Thanks for sharing your ideas Nick!
But… there is no way at all to place underscore into subtool title instead of copy/paste the right name? It is sooo strange because Remesh operation or making skin from zSpheres places “Skin_” before the name of subtool. And you can’t stay consistent with naming convention…
I am not exactly sure what you are asking.
But I do agree its weird that Zbrush doesn’t allow Underscores normally. If there was enough interest I suppose I could make a “Insert Underscore” button that would add an underscore for you.
Batch rename works perfect! And I have only two things to ask for Pixologic to do:
allow underscores and
include your plugin with default installation of ZBrush as a “small annoying things fixer” thats all)
Thanks again for useful scripts!
@LoveNpeace: Thanks! Glad it’s working for you. I agree! It would be amazing to be included in the plugin package.
Update time!
Just in time for the holidays. I have made a few new scripts as well as tweaks to others. The biggest addition is probably Smart Dynamesh. An edit to note is that the “AutoMask PG” button is now a toggle. Before you could not tell if AutoMask Polygoups was on or off. Now you can. It shouldn’t cause any problems if you have it in your UI.
As Always let me know if you have any problems or have any ideas for new scripts. I realize the menu is getting pretty long. I may add some sub-menus in the future updates.
New Features
Use this script instead of initially pressing Dynamesh then just Dynamesh as normal. This script is also great for reducing the polycount of your Dynamesh when the mesh gets too heavy. Reducing the polycount this way has very little detail loss.
Target Polygoncount: Slider used for the Smart Dynamesh. Number is in Millions.
Use Backups Folder: If this is enabled all the files created with “Iterate Save” will be put into a new folder called “Backups.”
Info/Help: This button will take you to the plugin’s homepage (my website). There you can check for updates or lookup how to use a particular feature.
I couldn’t wait! Thank you man!
Thanks!
I forgot to mention something in the last update.
No need to re-download. This is in the latest version. Just forgot to mention it.
Hey guys. Just wanted to pimp my Zscript tutorial that just released.
I teamed up with the guys at Eat3D and made a 4 hour tutorial on scripting in Zbrush. No need to be a smarty-pants-programmer to learn Zscripting. It’s very easy to learn. The tutorial starts with an introduction and goes through the process of making a final plugin.
Check it out.
http://eat3d.com/zscripting
Nice! Congrats Nick! This will certainly be helpful for people since there does not seem to be much out there yet on ZScripting.
toprow! 
Got some updates I have been working on for a long time. It’s alot of information so bear with me.
Firstly the plugin was getting too big big so I made sub-Pallets for related scripts. Here is an exploded view of all the menus. New stuff is outlined in red.
Notable updates are Color Blending and some Subtool Group Hiding/Unhiding/Organizing. Also updated Batch Rename so that its considerably faster. The Quick Load subtools now update their buttons to the subtools name (but only after you restart Zbrush.) And lastly a small set to scripts that save your Brushes/Alphas/Mats/Textures to the startup folder so you don’t have to browse every time.
And for your viewing pleasure I made an overview video of all the new features. Sorry about the length! I tried to condense it but it’s alot of info.
[COLOR=SeaGreen]DOWNLOAD!
To instal:
Place ZSC file in your *\ZStartup\ZPlugs directory.
I recommend removing previous versions, especially the “NicksTools_data” folder, before copying the files over.
AND since its been so long and there might be some new people using it. I thought I would include the descriptions for all the scripts. If you are only interested in the new stuff they they are ** asterisked.
Hopefully you can figure most of it out from the tool tips. All this info is also in the README and on my site.
Mis Scripts
Colorize Toggle: this script sets Colorize (Polypaint) on or off for all your SubTools at once. This script is now somewhat redundant now that you can SHIFT + CLICK the paint brush icon to do the same thing. However the button is still useful if you wish to make this a hotkey.
Random Color: This script will assign a random color to each of your subtools. This is useful when rendering a flat color pass so you can easily select your subtools when compositing.
** - Color Blend: Requires a hotkey to use! This button will blend your active color with the Polypaint color under your mouse cursor. The “Shadow-Highlight” slider will skew the hue and value towards a lighter or darker color. Higher values moves the color towards a highlight and lower values moves towards a darker color. At 0.5 it will blend between the two colors.
TxtrAsignAll: This button will assign the currently selected texture to all visible subtools. The subtool must have UVs.
Checker Toggle: This script will turn on the Checkerboard texture for the current subtool or all subtools if the “All” button is toggled. When the button is toggled off it will turn the checkerboard off or reassign the previous texture.The subtool must have UVs.
ExportOptions: This script will toggle the Subtool Export Options, Texture, Merge UV Cords, and Sub Group, for all your Subtools.
Undo/Redo All: These buttons will Undo or Redo multiple times on each visible Subtool. How many times the script Undo/Redos is based on the “Amt” slider.
** - Target Multi-Append: This script appends all the visible Subtools from one Tool to another. With the target Tool active press “1-Pick Tool” then switch to the source Tool and press “2-AppendTool” and the new Subtools will be added from the target tool.
Masking
Mask Grow: this script will attempt to grow your mask similar to how you can grow a selection in Photoshop. Enter how many polygons you want it to grow by in the slider and click grow. This is best used at medium to low SubD levels. At higher SubD levels it takes forever and the effect is barley noticeable. Zbr3 does have a “Grow” and “Shrink” mask now but it works differently and blurs the mask.
PP to Mask: if you have any Polypaint this script will convert it into a mask based on color value with a single click. This is useful if you want a way to preserve complex masks.
AutoMask PG: ordinarily the brush setting “AutoMask by Polygroup” is a slider. While this feature is awesome when you want it… it’s irksome when you don’t. This button toggles between 100 (on) and 0 (off) with a button press. Ideally this button should be pulled into your interface somewhere so it’s handy.
** - Mask PG Under Cursor: Requires a hotkey! When pressed the Polygroup under the cursor will be masked. This adds to the mask and does not clear any already masked geometry.
** - Unmask PG Under Cursor: Requires a hotkey! When pressed the Polygroup under the cursor will be unmasked. This does not clear any other mask except for the Polygroup.
SubDivision
** - SubDivide All: this button divides all visible Subtools multiple times based on the SubD Lvl slider.
All Minus/Plus: These buttons will go up or down SubDivision levels for all visible based on the SubD Lvl slider. If the slider is at 3 then pressing “All Minus” will take all your subtools down 3 SubD levels from their current.
1-9 buttons: Pressing these will put your SubD level at the number indicated. Ideally these would be hotkeyed for quick access.
H button: Puts the active subtool at the highest SubD level.
Smart DynaMesh: This script takes the guess work out of getting an acceptable poly density with DynaMesh. No more moving the Dynamesh Resolution slider around and repeatedly undoing to get polygons you want. The script will create a Dynamesh near the “Target Polycount” slider. This is especially useful for hard surfaces that you know you will need a dense mesh. Use this script instead of initially pressing Dynamesh then just Dynamesh as normal. This script is also great for reducing the polycount of your Dynamesh when the mesh gets too heavy. Reducing the polycount this way has very little detail loss.
Target Polygoncount: Slider used for the Smart Dynamesh. Number is in Millions.
** - Match Current: This script looks at your current point count and tries to Dynamesh close to it.
Material Cycle
**Note 1: If a number is “blank” the “<<mat mat=”">>" buttons will not skip it. The Material will not change but you will have to press the buttons to move on to the next number.
**Note 2: Stored Materials must be loaded for the script to assign them to your mesh. Please use Materials in your ZStartup folder or load them before hand.
Visibility
**- Define Group: Use this button to define a keyword that the script looks for in the name of each Subtool you want in a group. This is case sensitive. The keyword can be anywhere in the Subtool name. Groups are chosen by the “Group” slider below.
**- Check: This button displays the keyword for the chosen group.
**- <-G/G->: These progress the slider forward or backwards. Because you cannot assign hotkeys to sliders these are primarily there to assign hotkeys too if you wish.
**- Hide/Unhide Group: Press these to hide/unhide any Subtool with the Group Keyword.
**- Send Group to Top/Bottom: Press these to send each Subtool with the Group Keyword to the top of the Subtool stack.
**- Add Visible to Group: This script adds the keyword as a prefix for the selected Group to all visible Subtools.
**- Isolate Current Group: If the active Subtool is in ANY group this script hides other subtools if they are not in the same group. Pressing again with un-hide those subtools.
Hide Above/Below: this script hides Subtools above or below the active Subtool in the Subtool menu. This DOES NOT hide Subtools above or below based on the canvas position, only based on menu order.
Store/Restore Visibility: when you press “Store Visibility” the current visibility status of all your Subtools are stored. You can hide/unhide subtools any way you want and then recall the stored visibility later. This is saved in between ZB sessions as well.
** Note: It is very important you do not add/delete or rearrange subtools after storing. It will give you an error and you will have to store the visibility again.
**- Set Subtool: This script “tags” a Subtool to be used with the “Quick Select” and “Quick Hide” buttons below.
**- Quick Select: This button will toggle between your selected Subtool and the “tagged” Subtool (from the “Set Subtool” button).
**- Quick Hide: This button will toggle hide and unhide the “tagged” Subtool (from the “Set Subtool” button).
Quick Load/Save
Load Stored ZPR: This button will load a project stored with the “Open” button to the right.
Pick: This button will open the browser for you to select a project. This button also automatically stores the project you open. So after you “Open” a project once its forever stored until you open other with this button.
Save 1-3: These buttons will save over the mesh saved with the corresponding “Store Tool” slot. If a different mesh is selected or the mesh has a different name than the one saved a warning prompt will appear. This is so you don’t accidentally Overwrite a file.
Store Tool 1-3: These buttons will store the current tool you are on. You can have three different tools stored at once. Clicking it again will overwrite the previous save. The names of these buttons are updated to the name of the stored subtool AFTER you restart Zbrush.
Load Tool 1-3: These buttons will load the Ztools assigned to the neighboring buttons.
**Note: To get optimal use out of these scripts I HIGHLY recommend making a custom menu with these buttons and docking it above the “Tools” palette so that it will be close to your other Save/Load buttons.
Set Save: Press this to set a file to iterate on. You can choose an existing file or create a new one. This must be done before the “Iterate Save” button will work.
S: If enabled, the original file will be saved as well when Iterate Save is pressed.
ZPR/ZTL: Choose if you want to save a ZProject or a Ztool.
Iterate Save: When pressed a copy of the current Tool or Project will be saved. A file must be set using the “Set Save” button before this will work.
Use Backups Folder: If this is enabled all the files created with “Iterate Save” will be put into a new folder called “Backups.”
Batch Rename
Rename: These set of buttons will rename all visible Subtools. Start by entering optional Prefix or Suffix.
Serial Start: What number the serial at the end of the name will start at.
Set Prefix/Suffix: Use this to add a prefix/suffix at the time of batch rename.
** - Add Prefix: Adds a prefix only to the existing name to all visible subtools. Uses an underscore if enabled.
** - Add Suffix: Adds a suffix only to the existing name all visible subtools. Uses an underscore if enabled.
Save 2 ZStartup
**- Set Zbrush Dir: Use this to set the ZStartup directory to save the files too. Example: C</mat></mat>***8203;:Program Files\Pixologic\ZBrush 4R5 (with no backslash at the end.) This only needs to be done once unless the directory changes.
**- Check: Displays the saved directory.
**- Auto Rename Copies: If this is enabled, files with the same name will not be overwritten but saved as a copy.
** - Save “X” 2 ZStartup: Saves the cosponsoring asset to the correct Zstartup directory.
We saw over on polycount you’d been busy. Thanks for sharing.
This is insanely epic! Should be top row imo.
Thank you so much for sharing all of your hard work with us Nick!
So many great ideas in just one plugin. Mask and unmask under cursor are my favorite… Thank you so much
This plugin is fantastic!! Thanks so much for sharing this with the community man! I do have one question/request though.
It seems the plugin is embedded in the Zplugin dropdown menu as a submenu item. Unfortunately, this means that you can’t hotkey just the Nicks Tools menu. I figured I might be able to just create a new menu and ctrl_alt drag your whole submenu over to that which I could then hotkey but doesnt work. Only lets you rename the Submenu in the Zplugins drop down.
I could create a new menu and then reconstruct your whole beautiful set up and drag each item over one at a time. Is there any way to make it to where the Nicks Tools script isn’t embedded in the Zplugin dropdown aside from reconstructing it from scratch??
Thanks guys!
@wayniac: Unfortunately I don’t believe so. The only way I know how (and what I have currently setup) is how you have described. Making a new menu and dragging each of them into it. I’m currently toying with some hotkey/menu/UI scripts that might be helpful with this in the future.
Just to give you guys a headsup I decided to start hosting these plugins on Gumroad. They are still free but Gumroad will allow for easier donations and analytics. Plus it will alert you guys whenever there is an update. Hopefully this is not an inconvenience to anyone.
I’ll might be updating soon with some new features.
Nick, I was wondering if you could recompile this script for 4r7 ? It’s sooo handy! And without it a work with lots of subtools gets messy and significantly less controllable - due the lack of native grouping in brush!
Yes! Sorry for the delay. I have it working on my machine but I have whole bunch of stuff I have added I need to make documentation and/or video for.
I suppose for now I can re-compile an older version.
I am looking forward to see all the new additions …