ZBrushCentral

Storing Alphas

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I just went through all of my saved alphas and grouped them together. I now want to add them all to an empty ZList. It is a tedious job (I have to import every alpha and then put it into ZList). Since I have hundreds, mabe a thousand, I don’t want to have to do this again. Does anyone know where the ZList file is that list all my stored alphas? I want to make a duplicate so if anything happens to my current ZList I can load my backup. I just did a search to see the items that have been created today, and I don’t see anything listed for ZBrush or ZList. I even looked into the original ZList script and can’t see anything added to it. How does ZList remember my alphas? HELP!!!

P.S. Does anyone know an easier way to load all my Aplhas (Or a better script to store them in. FYI: After loading around 50 alphas,it crashes ZBrush every second or third alpha that I add)? I am going to load all of my textures and materials too. It sure would be nice to have a quicker way to load everything. i.e. does anyone have a script that would load everything within a folder? And Finally, do the Alpha files have to be left in their original folder/location on the hard drive (for ZList to find them when I want to use an alpha in the future-or can I trash them when they have been loaded into ZList)?

#2

the only suggestion i can think of is to create an alpha folder inside the export/import folder of zbrush. i know this isn’t quite what you meant but when importing an alpha, zbrush will take you straight to that folder so you won’t be searching to another location on your computer to find them. it does save time :slight_smile:

EDIT: about shifting a file location,

EDIT: just did a test. shifted a file from it’s original loaction on my hard drive, loaded zbrush, load zlist, clicked on icon and it loaded the alpha. this could just be the thumbnail being loaded though.

hope this helps :slight_smile:

#3

Booh Hooh!! I just wasted about around 6-8 hours!!! Well I just read the suggestion to copy my alphas to the Export/Import folder and then proceeded to import and load alphas into ZList. As I said, ZList crashes ZBrush about every other alpha loaded into it so like clockwork it crashed on me. I didn’t notice any difference having my alphas loaded into the Export/Import folder-so I deleted them and wanted to start using the original alphas I had on another hard drive. I started ZBrush back up again and was surprised that there was a big question mark in ZBrush’s launcher script where ZList used to reside. I then loaded the ZList script itself and (cry a hundred tears) all of the alphas WERE GONE!!! Just what I was afraid would eventually happen. I’m depressed. Thats why I want to know how to save ZList’s catalog or whatever it uses to save all the alphas. I’m not going to start all over again until someone has any suggestions. I’m not going to waste any more time.

I don’t know which caused the problem with ZList-the crash of ZBrush or the moving and then deleting the alphas. HELP!!!

#4

http://www.southerngfx.co.uk/general/zbrushworld/zbrushworld.htm

If all problems could be solved THAT easily :smiley: :wink: !

EDIT: sorry, I forgot>> it’s all about the alpha manager that southern brought us!

#5

I went to this site, but I don’t understand what you want me to see. Are you suggesting I use the MaterialPack? Is it compatible with alphas. I’m confused.

Edit>> I have a copy of AlphaManager. I guess I will test it out. Problem is I believe it is greatly limited in the number of alphas that can be loaded compaired to the 400 that ZList can load.

I also need some means to load textures and Materials, etc. So I still want to know if ZList can be made to work?

#6

Obviously you performed a little “read on” and found the alpha-manager. Sorry to hear that this utility does not serve your needs.

So why not use the features of your system (makes no difference if you’re on Windows, MAC OS, or another thing): just create a folder called something useful like “alphas”, and within this organize them in any order you see fit. Easy enough to pick them up from there, isn’t it?

#7

Ze
You speak gold!
Pilou

#8

Working out of a folder is going to be my last resort. The problem with this method is that I would have to open every file to find my desired alpha (texture, Material etc.). If you have a thousand alphas, how can you put a title on the file so that you can find the exact one you wont. By having them in ZList they are not only readily available and easily seen to be sure you have the desired alpha. ZList lets you make a catalog of all the alphas so that it would be easier to locate the needed alpha i.e. “its on row two, column three so its number should be #13 in ZList”. Of course I could manually make a catalog in an art program, but do you realize the amount of trouble it would be to copy and paste a thousand alphas by hand. It’s not worth the hassle.

#9

In Windows XP you can have a thumbnail preview of all the graphic pics in a folder – maybe there is something similar for your operating system (either built-in or as an add-on utility) – this way you could group by category and see at a glance which is the right one within a folder

#10

What is the extention name file of an Alpha ?
As a demo user i can’t save it so I don’t know :rolleyes:
Pilou

#11

Pilou

The extensions for alphas are bmp, jpg, and psd.

FYI: I have taken the suggestion to make thumbnails of all my alphas (I discovered one of my art applications will do this automatically). But I still would like some means of including all of my alphas, materials, textures and tools in a script manager like ZList. Hopefully someone can help me find a way to keep it from crashing etc.

Thanks for the help.

P.S. Do you like to be called Frenchy or Pilou? I’ve seen people address you both ways.

#12

Pilou is for the happy few :smiley:
Frenchy is more general :slight_smile:
Pilou

#13

You must not “adress” him: just hang around a few seconds: BINGO - he’s there, always was & always will :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: !!

Now, THAT is absolute garbage!

#14

Hello everyone

I just wanted to say that I finally figured out where ZList stores the Alphas. I am still having crashing problems, but I am now following Pilou’s suggestion to group them into separate folders and zerebrush’s suggestion to make thumbnail prints of each folder.

I want to thank everyone for all their help.

#15

:cool:
Pilou