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Version Updating -Transfer all setups?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi,
ZBrush is installed on C:\drive
There are good reasons not to store the users work and data like ZTools and Project files on the C:. So I keep data and customisations on D:.
I see the file called updater.exe but that failed saying there was an incomplete attempt to update… yes I cancelled it because I skipped the previous update prior to 2021… Does that achieve what I am trying to find, i.e.

Is there an automated way to update to say 2021 that transfers all my 3rd party or unofficial ZPlugins, Macros, Matcaps, paths to ZTLs, STLs, OBJ files, custom UIs, etc to the new version?.. and stuff that is in ZStartup. At present I am manually copying directories and files from version to version. Not ideal.

This is normally done with configuration files that set the directory path to default locations. I haven’t found this kind of configuration option in Preferences.

Thanks for any guidance.

#2

Hello @Voxel

Not any official way that I’m aware of. It’s possible there may be some sort of third party solution, but I don’t know of any. Dragging and dropping a file folder has never seemed like much of a burden to me.

It’s also somewhat discouraged to port forward UIs developed in obsolete versions of the program. Sometimes this works, sometimes things change between releases and cause issues with recycling UIs.

If you’d like to suggest such a feature, make sure to send that feature request to Pixologic Support. Requesting features on the community boards does not put your request into the hands of the people who actually develop the program.

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#3

Just loaded the 202014.cfg I’d posted recently into the newly installed 2021( after copying the needed macros over to the new macros folder of course) it came in quite well I thought.
Some tweaking is necessary as well as adding your own choice elements.

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#4

Sorry for being late to this question. Just thought I’d add my process which addresses some of the questions I think.

Actually I save my work to C drive because its a 1TB SSD so saving/loading is very fast. I just backup my work to a secondary USB3 HDD each day using the free app TreeComp (Windows).

I have a single ZBrushWork folder with subfolders for Tools, Alphas, Matcaps, Brushes, Projects, etc. Makes backing up with TreeComp easy since I save a comparison profile for this top level folder.

In each of Zbrush’s corresponding folders (ZTools, ZBrushes etc.) I put a shortcut to the respective ZBrushWork subfolder so it’s easy to get to anything through lightbox.

For UI elements save them out first from the older version (Custom UI, UI Colors and Hotkeys). Then reload into the newer version. I keep copies of these UI files in a UI subfolder of my main ZBrushWork folder so they can also be backed up.

So when a new version comes up:

    • Load the UI configs that have been saved from the previous version.
    • Copy the shortcuts from the old version to the new (easy with TreeComp comparison on old and new installation folders)
    • Compare ZStartup folders (using TreeComp) between old and new versions and copy over any alphas, brushes, matcaps that you’ve put in the old version to load on startup. DO NOT copy the zplugs64 folder.

Done …

… well almost. Have to deal with plugins. Use TreeComp to compare Zplugs64 between old and new versions and copy over 3rd party plugins you want to retain. Also, if you’ve dumped functions from 3rd party plugins onto your UI then they might not show up even when you put the plugin into 2021. I found some of the functions from Nick’s Tools did not show up.

Seems complicated but it’s easy really. Took me longer to write this than do the upgrade.

Have fun with ZBrush.

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#5

Hi
Thank you for your suggestions. It does seem necessary to do some manual transfers. If you calculate the 1000’s of people that have to this - it does seem worth the effort to have an industrial strength update installation process.

Would like to hear from any users who work in studios of several people that need access to the same models with strict version control. Do you check models out? Use things like GitHub, a repository for software projects?

The age old way of saving paths to files and configurations is to offer the user a menu where they enter such destination directory paths and this file lives between versions. voila, no copying.

#6

NOT RECOMMENDED
Rebuilding mine here now for the new version. No script files(yet!).

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