Finished Plugin/ZScript : Marker Master

[marcus_civis]

MMpostpic.jpg


Marker Master simplifies the use of markers making this powerful ZBrush feature more accessible.

:b3: Easily place 3D objects relative to each other in 3D space.
:b3: Pick up and edit/transform any object after it has been dropped.
:b3: Replace any object on the canvas with another.
:b3: Edit or transform all the objects as a single group.
:b3: Auto-marking for quick assembly of complex groups.

Marker Master is ideal for those who wish to assemble separate model parts and then generate a composite mesh. For ZBrush renders, it makes repositioning of 3D components in a picture easy.

:b3: :b3: :b3: Click here to download (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/attachment.php?attachmentid=18671) :b3: :b3: :b3:


Unzip the zip file to your ZStartup\ZPlugs folder. Restart ZBrush and you will find a new button Marker Master in the MarcusTools subpalette of your ZPlugin palette. You can Ctrl+drag the button to where you want and store the setting (Ctrl+Shift+I).

Full instructions in the zip.

Many thanks to all the beta testers including aminuts, andreseloy, Bas Mazur, BazC, Buckie, Svengali and wenna.

Very special thanks to LemonNado for testing and for using his time and talent to produce this tutorial movie:

Movie.jpg
Download the Tutorial Movie (http://206.145.80.237/zbrush/zbcfiles/markermaster.zip) (9mb size now hosted by Pixologic)


If there are any problems displaying the movie, such as poor sound quality, then you can download the codec here:
ensharpendecoder (http://www.techsmith.com/download/codecsdefault.asp)
It is available for OSX, OS9 and Windows.

I hope you find Marker Master fun and useful.

[lemonnado]

Marcus, THANKS A MILLION for that script!

Next to the SubDStroke script which is the salvation for everyone with a low perf PC (like me) and the Mask2Group script which is heaven for everyone who needs groups in external apps like XSI THIS is about the most usefull script for me!

THANKS AGAIN for your effort!
:tu::tu::tu::tu::tu:
Lemo

[marcus_civis]

Lemo,
My thanks to you for your encouragement and help. I'm delighted if you find Marker Master useful. :D
Cheers,

[Buckie]

I think is one of the best plugins to date, you're a star Marcus...:tu:

[Abyssis]

marcus, U r one g_e_n_i_u_s:tu: :cool:
thank you very, very much...

[dzip]

Absolutely ingenious.
This makes a world of a difference. What I hated about the multi-marker was that I got the impression that when used, I was commiting to not modify my objects until I created a polymesh again. I'm shure you probably could, but now, it makes sense to me.

What I find astonishing is the fact that you can place objects on the canvas, like you were painting in 2d (in auto mode) and then MAGIC - you can pick up the whole thing, or individual parts... I'm blown away.

Whooo... I feel like the next Meats Meier (without his wonderful talent).

[H3DCLIFF]

Great plugin, Thanks :tu:

[boozy floozie]

Many thanks for a great utility.
:tu: :tu: :tu:

[andreseloy]

A GREAT COMMUNITY HELPER!!
Andreseloy

[Bas Mazur]

Thanks Marcus!!!!
LemonNado, the movie, on a Mac only sound :(

[aminuts]

very cool plugin....as usual!

and kudos to lemonnado for his script but....

i can't seem to download it via the link

if i click on free download it seems to send me to a premium page and tells me if i want to down load I need to scroll down and do that but when I do it starts all over again.

am i missing something? I am still asleep so it's possible I am skipping whole paragraphs.

Thanks guys!!

[pixelsoul]

:D Awesome and even a tutorial movie.. im going to check it out thanks allot for the hard work :tu:

[lemonnado]

Bas, did you download the 'codec' from the techsmith website?

The downloadlink has a timer, you have to wait about 16 seconds till the download starts......

If someone has a better place, I'm more than happy do upload it there....

Sorry for the inconvenience. The download service is for free and you get what you pay for... sighhhhhh

Lemo


PS:File size is just below 10MB.
PPS:Disable POPUP windows if possible....

[Frenchy Pilou]

But just 2 questions
There is no number x,y,z visible?
Is possible to put 2 objects different or not at the same x,y,z markers ? :rolleyes:
Pilou

[Hardtwist]

Thank you very much. This is a must have script.
Great work.

[lemonnado]

Frenchy check this out:

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=27260

Lemo

[lemonnado]

Another download link without the hassle.....

http://www.raineronline.com/images/markermaster.wmv (http://www.raineronline/images/markermaster.wmv)

Marcus is updating the link on the main page as well.

Enjoy!
LemonNado

[Frenchy Pilou]

@lemonnado
thx for the link but
With Movement the Z info number don't work but when I move only with the Gyro the Z number move ???
Is that the same for you? (I am yet with the 1.55 b but...
Ps The trick of Ctrl +drag was a little tip that I gave many times ago :lol:
I will refind it for you , it was in a painting tips post I believe :D
See you soon

[Frenchy Pilou]

Look the post 139 (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=4720&page=10&pp=15&highlight=painting+tutorial)
and the post 162 (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=4720&page=11&pp=15&highlight=painting+tutorial%5DLook+the+post+139) :lol: :lol: :lol:
+ an optic effect duck + fawn ;)
Interesting thread about 2D painting :)
You can see that all palettes can be moved even on the canvas if you want :rolleyes:
You say Ctrl + Drag, I say Clic+ctrl +move :D
It's the same :tu:

[RichArt]

Another download link without the hassle.....

http://www.raineronline/images/markermaster.wmv

Marcus is updating the link on the main page as well.

Enjoy!
LemonNado

The " .com " is missing in this link.

Peace,
Rich-Art. ;)

[Sebcesoir]

Man.... I ever thought polynesh 3d work was hard in zbrush...

Marcus with this new amazing pluggin, you turned it to a child play...

5 stars and a top gallery top page thubnail to me:tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

Great work Marcus, as usual...

[lemonnado]

RichArt.. thanks. Corrected! It was a test!:rolleyes:

:DLemo

[marcus_civis]

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated. :)


Is possible to put 2 objects different or not at the same x,y,z markers ?


Pilou,
Markers store the XYZ position of an object but can only exist at an XY position on the canvas. So you can't place two markers on top of each other in any one view. Using Marker Master you could place them side by side and then rotate the group until one object was behind the other.

Cheers,

[aurick]

We've placed the movie on our servers and updated the link in the original post. There shouldn't be any trouble getting it anymore. :)

[Schbeurd]

Yes !
Excellent script Marcus_civis ! :tu: :tu: :tu:
Thanks a lot for making it available
And Lemo, thanks for the demo !

Schbeurd

[Svengali]

Hi Marcus...

A very successful release of a wonderful tool, one that does the impossible - it tames the "wild MultiMarker" and turns it into the useful tool it was originally intended to be.

(You even seem to deal, in a covert way, with the disappearing-element-bug AND turn it to your advantage!)

I'm especially impressed with all of the various scripting techniques you have blended into a single seamless whole. My respect and admiration! All the work was worth it.

Lemmo...

Love the demo (you should do more). It explains while, at the same time, builds user confidence.


Sven

[Mr micro26]

You filled the gap between 3dspace and canvas:eek: :eek: :eek: . What can i say except that u gave me a huge smile and a WWWWWWOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW THANKS
Keep it up all of u guys:cool:

[Jason Belec]

Well only one problem I see, movie downloads as Windows Media Player, Codec downloads for Quicktime????

Other than that, cool tool! ;)

[lemonnado]

Jason, the windows media player for OSX can display it together with the codecs. At least on my laptop. Techsmith has decoders for OS9/OSX/Windows. But someone talented like you doesn't need the intro anyways:D.
Lemo

PS:If you think that it's a rel problem I'll compile a quicktime and upload that.... However, that will be substantially larger.

[Jason Belec]

Just pointing it out. I like intro's, might learn something - if it's Quicktime use H.264 codec, it's the new standard for compression and quality - you will see it on all your new DVDs - both formats. ;)

[Anatom]

Now I won't use Poser and other soft to combine meshes in my compositions.
Thanks so much dear Marcus !

I been wondering why this feature could not be elaborated in the first issues of Zbrush. The default Multimaker is lower.:confused:

Hope newer versions of Zbrush may have something of the sort.

Anatom

[333666999]

Big problem with the multimarker's texture

The compression of the texture when you make a polymesh with the multimarker tool is one of the biggest problem of zbrush, because the objects don't change but the size of each texture change. It's smaller. You lose a lot of accuracy.

I hope the zbrush staff will change this problem very soon.
Zbrush need a multimarker tool who keep the original texture of each object when you create the polymesh.

[bicc39]

Many thanks for the hours of hard work involved in this valuable
addition.:tu:

[Simon.C]

This is awesome.
I've never really been able to get my head around markers and such, but this has enlightened me. I get it now!

Thank you so much. :D

[acmepixel]

Any way to get the movie to play on a Mac? I installed the techsmith codec but Windows Media Player just does sound with no picture. I'm on OSX.4.2. :(

[GregO]

Many, many thanks for this wonderfull plugin!!! This realy changes the dynamic of how ZB works in the best way possible. Cant thanks you enough!!

G.

p.s. To the poster above...you can choose the size of the map created when you make the poly mesh from the multi marker.

[marciani]

Hi Marcus civis, thx so much for your time:tu:



TO PILOU: i've tried your question: you can see the xyz value on top of the window when you move the cursor around the MMarker.
Eventually you can use the Transform tool \modifier....
Bye
Leo

[Mytholon]

This is a vast improvement to the main program! Thank you!:tu::tu:

[Giantsun]

Yep. You keep coming up with these amazing add ons. Many thanks. :tu:

[333666999]

p.s. To the poster above...you can choose the size of the map created when you make the poly mesh from the multi marker.I know.
But when you create a polymesh with the multimarker tool,
the proportions of each texture change.

For example, if you have 2 texture :
1000 x 750 and 800 x 500
when you create your polymesh with the multimarker tool,
you obtain one texture.
This unic texture is composed by the 2 first texture
but the proportion is completly different.
Now you have:
500 x 1000 and 500 x 1000 (for example ).


As I said :
I hope the zbrush staff will change this problem very soon.
Zbrush need a multimarker tool who keep the original textures of each object when you create the polymesh.

[Antimorph]

Brilliant!

[Moochie]

Awesome! Simple to use, yet capable of so much. A genuine break-through. Thank you!

Cool to hear Lemonnado's voice .. appreciate the tutorial very much! What software did you use to capture the action? There was a lot of movie for only 9Mb.

[Bas Mazur]

Acnepixel, I have the same problem on the same sytem :cry:

[acmepixel]

Marcus, Thanks for a very cool plugin. :tu:

We Mac users would like to see the work you put into your tutorial video. Can you save it as an .AVI or a DIVX? We can read those, plus Quicktime, MPG and the older WMV format.

The Mac WMV player is still at version 9 and doesn't recognize the format you saved the video in. :cry:

Thanks for all the generous efforts. :D

[blakshep]

i love you!
crying for this from the first version of zbrush!
and also a really cool documentation :-)
:tu:

[dzip]

I'm experiencing this problem :

I have a multi-marker object. I try to edit one of its components. The figure I get is empty... and when I go back, the figure I tried to edit has been replaced by another figure in my multi-marker! Random figure swaping.

I do notice I have a marker in my multimarker that corresponds to an empty figure too. It has the name of one of my figures, but it comes out empty when I try to edit it. AND impossible to delete it! I apply the delete (shift-y) function and it's back!

I love this though.

[Digits]

Wow, finally got a chance to take it for a test drive. Just the ability to Rotate and then add or move objects is a mind bending advancement.


Well done :tu::tu::tu:

[blakshep]

i always wondered why can't i just use the gyro to transform polygroups in a polymesh. That would be nice i think

[mrpeculiar]

Seriously

This is the best thing since.....well............Zbrush itself

I really dont think the demo picture does it justice.

Ive just spent ten minutes running quickly through the "manual"

And gone on to create an amazing polymesh of about 50 shapes that i can the then group and twist and totaly morf into mindblowingly complex shape.....on top of that .....at the end of it i could actualy turn that whole thing into a new polymesh and start again.............AMAZING !

this is like a 3D fractal....and all this without even actually having an idea about what i would like to achive with it

Just messing around

I dont think youve recived the credit you deserve but you have a big fan here

This is to me somthing that should have been in Z from the very start

Thank goodness for people like you willing to take the time to make somthing so great.



If you didnt notice alleady

i love it

Thankss universaly !

[lemonnado]

I use colors to separate the objects during creation, and I only texture after a poly mesh has been created. The size changing can drive you mad otherwise...
Cheers
Lemo

[darko999]

Great stuff! Thanks.:tu:

[lemonnado]

ONLY FOR MAC's (It's the same file as the one for PC's):

http://www.raineronline.com/images/flashmarkermaster.zip

As long as the bandwidth holds 8-).

LemonNado

[FreddyFish]

This should seriously be a part of 2.5!!!! Thanks Marcus!!!

[aminuts]

oh no marcus....you gonna hold up 2.5 hahahha

just kidding. i finally have a second to go play woo hoo.

be back to torture you with stupid pics.


I did want to mention that naming the tutorial file and the plugin file the same might be confusing to folks. perhaps changing one or the other slightly to better reflect the difference will help.

[sadicus]

VERY useful Script!
thanks for the video too.:)

[acmepixel]

ONLY FOR MAC's (It's the same file as the one for PC's):

http://www.raineronline.com/images/flashmarkermaster.zip

As long as the bandwidth holds 8-).

LemonNado

Thanks, very much, LemonNado. It downloads fast, the movie picture and sound quality is great. :D

And of course a big thanks to Marcus for producing the wonderful plugin, in the first place. :tu:

[Anatom]

I hope Zbrush composers will include into the newest version ideas and details, all or many outa the beautiful innovations and scripts, produced by our participants.

Me, in particular, I would love to see in Zbrush the so named dots mode, when the mesh is shown in dots as if transparent. That I need to see the inner meshes in complex structures.
A pity I have to work over my meshes with other soft because of this drawback.

Anatom:rolleyes:

[marcus_civis]

Thanks for the comments guys, I'm glad you like the zscript. :) And thanks Pixologic for hosting the movie tutorial, I appreciate it. :)


I'm experiencing this problem :

I have a multi-marker object. I try to edit one of its components. The figure I get is empty... and when I go back, the figure I tried to edit has been replaced by another figure in my multi-marker! Random figure swaping.

I do notice I have a marker in my multimarker that corresponds to an empty figure too. It has the name of one of my figures, but it comes out empty when I try to edit it. AND impossible to delete it! I apply the delete (shift-y) function and it's back!

I love this though.

dzip,
I'm sorry you're having problems. I'm not entirely sure what's going on here; it looks a little like some quirky behaviour that I had to overcome when scripting. :( I assume that it doesn't happen the whole time? Be sure you don't rename objects after placing them on the canvas. Markers use the names to recall the objects and renaming will cause the object to disappear (although the marker will still be there). I should mention that Marker Master pushes ZB to its limits in certain respects and occasionally you may experience these quirks. I'm glad you still like the thing though!

[Frenchy Pilou]

It's not a good idea to take any texture in Zbrush who are not a power of 2!
If you take 64*64, 128*128...etc I believe that you will have no problem :)
Pilou

[Frenchy Pilou]

Cool trick ;)
It was just an easy way to have these XYZ on the interface of the plug :rolleyes:
Pilou

[aminuts]

hi marcus

i had the same problem in one session as dzip.

however i noticed two things....one was that it happened when i was using a clone and the next time it happened i realized i had accidently chose the same tool as i had previously used. I am not sure if those have anything to do with it at all but maybe a way to narrow things down a bit.

the tool did return to the group however when i left edit. my fix was to just delete that one from the group (well not delete i just didn't remark it) and redrew and re added the tool and all was well.

I just realized I haven't thanked you properly for making MM's easy enuf for this dummy to use and for making the editing of each object separatly so easy to do that I could just kiss ya. But I'll just send ya a great big THANK YOU! instead.:D

[Brian Healy]

Fantastic work guys. Love the script and the movie.


This has got to be the best user group in CG.



Brian

[Blaine91555]

Thank you - I was just struggling with the marker tool. Perfect timing.

[Atwooki]

This plugin is just great, Marcus :D Top-notch stuff :tu::tu::tu:

Found myself up and running with it in no time, and gone are the usual
nail-biting 'will-it - won't-it?' trepidations of grouping with the 'markers
to multimarkers' pipeline....

thanks again for a terrific time-saver!

[wenna]

Just like to say thank you for even letting me try this great script! It is wonderful!

[Sothis]

Just graet, thx for this

[TOXE]

THE TOOL :tu:

-TOXE

[Miken72]

This is surtainly one of the best scripts ever made for ZBrush!

All the best:
Mikko M.

[maartmo]

I bow to you Marcus "plugin Master".

And now I have to go to work and don't have time to play with it :mad: .... Damn !!

[LeeJay]

I just had to add a big "THANK YOU!!" to the pile. I'm a very new ZBrush user and just starting to work with multi markers. This is going to help immensely! Thanks again. :)

[maartmo]

This is fun !!! Thanks again !MarkerMasterDocCopy003.jpg

[3djock]

Nice work guys. marcus a well needed plugin.:eek:

[Gavyn]

Trying to watch the Tutorial Movies on a Mac. I have teh Ensharpen Codec for Quicktime Player but Quicktime doesn't play windows Movie Player Files. And The Windows Movie Player for Mac doesn't have a ensharpen Plug-in. Could you please put a Quicktime version of the tutorial up?

[marcus_civis]

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated. :)

Trying to watch the Tutorial Movies on a Mac. I have teh Ensharpen Codec for Quicktime Player but Quicktime doesn't play windows Movie Player Files. And The Windows Movie Player for Mac doesn't have a ensharpen Plug-in. Could you please put a Quicktime version of the tutorial up?

Hi Gavyn,
There is already a special Mac version here put up by Lemonnado (earlier in the thread):
http://www.raineronline.com/images/flashmarkermaster.zip

Cheers,

[PHatalitY]

I always wanted to be able to drop an object like a head and be able to get back in edit mode.

Will take a little time to adjust too, but it looks great, thanks so much!

The video helped too, appreciate that as well.

[ThaoLe]

awsome script... tthanks so much..
One problem i am facing.. can't keep the materials in seprated object..
Is there anyone having the same or just me?
i have the head with skin material.then loaded the eye to draw on canvas.. but when i load the eyes material up, it apply the eyes material to the head that i already drew on canvas..
how do i have two objects with different material?

[marcus_civis]

awsome script... tthanks so much..
One problem i am facing.. can't keep the materials in seprated object..
Is there anyone having the same or just me?
i have the head with skin material.then loaded the eye to draw on canvas.. but when i load the eyes material up, it apply the eyes material to the head that i already drew on canvas..
how do i have two objects with different material?

Hi ThaoLe,

I'm glad you like the script. I'm not sure why you're having problems with material but here are a few of things to watch:
1. When using Marker Master if you place some objects, then change the material and immediately press the Group button the material for the last placed object will be changed.
2. If you change the material when an object is in Edit mode then that's object's material is updated to reflect the change.
3. If you are Loading previously saved materials using the Material>Load button then you must make sure you select an unused material in the material palette first, otherwise the loaded material will replace all instances of that material already drawn on the canvas.

Points (2) and (3) apply to ZBrush in general, not just Marker Master. Point (3) is easy to forget when loading custom materials. Think of the Material palette as 76 material slots: you need to load new materials into different slots otherwise they will replace each other.

HTH,

[RobCardIV]

the Files AND The video tutorial

Now THATS Professionalism ! haha /cheer !!

[Antimorph]

I revel in the utility of this script and admire the work involved in putting it together.

I don't think high processor demand (endless loop?) following the re-loading of saved projects from the mastermaker interface has been mentioned in the other reports. My guess is that this is the result of either a script bug, a peculiarity of the environment particular to my machine, or a limitation in this instance of the Zbrush scripting platform. Has anyone else encountered this or gained any understanding of this bug that might provide a clue as to a workaround?

[marcus_civis]

I revel in the utility of this script and admire the work involved in putting it together.

I don't think high processor demand (endless loop?) following the re-loading of saved projects from the mastermaker interface has been mentioned in the other reports. My guess is that this is the result of either a script bug, a peculiarity of the environment particular to my machine, or a limitation in this instance of the Zbrush scripting platform. Has anyone else encountered this or gained any understanding of this bug that might provide a clue as to a workaround?

Thanks Antimorph. :)
I've had this problem, or one similar, but not consistently enough to narrow it down to a bug in my code or to find a workaround. My beta testers didn't report it but then they may not have tested the plugin to the limits in the way I did. I will say that sometimes things do not work as expected in zscripting and the workarounds - of which there are several in MM - may expose weaknesses in ZB which in turn lead to the sort of problem you are experiencing. And Marker Master is pushing ZB to its limits in certain respects.

My best advice is to restart ZBrush before loading a MM project. The Load routine simply loads tools and textures as specified in a data file and that in itself shouldn't cause any problems. You should then be able to pick up the Group and continue as before.

Let me know how you get on.

[smileman]

First , thank you so much,
Second, I have a request.... to make the same xyz point center for two mesh, we need to make this like that: make a polymesh save as obj, reload and after placing on the canvas, import (from the import menu), and dowload the second part by pressing add button.

The mesh needs the same sub division level, and after the two shapes are in the same point center. But I think its tricky !

Why we cannot make a shape put a marker make another one on the same marker (why why why)

I love your tool but with this kind of improvement we can do much more butifoul mesh, and also better geometry.

Br

Nicolas

[ThaoLe]

3. If you are Loading previously saved materials using the Material>Load button then you must make sure you select an unused material in the material palette first, otherwise the loaded material will replace all instances of that material already drawn on the canvas


Thanks for this.. i never know this.. a big help

[marcus_civis]

Hi all,

Here's an update:

:b3: Bug fixed that caused slow down in particular circumstances when loading a project or using perspective.
:b3: Edit/Delete message now points to the object making verification easier.
:b3: Auto-marking continues to work after pressing Clear.

(Mods: thanks for updating the link at the start of the thread.)

[TOXE]

Great:tu:

-TOXE

[Mr micro26]

HUGE thanks Marcus.
:tu: :tu:

[aminuts]

cool two goodies in one day...must be xmas

Thanks Marcus!!

[smileman]

One marker on one coordinated x,y,z, 0,0,0 if you can do that you're great ! :D :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Atwooki]

A greeat update to a brilliant plugin - many thanks Marcus :tu::tu::tu:

Chris

[Digits]

Thanks for the update ole buddy!

[Fouad B.]

Greetings Marcus, thx for all of your scripts, they are so usefull ;)

[Verdant]

It's being said again and again but I want to remphasize, this is probably the most useful user-made script for ZBrush yet. Thanks M. One improvement I'd like to see is an easier way to select individual markers for editing. In a complex marker, it can get difficult picking out each object, so there should be some sort of drop down menu maybe? for selecting which you want to edit.

[bism]

Marcus,

First off let me say GREAT script. I have not had a reason (up until now) other than testing to give it a go and so far it works great.


Just thought I would check in for a bit of advice. My current project calls for me to position vertebrae in a variety of configurations. I am using your script to multimark all the pieces. The problem is when I go to reposition the individual pieces it calls for me to rotate them. As far as I can tell the rotate function while manipulating marked object positions is completely useless. There seems to be no way to give an exact rotation, for that matter I can not even seem to freely rotate with the mouse with any precision. Is there something I am missing or is rotating an element in a marked object just rough?



Thanks

[aminuts]

bism

i think they are in the transform menu somewhere but you can drag out the x,y,z info bars and use them to rotate more precisely...if that helps ya any.

[marcus_civis]

bism,

Thanks for your comments, :) As you have found, with the Group [the MultiMarkers] in Edit mode rotation can be difficult. It is next to impossible to be precise. This is a feature of MultiMarkers, I'm afraid.

The alternative Marker Master method will be tedious for a lot of objects but gives you more precision:

Use the Group button to position your model so that the vertebra you wish to rotate is clearly visible. Press the Store button (so that the markers are aligned correctly). Put the cursor over the vertebra's marker and press 'SHIFT+T'. This will put the vertebra into Edit mode. Immediately press Refresh and the vertebra is returned to the group in Transform Rotate mode, with the Gyro showing. You can now rotate it (if you wish using the Info sliders that aminuts mentions above). Make sure you Mark the new position before moving to the next vertebra if you have AutoMarking off.

HTH,

[marcus_civis]

It's being said again and again but I want to remphasize, this is probably the most useful user-made script for ZBrush yet. Thanks M. One improvement I'd like to see is an easier way to select individual markers for editing. In a complex marker, it can get difficult picking out each object, so there should be some sort of drop down menu maybe? for selecting which you want to edit.

Verdant,
Thanks for your comments and apologies for the delay in replying. I would like to have introduced a system much as you describe but unfortunately the marker information is not directly available to zscripters. (I do grab it by a rather lengthy workaround for applying perspective but this is just too slow for use in the main script.) Currently the only way to select a marker is by putting the cursor over it.

If you are regularly trying to edit complex groups you might try lowering the Marker Radius slider in the Preferences>Marker palette. That will mean that the marker is only activated when your cursor is very close to it.

Another thing you might try: if you press the Group button the Gyro becomes active for the whole group. Rotate the group so that your different objects are spaced apart as far as is possible. Now press the Transform>Scale button to make the scale Gyro active. You can now enlarge your group so that the objects are easier to distinguish. Make sure you press Store to align the markers before selecting an object for editing.

HTH,

[bism]

Marcus,
Thanks for the reply, I will give that a shot. Here is another question for you. Once I create the group and attempt to rotate it, the center of rotation is way off to this side. In other words rotating the whole group becomes difficult. Is there a way to center pivot in a group? Thanks

BTW, again GREAT script.

[bism]

Marcus,
I guess the rotation point is set to the center of the screen? Seems like this would be hard to alter after the fact. I guess just create the group near the center.

Tried the directions for altering the rotation of a group element and I think it works fine though I am having some other issue where the object disappears. I will get back to you when I figure out what is going on. Thanks again .

[marcus_civis]

bism,

The center of rotation of a multimarkers object is always the first marked object. In the case of Marker Master this is the MMcenter which is placed in the center of the canvas. (There is also a 'feature' of MultiMarkers where the first marked object disappears when transforming with the Gyro; it is partly to overcome this that I use the MMcenter in the plugin.) So yes, it is best to assemble your object around the center of the canvas.

You can edit the MMcenter position (and therefore the center of rotation) but it must be done in Group Edit mode. You'll need to have a rough idea where the MMcenter is as all you'll get is a red pivot point when the cursor is close. With Edit on, press the Move button then placing your cursor close to (but NOT on) the MMcenter red pivot point drag it to the position you want. When you're done be sure to press the Store button.

If you are losing objects then most likely you are forgetting to mark them.

[bism]

Marcus,
Ok I have changed the center of rotation for the group and am able to rotate objects individually. The disappear problem went away after restarting ZB. Thanks again for the help.

Some great things in this script that I think all scripts should have
-Simplistic interface
-Well commented
-Well formatted msgs
-Use of images in Status msgs and errors
-Clear warnings

Thanks again.

[bism]

WOOPS,
I figured out why stuff was disappearing. When I go into edit mode the simple brush was selected. I had to reselect the geometry I wanted to work on. Then it works fine. Seemed to swap to simple brush by itself though?

[marcus_civis]

WOOPS,
I figured out why stuff was disappearing. When I go into edit mode the simple brush was selected. I had to reselect the geometry I wanted to work on. Then it works fine. Seemed to swap to simple brush by itself though?


bism,
Thanks for your comments and enthusiasm. :) I'm not sure exactly what you're doing to get the effect above. Could you briefly outline the steps you're taking when the Simple Brush swaps in? I'll then be able to check what's causing it.

Thanks,

[bism]

Sure, let me try and repeat the steps and Ill write up an outline. I have also been able to get some runtime errors which I will try and repeat as well.

[Craig Ward]

Here goes again, I s'pose ... thanx for taking the time to create this amazing tool, Marcus. VERY HANDY !!! :D

[monstermaker]

Marcus,It has taken me along time to get around to playing with this, here it is the last few hours of 2005 and I am finally playing with marker master and I have to say THIS IS GREAT!!!! this is an amazing improvement to ZBrush. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't believe how use-full this is. you are the man!
mm

[jimxinou]

Ok, I am a newbie. I've followed all the instructions but it had failed to load. I am on a Mac running OSX. Has any one tried it on a Mac? Help! This plug-in sounds great, 'cause a newbie like me keep dropping anything I made. I would love to try it :)

[marcus_civis]

Thanks for the comments guys. :)

jimxinou,
It should work fine on a Mac but perhaps something's gone wrong with your installation. I'll send you a PM.

[DrGalacticFloss]

Don't know if i am doing somthing incorrect here or not but when i activate the script the default red marker appears in the middle of hte screen but only for a few breif seconds and then it dissapears? If i draw object onto the screen and hit "refresh" the objects dissappear from the screen. Also when i turn "auto marker" to on, I am asked to relaod the script. I installed the script exactly as instructed in the tutorial vid. Any help is much appreciated.
thanks
D.

[marcus_civis]

Hi DrGalacticFloss,

It is normal for the red dot to disappear after a few seconds. What you see is a marker - it should reappear if you move your cursor over it (about the center of the canvas). The object it marks is too small to see but provides the center point for your group of objects.

You will lose your objects when pressing Refresh unless they are marked. For this you either have to do it yourself (by pressing the Transform>Mark button or keyboard 'M') or switch on AutoMarking before placing any objects.

I'm not sure why you are getting a message to reload the script when switching on AutoMarking. Could you post a screen shot?

Hope this helps,

[capu]

after installing I can´t use your plugin.
I find your plugin in the plugns dropdown menu, but if I click on it I get the error
"Unable to open file " :eek:

I use pc windows xp.

hmm, thx for every little help,
capu

[marcus_civis]

Hi capu,

Check that you have installed the plugin exactly as in the readme text file. There's a launcher file called MarkerMasterLoad.zsc which should be in your ZStartup\ZPlugs folder - I guess that that's there OK. There should also be a folder called MarkerMaster (which contains the main plugin files) in your
ZStartup\ZPlugs folder - perhaps this is missing?

[SpaceMan]

marcus_civis
Can your marker zplugin do what I show here in this post?
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showpost.php?p=263954&postcount=12
If so how would the two be saved as a ztool without combining the two into one (so the two mats being used do not combine into one)?
Thanks

[marcus_civis]

Hi SpaceMan,

See my reply in that thread. The drawback with MarkerMaster for any transparency effect is that you need more than one layer for transparency to work, and MM draws all the marked objects on one layer.

[panstar]

Hi
I've downloaded the video, and the codec for windows Quicktimem,. But can't find a solution to getting the video to play. I get sound but no visuals and Win Media Player tells me it can't download the appropriate decompressor.

Anyone got the solution

[Heart_of_VVolverine]

Hi
I've downloaded the video, and the codec for windows Quicktimem,. But can't find a solution to getting the video to play. I get sound but no visuals and Win Media Player tells me it can't download the appropriate decompressor.

Anyone got the solution


The solution:
Download and install the latest version of QuickTime, 7 pro that is; it includes a sharpen codec or something...

Here is a direct link to it:
Quicktime 7 Pro (http://a1540.g.akamai.net/7/1540/52/20060104/qtinstall.info.apple.com/snape/us/win/QuickTimeInstaller.exe)

Anyway, if you have read the first post carefuly, maybe you have noticed that marcus specified about this problem and he included a link to the ensharpendecoder (http://www.techsmith.com/download/codecsdefault.asp)

Best regards,
Vali

[marcus_civis]

panstar,

If Vali's solutions are no help, Lemmonado has also been good enough to provide a Mac version here: http://www.raineronline.com/images/flashmarkermaster.zip

Cheers,

[panstar]

Thanks, I just realised i havn't V7 installed, where I though I had. so I'm now downloading it

[Grugi]

Is there any way to multimark differnt objects with the same pivot point?
I have seperate 3 meshes, the head, the body and a hat. They all share the same pivot point, so all I have to do is to mark one object and then use this marker for the other parts.The problem is, when I place the second object onto first marker, it overrides the old.
To solve this problem, I thought I would move the second object a bit away and then place a new marker. Then do the same with the third object.
Now I have three markers but the head marker is now called the jacket marker or the hat marker is called the head marker. No matter how I try, I just dont get one marker for head .. one for the jacket and one for the hat.
I am going crazy here :o . It just dont work :cry:

[marcus_civis]

It's difficult to do it in the way you descibe but there is a simpler method to using markers:

Export two of your objects as OBJ.
Select your third object. As long as it is a polymesh there will be various Import options lower down in the Tool palette. Press the Add button. This will then add any meshes that you import to the current mesh. Press the Import button and import the two other objects. You should now have one mesh of the three different objects, To adjust the position of the different pieces you can use polygroups and masking, and you might like to try Svengali's excellent plugin XForm (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=34652) .

[Grugi]

Thanks for your quick reply. I have already tried it the way you just desribed, in fact I have used that method to bring all the parts together and then seperated them again, just to have the same pivot point for each part.
When I bring everything together to one single mesh, its just the hell to work with and I cannot sculpt each part as far as I would like.

Now with the seperate meshes, and due to the fact they share the same pivot, its very easy to mark them together onto the canvas. But to be able to rotate everything together for viewing, and still be able to work on just one mesh is what I am aiming for. Marker master seems to be the only way to do this?! You wrote it is difficult that way, but it seems it´s not impossible.

[Grugi]

The funny thing is, that it works with the first 2 meshes. I place the head.. mark it.. place the body onto the head marker and move it a bit in y direction.. mark it.. Now i have a marker which calls the head and one that calls the body, fine as it is. Now I place the hat onto the head marker, move it a bit away, too, and mark it. Now I have a third marker which calls, of course, the hat.
But now the head marker calls the hat instead of the head :o

I tried it with both "tool" disabled and enabled under the multimarker options, but with no luck.

[marcus_civis]

OK, try this:

Select the sphere tool and save it with a new name, something like 'center.ztl'.
This will help place your pieces.

Start MarkerMaster and make sure the red dot is in the middle of the canvas. Also make sure 'AutoMarking' is OFF.

Select your 'center' tool and draw it on the canvas, not too close to the red dot. Press 'M' on the keyboard to mark it. In the Markers palette, switch off the Tool button. Now select the 'body' piece and click on the 'center' (sphere) marker. Move the body down a bit and mark it by pressing 'M'. Repeat this for the other tow parts making sure the markers aren't too close (though you can get pretty close).

When you've placed and marker all the parts, select the 'center.ztl' again and save it with a new name. It doesn't matter what.

Having done all the above, click on the 'Group' button.

EDIT: actually, having tried this it doesn't work as I expected. :( The tools get swapped all the same! Your best bet is to not use markers to place your objects - use the gyro instead to move them into a reasonable alignment then use the Group in Edit mode to adjust them.

[Trecman]

Superb script and intuitive application... IMHO, Marker Master should be a permanent feature of ZB 2.5... It rocks!!!

Thank you so much for this wonderful utility! ***** Five stars!!! :)

[elarcano]

Hi Marcus,

I'm just trying out you're plug-in and it seems Great! It's solves the whole "I-wish-I-could-place-more-than-one-3D-object-at-the-same-time-buju-ju-ju-ju" issue... at least for me anyway ;)

Just have one question:
If you have a tool that has several SubDiv's and drop it on the canvas, will the levels still be there or will it just remain on the current SubDiv level that you dropped it?
ei: Tool SubDiv 5 and you drop it at SubDiv 1 using MM can I edit tool level 1 and go to level 5?

I'm not sure if the example was clear enough :D

Thanks for creating and sharing such a GREAT plug-in Marcus :tu:

[marcus_civis]

Hi elarcano,

Thanks for your comments and I hope you find Marker Master useful. :)

In answer to your question: yes, you can edit the individual parts of your group, including switching subdivision levels. Simply select the part using the cursor and the Shift+T hotkey. Note that this will only work for the MM group - if you create a composite polymesh your subdivision levels will be lost.

HTH,

[elarcano]

Marcus... you're THE MAN!

Absolutely Awesome Plug-in! Without doubt, the most important one that I've encountered so far! And SO easy to use!... ok, this is starting to sound like an infomercial :cool:

A very BIG THANK YOU! :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Pigumon]

Hi,

I'm really looking forward to using the plug in!

But I can't download the mac version video from

http://www.raineronline.com/images/flashmarkermaster.zip

It says raineronline is cannot be found.

Any help ? =(

Sorry to be a bother... is there a pdf or txt file tutorial instead?

Thanks!

[marcus_civis]

Hi Pigumon,

Download the quickstart guide from the start of the thread - that contains enough to get you started.

[Pigumon]

Thanks so much Marcus!

I guess i thought that link was another MM download mirror or something... didn't even realize it said GUIDE.

I'll check it out now!

[JesseGraffam]

The video tutorial links are broken. Does anyone have another link I can get it at?
Thanks,
Jesse

[lemonnado]

I have to find it again.... I'll put it up again. Sorry for the inconvenience. But a hosting company vanished without a trail and took the system down without notification and refund..... It's already a while ago... I thought I repaired everything.
Cheers
Lemo

[JesseGraffam]

thanks lemo that would be super awesome.

[luke.carelsen]

hi the link to download the tutorial doesnt work

[marcus_civis]

Apologies, it looks like the tutorial movie has gone AWOL. :( For those that want to get started with MarkerMaster, the quickstart guide available in the first post of this thread provides all the essential information. For anything else, feel free to send me a PM and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Cheers,

[esareno]

Hi,
I wanted to know if there's a version of your plugin for zbrush 3 available.
Thanks cant wait to test it!

[marcus_civis]

Hi esareno,

There are problems with multimarkers currently in ZB3, so until those are fixed I can't update this. There's rather less need for it anyway with the ability to add subtools to your model. However, I know some people would value an update so I will take a look when I can.

[imike24]

Yeah I am facing the same problem too.
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[hehehehe]

help me please
I can't load the plugin
thanks in advance :D

edit: ah maybe the plugin is not for ZB3.x

[marcus_civis]

Yes, this isn't for later versions of ZBrush. This forum - Archived ZScript Utilities - contains older stuff mainly as a record for those interested in zscripting.

[hehehehe]

thanks any way
:D