ZBrushCentral

Zbrush UI wishlist

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hello fellow citizens. Figured instead of pissing and moaning I’ll create a thread with some suggestions as to what the user base might want UI wise in hopes that Pixologic devs might hear our voice. Ok, so for me, things that seem like they’d be a big boost to my daily production workflow would be:

1.Dual Monitor support
(not what we have now which leaves the middle of the sculpting viewport/canvas spanning across both monitors)

2.Tearable, Floating windows/menus.
(Docking them on the left or right is ok but leads to the whole scroll, scroll, scroll situation to find what you want which is less than desirable)

3.Sculpt Layer Groups
(akin to photoshop layer groups for better organization purposes)

4.Subtool Layer Groups
(akin to photoshop layer groups for better organization purposes)

  1. Texture/Tool Layer Groups
    (akin to photoshop layer groups for better organization purposes)

  2. Ability to tear off ANY component of a menu
    (right now the tool menu has a TON of stuff in it that I don’t typically open and would rather just tear off/dock what i want)

  3. Lightbox having the ability to paste paths into it along with being able to get docked/tearable/floating menu just like everything else in my dream UI.

  4. Having 3d manipulators in the viewport
    i.e. xyz arrowed manipulator like every other 3d app on the planet.

  5. Havning the lights in the viewport so you can manipulate them there like you would in real life…and not clicking on some little square icon and dragging a dot around in it.

These last two aren’t directly UI related but they’d definitely be nice additions. I have been tinkering with the UI for a bit, trying to bend it to my will, and have accomplished bypassing some of the roadblocks, but not the vast majority of them.

Would love to hear what others might think about these suggestions or what they think would be some healthy updates/additions to the UI.

I should note that things like 3D Manipulators or light placement would be options for the User to toggle on or off if they so desired…not really forcing the user into having to use that particular methodology. Same goes for the UI stuff…people can have a 100 subtools and not use folder groups for that or they can if they want. etc etc.

#2

bueler…bueler…bueler

#3

I love all these ideas. I don’t really care about an XYZ manipulator, but some way to know what is up and down would be nice sometimes.

Dockable/floatable items would be grand too.

Nice suggestions!

#4

I agree with a few of these.

Subtool folders is a must.

About tearing off menus - I think (for the mac) Zbrush would have to be native/cocoa for the nokia technology to be used. Like in Maya 2011 for the Mac. That’s the impression I got from reading different forums.

About the manipulators, I don’t agree. A few things work together for great control is a very simple way. Transpose lines. They snap to points for local axis transforms. And the shift snapping ortho views, transform in the world axis. All this in a simple golden line.

Just my two cents.

#5

I would absolutely LOVE a customizable UI menu system (dragging, docking, floating menus) ;I hate having to scroll down long menu roll-bars or having to constantly click up in the menu tabs for what i want. Being able to place my menus/toolbars wherever i want on my monitor or even both monitors would help tremendously in my work flow.

Dual Monitor support is a definite MUST in today’s age.

In my opinion that is the one feature that is drastically lacking in the zbrush software.

#6

I also agree with all of these! being able to get different tools on the other screen (a must if you are using a cintiq 12) making separate layers for polypaint as well !!! :slight_smile:

#7

#2 one thing that helps my UI needs is the “Open one Subpalette” in Preferences>Interface. It keeps me from having to scroll around too much. Note that this, for some reason isn’t saved with the Config, so if you want it launch it on startup you need to make a macro then set the macro to run on startup. There’s a thread somewhere on how to do that.

#9 - Zbrush isn’t a 3d app, lights and cameras don’t work this way in Zbrush. Actually there is no camera, you position the model in front of the viewport. and Lights are relative to the view not the model, therefore if you turn the model the lights stay the same.

so, you’d also have to add the ability for the light to rotate with the model. The model’s rotation would need to propogate to the light’s angle, as well as it’s XYZ placement.

If this is even possible, I have no clue I’m not a coder.

My additions.

-Ability to hotkey the left and right dividers
-Config to save EVERYTHING so I don’t need to do the aforementioned macro startup trick to get things set up correctly
-Ability to scale and resize buttons without needing to make a plugin, many buttons are so huge, especially the CurrentBrush CurrentAlpha etc (I don’t want to put individual brushes on my UI, that’s even more space)
-Symmetry buttons able to be placed on UI without disappearing on startup, currently have to use a plugin, which does not light up to show if it’s active.
-JPG an option when exporting the document (more convenient when submitting progress to an instructor, school computers have to load photoshop for bmp psd and tif)
-Timeline able to render out passes separately
-Timeline able to save out image sequences
-Ability to type in a keyframe to jump to it, then render from that point
-BPR able to render using colored lights
-BPR antialiasing not creating a white affect along the edges of dark parts of a model
-HD geometry able to use Layers
-Receive shadows only material, for use with ground shadow with alpha channel
-Support for the Intuos4 Airbrush Pen, and Art Pen
-Support for 3dconnexion devices

um, can’t think of any more right now… :stuck_out_tongue:

#8

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showpost.php?p=615015&postcount=2

#9

sweet marcus thank you!

I now there’s a thread where these are found, I didn’t see that one there though I might not have scrolled down far enough.

It would be nice to start a thread, where the first post is constantly edited with the names, links, and a one line description for all small useful plugins so we don’t have to read through long posts, most of which are “thanks that’s an awesome plugin” or similar.

A one stop shop for plugins if you will :slight_smile:

#10

Folders are a must!! And I have to agree that there should be an alternative to the golden circles manipulator, or at least a way for each subtool to remember its pivot point and orientation.

#11

My grandfather used to say " let the accountants be the accountants, and the lawyers be the lawyers", moral being let the experts do what they do best.

In Pixo’s case, they need to hire a UI designer. Us coming up with ideas is fine, but you need to have someone who understands UI design to implement them properly.

My fear is that the application has progressed too far with its current structure and they would have to start from scratch to implement the kinds of changes the UI needs.

If they do decide to give the UI a makeover, just look at Nuke or Mudbox as great examples of efficient UI design.

I love ZBrush and it has made me a better artist, but I think some tough love is needed here.

Cheers,
MC

#12

I disagree, I actually like Zbrush’s interface. I can put buttons wherever I want, and fit the UI to my needs. I haven’t used Mudbox since it was in beta, but when I did, it had a non-dynamic UI meaning I couldn’t put this button over there if I wanted.

Zbrush has a great UI, I would like them to expand upon it and make it even more flexible and customizable.

“UI design” is designing an interface that will work ok for everyone. Customizing your UI makes it work for you, and the task you’re doing. If an interface is completely customizable then you don’t need “UI design” in the conventional sense, only a standard UI like zbrush already has. Let the artists decide where they keep their brushes and tools, rather than having them be locked into a static position that some “UI Designer” chose in standard windows grey colors.

#13

Well your lucky than. But the fact remains that the UI is the biggest complaint for many Zbrush users. Do I really need to scroll down that HUGE tool menu everytime I want to change my morph target, or object display settings??

In fact, I recently had a meeting with an art director at an animation studio who agreed to look over my portfolio, and he remarked that they chose Mudbox because too many people complained about the Zbrush ui. They do commercials so they don’t need all the bells and whistles that Z offers over the competition. So it came down to user friendliness.

The point is, you may love the ui, but a lot of people don’t. You should read Greg Calllahan’s review of Z4 on his blog - http://gcallahan.com/?p=787

I think he hits the nail on the head.

And its ok to disagree on this topic, we are all different.

Cheers mate,
Matt

#14

well, I was smart enough to put the storeMT, Switch, and DelMT buttons on my UI so I never need to scroll down.

Also there is a feature in Preferences>Interface called “Open one Subpalette” that you should look into. Basically you don’t have to scroll down anymore, click any submenu and any others that are open close when the new one opens.

The great thing about Zbrush’s interface is also the worst thing. The UI is great if you take the time to customize it and learn the features. The bad thing is not everyone wants to do that, they want to open another light grey window and have everything organized like every other windows program.

Just curious, the studio using mudbox, do they allow using Zbrush if you use your own license and you save as .objs for backup purposes?

#15

Thanks for the tip, I will check it out for sure.

What was funny about that studio, is that their sister company who does Film work is a Zbrush shop. As for your question, I am not sure, but I am sure it would not be a deal breaker if you used Zbrush. What I found crazy was that Pixar just became a Mudbox shop…but I digress…

I hear you to a certain degree, but I think that Zbrush can still maintain its uniqueness and clean up its UI. I realize the mere mention of Mudbox gets people riled up, so take a look at Nuke, wonderful design, very artist friendly and very customizable.

You can be clean, but still cool.

Ok, back to work.

Cheers,
MC

#16

Wow, that review you linked:

http://gcallahan.com/?p=787

That’s how a LOT of other professional users I know feel to greater and lesser degrees. I really hope the devs don’t take it the wrong way or take it personal. It’s just people giving their critique on what they think could be better, what works great and what doesn’t work/why.

I’m guessing it’s a possibility the core architecture of ZB isn’t flexible enough to allow for some of the suggestions found in this thread which is what has me a bit worried about its future. It’d be nice to know that my concerns are unfounded but with each release the feeling that things are a bit unwieldy under the hood keep coming back. That’s not meant to scare anyone or be a side jab at the devs.

On the contrary, it’s GOOD to be inquisitive about the roadmap for the software we all love and have invested so much time in learning and using. Again, I hope the devs don’t feel bad that we have critiques or concerns. It’s because we actually care about the app that we voice our opinions.