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Unable to resize Zbrush Main Window ... why? [Answered]

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Ok so …

I know this isn’t something that anyone else seems to be having problems with (because it isn’t mentioned anywhere that I’ve found on the forums), but I’m hoping somebody can help me out here. I’m also hoping that if this post isn’t in the right place, someone will move it for me.

So I’m trying to play around with Zbrush 3.12 (haven’t yet updated to 4R2, waiting for stuff from PixolLogic), and watch videos of what’s being done in the tutorials on PL’s website too. The problem I’m having is that I can’t seem to do both, watch the video on the net -and- resize the Zbrush window to make room on my monitor to see what’s being done at the same time. I’ve tried to figure out how to resize the thing on my own (why can’t you just grab an edge and shrink it?), but have had no luck.

Now for everyone using a Windows pc, feel free to cover your ears. I’m using an iMac 27", OS X 10.7.2 (Lion) and have tried clicking “control”, “option” & “command” while trying to resize corners and title-bars. The best I have been able to do so far is either hide, or get a full screen of Zbrush. Oddly when I click the “option” key, I get a handy message saying that if I drag the ‘Title’ bar that I can reposition the window (but this apparently can’t be done when in the window is maximized). I -could- move the screen 1/2 way off my monitor if I don’t want to see buttons … this would be helpful if I wanted to loose access to said buttons until the tutorial guy uses them in a video, but I want the buttons where I can see them to poke and do what the tutorial guy does, when he does/pokes them.

If there’s nothing I can do to resize the window then there’s nothing I can do. I won’t be buying another monitor to hook up to my computer because that’s just absurd and I’ve noticed people are having issues with that too (not that I’ve read any of those threads since they don’t directly affect me).

So … can anyone help? I’m so frustrated at not being able to see -and- “tut” around in Zbrush at the same time! It’s so annoying.

Thank you for your time.

#2

If you press the Restore button (so that the window is not maximized) you should then be able to click+drag from the bottom right-hand corner. If you can’t get to the corner because the window is too large, and you can’t drag the title bar to reposition, close ZBrush then delete the ZBrushWindowStartupSize.cfg file in the ZStartup/ConfigFiles folder before restarting ZBrush.

#3

Thank you so much!

I had to delete the file you suggested in order to be able to resize the program. The restore button either wasn’t working or didn’t know that I was clicking it originally, but your solution worked for me. I would never have known to delete that file, where/how did you know that file was the one to be deleted?

I’m so happy I can watch and participate in tutorials at the same time I’m watching them!

Thank you so very much Marcus! :slight_smile:

#4

Great, glad it worked for you. :slight_smile:

Knowledge gained from years of experience. :wink:

#5

Hya!
I’m having that problem too sort of, but I do not have that file at all…
My version of this seems slightly different, I open Zbrush just fine, then after switching to another window and back its no longer full screen, and refuses to be full screen until after I reboot. Then the same thing, switch windows and poof, its not full screen again.
I had this problem in 4.0 but it just started happening again very recently in R2.
I’m running Windows 7 if that helps at all…

Cheers!
Mealea

#6

Mealea,

I haven’t come across that behaviour before. One thing you might try is to resize the ZBrush window (when it is not maximized) so that it occupies most of your screen. Perhaps then switching between windows will be OK. Other than that I don’t have any suggestions, I’m afraid.

#7

Thanks Marcus, I have tried that and its not working, its very odd that it started happening again, it hasn’t done this since R2 came out…
I am almost inclined to think it was one of Microsoft’s many recent updates that might have changed something but that is just a wild guess.
The kicker is that it is only a small amount, just enough so that the window border is EXACTLY where I click to scroll the right hand menu up and down, which I do constantly… when its like this I miss and shove the whole window somewhere interesting.

I will keep poking at it and if anything changes I will post it here.

Cheers and thanks anyway,
Mealea

#8

Ok this is weird but its stopped and it seems that the only thing I did differently was to shut down rather then reboot.
I’mgoing to chalk it up to windows being a weird and rebooting being different than shutting down and starting back up…

Anyhow it seems to be fixed and that is the main thing.

Thanks again Marcus!

#9

Glad you got it fixed. :slight_smile: Shutting down is different - some things (though I couldn’t say which!) are not reset when just rebooting.

#10

GRIN!
Thanks Marcus… but… heh…
It was only sort of fixed, now its back with a vengeance and if I minimize the window it screws it up and nothing short of a full reboot fixes it. I cant reboot every time I make the mistake of minimizing the Zbrush window…
Switching windows using alt tab works but that leaves a lot of stuff up all the time and makes the desktop somewhat inaccessible so I’m not sure what to do about this or why after about three months it started happening again, maybe something in Windows changed, god knows they update things a little more often then is any fun.

Anyhow I will keep trying, but having something that forces a program to be full-screen would be nice, its almost like it is full screen just offset enough to be infuriating…

Cheers and thanks again!

#11

I know what causes this now!

I have been curious about game engines for a while now and have been attempting to check them out, this hasn’t been working very well at all but what this has to do with the problem at hand is this:
Games (and the thing that makes them go) changes your monitors resolution.
In my case I needed to look at something I have little interest in, a video game, so I picked one out that not only was free but also allows realtime modification (supposedly) Team Fortress Two, what I did not know was that it changes my monitors resolution when it runs and since I was messing about in it a lot it kept telling something in ZBrush that the edge of my monitor is some place its not.
So… if Zbrush is doing things like slipping off the side of your monitor or having weird window related issues try NOT running game things.
I tested this out a wee bit by using windows to do the same thing, and POOF my Zbrush window didn’t like it and wouldent display correctly till I rebooted.
What I wonder now since I got this game stuff in December is what was I doing before that caused 4.0 to do the same thing.

Any how, that problem is figured out… I hope!

#12

Oh, a quick note on that last bit, this problem happens even if Zbrush is not and has not been running.
So for example if I boot up my computer and run this game and then quit and do other stuff and then fire up ZBrush I will have window issues.

Hope that clarifies things…