVeyes...

Thanks...:D

[ringbearer]

Thank you, these will be very useful!!!

[Michoko]

Hey TVeyes!

Great contribution to the community! I tried your plugin, since I was very interested in the Max Doc / Fit doc feature. I have just a comment through:
To maximize my work space, I generally hide the bottom bar (Zscript bar). But when I press "Fit Doc", the Zscript bar is automatically expanded again, losing the benefits of this UI optimization (at least for me ;) ).

Anyways, great work, and thanks again for sharing!
Bye
Michoko

PS: Would it be possible to assign a hotkey for Max Doc, please? It would be VERY handy!

[GLmig]

Thks for this, very usefull.

[TVeyes]

Thank you everyone. I am thrilled by your responses to the zplugins, especially since none of them mention any bugs :D There are however some issues with a couple of the zplugins.

Axis Shortcuts: When toggling deformation axes from a drop down Tool palette, i.e not a tool palette in the left or right palette containers, the tool palette might close after each axis toggle. ChadTheArtist pointed this out to me and I thought I had it solved. But at a monitor resolution higher than 1280*x the palette will close, 1280*x or lower and it will stay open. Again this does not affect the Tool palette if it is in the left or right palette container. I usualy model at a monitor resolution of 1280*768 and only switch to a higher resolution when composing a picture, so for me it does not matter. But if there is anyone who would like to see it fixed I will try and work something out.

Subdivision Switch: In this zplugin's help section it says to leave both PolyFrame switches off to use the current polyframe view. This is not true. That line slipped past me as I modified the zplugin.

Kev1n: I never checked the names of other program's plugins/scripts. I doubt Rossi Sebastien will have a problem with a plugin pack for Zbrush named the same as his :) Thanks for the info though.

Does anyone see this as a problem? The name could be changed to, oh I don't know, Tiny Toolz ;)

Michoko: Thanks. Yes I see what you mean. I might change the way the zscript window is hidden through Max Doc. But there is a problem. Ideally every zscript should adjust the height of the zscript window as in Functionality 4 (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=22826), IMO. This would allow me to minimize the zscript window, but not close it completely, the difference is minimal. Each time a zscript or zplugin is loaded/activated, zbrush assumes it is to be shown in the zscript window and opens the window to a certain height. But if it is not closed the zscript window height is not adjusted.

Hmm, I could perhaps just follow functionality rule 4 myself and adjust the zscript window height when Fit Doc is pressed :o

Thanks again for the response. Much appreciated, now if someone could please loan me some money towards a toupe. Zscripting can result in quite a lot of hair pulling.

Tiny Toolz 2 is in the making and will consist of at least 6 zplugins. If anyone has any special wishes or ideas just PM (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/private.php?do=newpm&u=2324) me.

[TVeyes]

Sorry I forgot

Michoko: I intentionally did not assign hotkeys to the zplugins that did not need them. The Axis Shortcut hotkeys serve the same purpose as the normal hotkey so that is not a problem and the Render Region simply would not work without a hotkey.

Generally I think it is a bad idea to assign hotkeys to Zplugins as they can so easily conflict with the next zplugin installed. The order in which the zplugins are loaded determines which zplugin gets the hotkey, i.e the last one loaded.

Instead the user should modify the DefaultZscript.txt file to include the desired hotkeys. Check Marcus_Civis' response in this thread (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=23342) for how to edit the DefaultZscript.txt.

I of course also think it is a bad idea to post some zplugins without adding the above info ;) Btw, you are right, the Max Doc button is begging for a shortcut key.

A hotkey editor should be available at some time.

[Michoko]

Great TVeyes! The thread you pointed me at seems really interesting. Since I have an AZERTY keyboard, the brackets hotkeys for increasing/decreasing the brush size don't seem to work. I will certainly be able to re-assign them using this trick, so thanks a lot!

I can't wait for the next version of Tiny Tools ;)

Bye
Michoko

[wenna]

Thanks so much for these great tools!!

[Junk]

I like the shortcut axis, but could it be exclusive with an option?

I mean if you press x, you want x ONLY activated, currently it activate x but you still need to deactivate the other axis.

[TVeyes]

Junk : I will post the improvements to Axis Shortcuts we discussed in a couple of days.

There will also be a slight update to the Max Doc zplugin to rectify the Zscript Window issue as per Michoko's feedback (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showpost.php?p=204191&postcount=22).

Thanks again for the comments and feedback.

[Svengali]

Hi TV,

Again, thank you for another nice handful of very useful plugins!

I thought I might toss out a question/suggestion concerning one of your nifty tools...

It makes sense that the SHIFT-Click configure option on the SubD Switch Icon only pops up if there is an active polymesh with two or more subdivisions in effect.

But otherwise, when you SHIFT-Click, nothing happens. It feels like the Icon is broken. maybe a warning of some kind might be appropriate when you are in other modes?

BTW, an additional comment on your icon design choices... they blend well with the other standard ZBrush icons. Thank you for this... the ZB interface still feels coherent!

Maybe future plugin designers will also give due consideration to the wisdom of this? :D

Sven

[Syed Noman Ahmed Rahmani]

hello how r ya to every 1:rolleyes: taht 1 is my new experimental work on which i m still working on it y iu submit uncomplet b/coz i need to alll my seniour cretisize on it thanx .