ZBrushCentral

3.1 switching brushes w/ hotkeys problem

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hello,

I’m having a problem in 3.1 when I use hotkeys to switch brushes. I have different Z Intensity settings for each brush, but occasionally the intensity settings for the brush I switch from will get transferred to the brush I switch to, and for a fraction of a second I see a message about “brush switched and settings preserved” (or something like that, it disappears pretty quickly) in the status bar right below the menus. I have the hotkeys set up like this:

//ZBrush Hotkeys
[BRUSH:MOVE,50] // 2
[BRUSH:STANDARD,49] // 1
[BRUSH:PINCH,51] // 3
[BRUSH:SHARPIE,52] // 4

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to reproduce it 100% of the time, but it seems like it might have something to do with making a stroke, then hitting undo (Ctrl-Z) several times and then the hotkey to switch the brush.

It doesn’t seem like a hardware problem, but if you would like my info I can add it. I made sure I removed any non-standard add-ons (except for the custom brush I saved for hotkey 4), but the problem persists. Any ideas, maybe I’m hitting some odd keystroke sequence that’s causing it to happen?

thanks,

Gray

#2

OK, I got a screen grab of the status bar message. I can’t quite remember what I was doing right before switching brushes, but it seems like it was just something fairly random; made some strokes, toggled subtools visibilities, then switched from the Pinch brush to the Move brush. . . .
error.jpg

#3

Same problem with me! its really frustrating… I have different curve settings for different settings, but I have to re-adjust the curve every time I switch brushes!! :confused:

#4

I know! I finally just gave up trying to use hotkeys for the brushes. :frowning: I just switch with the brush pallet. . . . .

#5

yea! can someone tell how to disable the switching?

#6

This doesn’t seem to be very common problem, but it sure is annoying and so immensely awkward for those few that have it. It is indeed quite random, but it seems to have something to do with switching mesh visibility. At least i think it’s misbehaving feature since it has a notion text.

I came up with this solution:
Attached file is a simple script that creates new rollout in Zplugin menu with several buttons that hold script command for switching brushes. This should emulate changing brush manually which, at least for me, has never backfired. Now you can bind shortcuts for these buttons.

Not sure if it works 100%, so far so good.
Currently it has standard, move, smooth, layer and rake brushes, but anyone should be able to modify it as they please. The script commands are pretty simple. Copy the button text and change brush name. If you have trouble with a brush name, just record a script and switch a brush, then save it in text file.

to install:
Run the script (Zscript->load). Place the .zsc that was created in Zbrush3\ZStartup\ZPlugs folder so it always loads on startup.

Hope this helps a bit.

Keywords for this thread: Brush switched with current settings intact
(just cause this appears difficult to search too)

Attachments

stupidshortcuts.TXT (565 Bytes)

#7

This bug is a ****ing nightmare!

#8

The Reset Brush plugin is designed to help with this problem.

#9

Marcus I’m suffering from this problem also, and though reset Brush is a great plugin, it doesn’t help us really in this issue. I don’t want reset brush each time when the brush settings are falled apart.

This hotkey vs menu command is a very generic problem with zbrush, because if you save with hotkey, it’s almost sure you’ll have a crash on save, while you can work a whole day without crash if you save with the menu.

Currently I switched back to menu switching brushes, but it slows me down.

#10

Jester, please try using the SubTool Master plugin. It has its own Save ZTool button, which has some routines built in that should avoid the crashes you’ve been experiencing. You can also assign a hotkey to that button.

#11

Thanks Aurick, I’ll test it tomorrow! Fast response :slight_smile:

#12

A big problem with this bug is that it copied settings from my Tracks over to Standard. I had to reset zbrush because i dont know how to get rid of the tracking effect!

I will have to try the script that was posted soon. Hopefully that will help and i wont run into new side effect problems.

How can i fix the Tracks thing by hand? i have no idea how to get the brush back to its default.

#13

I think I’ve found a solid repro of this bug, which should help you guys fix it… please fix it.

While sculpting, if the last action you did before switching brushes was sculpting with the alt key pressed, then when you switch brushes you will get your settings intact, (and the message). So if you make sure and do a stroke without the alt key pressed then you shouldn’t get the error…

edit: actually any action you take while pressing the alt key will trigger the “bug/feature.” So panning in the viewport will cause it too.

and now for some useless ranting.

Why does it give the message “brush switched with settings intact” if this was not an intended feature? There are quite a few terrible things in zbrush that almost seem like features with the way you let them stay in the tool. For example… every time I import from max, or other programs, my junk is all mirrored the wrong way… and when I export back the normals get flipped… When you hit the forums for issues like this, you give workarounds, which is great, but why are there work arounds? Why doesn’t this stuff just work? Like somehow you were brilliant enough to figure out how to sculpt millions of polys in real time, but you couldn’t get any of the easy stuff down? It boggles my brain. Zbrush truely is a program I hate to love, cause it’s both the worst and best program out there at the moment.

#14

Yup same problem here. I will try the fixes above.

#15

Retleks, that sounds about right, cause i recall one way to get around it is i would rotate the model a titch, then switch brushes…

Oh, i forgot to come back on here and mention. The Stupid Shortcuts hting seem to be working out great! Awesomeness…

thank you for that script haamu.

#16

this takes a ton of time out of my work day. pretty much anytime i want to use a hotkey on a brush it takes double the time to go fix it. the plugin posted is not working either. i would really appreciate an answer from a zbrush mod on how to get rid of this, or if its a feature or a bug or whatever.