ZBrushCentral

zsphere drawing and the CTRL key

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

howdy,

so there was a post on this forum that said that while you are drawing out a zsphere, if you press CTRL, you will cycle from MOVE to SCALE to ROTATE.

i have NOT found that to be the case. BUT…

if you HOLD DOWN CTRL while continuing to draw, you will no longer be scaling the size of your zsphere - instead, the zsphere will start to slowly shoot OUTWARD in a straight line. and then, after having held down the CTRL key, if you release it, you will be able to move your zsphere around as if in move mode (your pen cannot have left the tablet during any of this however).

while pen is still on tablet, if you HOLD DOWN CTRL AGAIN, now you will be able to scale the zsphere again and if you release CTRL, you will be back in move mode.

WEIRDER:

if you draw out a zsphere and then just TAP CTRL, you will not be in move mode but instead you will start drawing out a NOODLE with new zspheres forming along as you draw and you will end up having drawn a chain of zspheres.

at no point and with no experimentation with the control key was i able to get ROTATE.

is this behavior universal for everyone?

is this documented anywhere?

jin

#2

I don’t believe that there is a shortcut for rotate while you’re drawing ZSpheres. But the two behaviors that you’re getting with Ctrl while drawing a ZSphere are normal behavior. It’s not a documented feature, though.


  • Press and hold Ctrl while drawing a ZSphere and ZBrush will start moving the newly drawn ZSphere out from the parent along the Z axis. If you let go of Ctrl while still maintaining the stroke, ZBrush will start moving that ZSphere while maintaining the length of the connector to its parent.
  • Tap Ctrl while drawing a ZSphere and ZBrush will create a chain of ZSpheres. This behavior is like drawing a curve, and ZBrush will insert points (ZSpheres) at any place where the curve bends.
Another behavior that’s not well known is if you hold Shift when drawing a ZSphere, the child will be drawn the same size as its parent.

#3

wow, nice thing about the curve, how i wish this was documented, i could’ve used this much sooner.

#4

:qu: :qu: :qu: Undocumented…this is an incredibly useful function.

#5

That’s very cool. Though for some reason when I finish positioning my new zsphere in the aformentioned fashion, as soon as I lift the stylus off my tablet, the zsphere shrinks. Anyone else have this problem?

#6

I’m sure it’s all documented in aurick’s new ‘Zbrush, Getting Started’ :). I haven’t see that section yet so not positive. Thanks again for putting that together aurick. BTW if you talk to Pixolator, mention that everyone is anxious to see part #3 of the motorcycle. I know I am. I’m trying to build a bicycle using what I’ve been able to gleen from Pixolator’s motorcycle and Hell666’s tip’s and tut’s for working with hard surfaces in ZB4 on his bicycle. I used Zspheres for the frame and I’ll use them for the cables. This new information will help.

Thank you all.