Pixologic Release: Adjust Draw Size/Focal Shift/Z Intensity (PC & Mac)

[aurick]

This plugin is now available for ZBrush 3.1 PC and ZBrush 3.12 Mac.
You can get it from the Download Center.

This little plugin by marcus_civis is for adjusting your Draw Size, Focal Shift and Z Intensity without interrupting your workflow.


INSTALLATION

The zip contains:

AdjustDFZsize_PC_readme.txt
AdjustDFZsize_PC.zsc - the plugin file


Unzip the zip file to your ZBrush 3... ZStartup\ZPlugs folder.

Restart ZBrush.

If the plugin has been installed correctly you will now have an Adjust Plugin submenu in the ZPlugs palette, with Adj Draw Size, Adj Focal Shift and Adj Z Intensity buttons (but use the hotkeys!).

INSTRUCTIONS

You will need to assign hotkeys to the buttons before they will work. Ctrl+click on a button and then press the hotkey you want to use. You can use the 'S', 'O' or 'U' keys if you wish - the default assignments will be overwritten. When you have assigned hotkeys, store them by pressing Preferences>Hotkeys>Store.

Assuming you have re-assigned the default hotkeys:

Press and hold the hotkey 'S' for Draw size.
Press and hold the hotkey 'O' for Focal Shift.
Press and hold the hotkey 'U' for Z Intensity.

Move cursor sideways to adjust - no need to draw, just move cursor. While adjusting, the cursor updates in realtime and the top left NoteBar also shows the new values - useful for when the cursor is not over the model.

Release the hotkey to continue sculpting/painting.

Note: There is some flicker in the realtime cursor update display. This is a restriction of zscripting and regrettably unavoidable.

[AVTPro]

Is there a way to jump between draw and move tools?

[marcus_civis]

Is there a way to jump between draw and move tools?

The hotkeys Q, W, E & R will select Draw, Move, Scale & Rotate. Or did you mean something else?

[eldee.s]

wow, i totally missed this when it was first posted.. thanks for the bump!

[spiraloid]

nice! er.. why is there no option for RGB intensity?

[marcus_civis]

nice! er.. why is there no option for RGB intensity?

Only that the focus was on sculpting... but perhaps it should be including when there's an update.

[NBreslow]

Hi Marcus,

I am in the process of setting up my Cintiq 20WSX with ZBrush 3.2 (Mac) and have run into a problem with the Adjust Draw Size/Focal Shift/Z Intensity plugin. I read through the thread on the Download page and saw someone else had a problem with their Cintiq. I am trying to assign Size and Intensity to my Pen buttons but it doesn't quite work. I see that the correct slider is activated when I hold the pen button but when I drag nothing happens - it is almost like the script triggers the function but falls apart when I begin interacting with it on the display. It works fine when I hold the keyboard shortcuts and drag the pen across the display. I have tried using the Express Keys instead of the pen buttons but am having the same result. Only the keyboard shortcuts work.

If you could offer any insight that would be very helpful? Being able to get this going would really speed up my (everyones) workflow. Simply clicking a pen button and dragging to change these settings would allow you to do the majority of your work on the tablet with minimal UI elements showing and no keyboard.

Thanks!

-NBreslow

[marcus_civis]

NBreslow,

To judge from how the plugin reacts with my Wacom, I think that, sadly, it will not work correctly with a Cintiq. The plugin relies on the way keyboard input is interpreted by zscript. Holding down a key is read as a sequence of presses, and it is that that allows the plugin to work. Unfortunately it appears that the input from the tablet pen button is a read as a single click, so the plugin will not work. You can see something of this is you press the pen button repeatedly while moving the pen from side to side - the draw size will change - but not in a way that is usable.

When I have time I will take a look at the plugin to see if there is a way of making it work for pen buttons.

[NBreslow]

Thanks Marcus, appreciate your reply. I see what you mean about how the Wacom is interpreting the input. While it would be great to get it solved, the existing options for brush sizing with the pen buttons are more than adequate. I'll check back periodically to see if there is a workaround. There might be new Cintiq panels coming soon anyways so it might be a moot point... Thanks again,

-Nick

[polyxo]

Hi All,
I would like to use the Adjust Plugin (thanks Marcus - I find this way quicker than the default Slider!) however I am stuck with setting it up... Different from Auricks suggestion to use S, O and U I would like to map it to an "F-key and use different modifiers to access all Size/Intensity settings available through the Plugin.

F1 alone should scale the Brush
F1+Ctrl changes Falloff
F1+ Ctrl+Shift changes Z-Intensity
F1 +Shift changes RGB Intensity

I realize that the Modifier-keys are widely in use, however I did not override any Default mapping. My key-mapping attempt still failed.
The Hotkeys get written but they don't work when entering them from
the Keyboard. Well they kinda work (the assigned function get shortly
shown next to the Intensity-Slider - sio the assignment gets read...)
Then however the "Scale Pen - Mapping" gets dominant and overrides
the actual assignment.

These custom shortcuts therfor also don't work from the Input Device I am currently setting up for work with Zbrush - the Belkin n52te Gaming Pad (together with a Cintiq) That's also why I tried to "center" my key-mapping around the Modifier-Keys - so I can use each of its few key at least four times - at least in theory...

Does anybody have a hint to get this going somehow?


I have another pretty specialized question related to setting up custom Keymapping with a programable device... The Belkin allows for recording custom Macros to issue Commands. I'd like to set up a Macro which allows me to "Cycle" through different Popups like the Tool List/Pens/Stokes/Alphas etc. So I basically want to keep pressing until the desired page appears.

I tried recording the following:
F1 Press
F1 Release
F2 Press
F2 Release
F3 ...

but this does not work properly: The Macro simply gets played back in
one quick sequence and opens up all pages. So I needed a hint how to
trigger jumping further one F-Key with another press of the Button.
Does anyone know how to do so? Thanks for any input!

[marcus_civis]

polyxo,

Assigning modifier keys to this particular plugin won't work. This is because ZBrush only reads the modifier key once whereas the rest of the hotkey is read as a sequence of keypresses. That's why you are seeing the right result briefly, followed by the Draw Size. The only solution, I'm sorry to say, is to assign hotkeys that don't include a modifier key.

For your second question, you may find that a ZBrush macro is the best way of implementing what you are after. Put the attached file in the ZStartup\Macros\Misc folder and then either restart ZBrush or press Macro>Reload All Macros. There will be a new macro called CyclePopups in the Macro>Misc submenu. Assign a hotkey to this and then program the Belkin to press that hotkey.

Note: the cycle tends to stick at the Brush popup; simply move your cursor off the canvas to continue.

[polyxo]

Hello Marcus,
thanks much for clearing this up - I was already afraid so...
I am still very new to Zbrush and amazed by the slim and effective methods which were found for e.g. Masking and Hiding - the speed of the default Brush controls does not match that standard yet -I'm curious what V4 will bring. Thank you also for creating the Macro it will sure be helpful.

As I have not yet looked into Zscript:
How hard would it be to "Macrofy" some Default Export settings so that I get all relevant Maps automatically stored with my exported Tool? Is there some Samples for such an Exporter?

I'd like to make the necessary Export-steps a bit more convinient as I don't expect my preferred (Nurbs) Modeler/Renderhost to be plugged to GoZ any time soon...

Holger