Hi again! News on the script:
I know that I’ve delayed the animation part of this plugin for much longer than I had promised but that’s because of a lot of revamping and re-architecture of the ZScript.
The new one now no longer requires a linear workflow from the user of setting tool keyposes in separate layers and getting them right first and then assigning the keys on the timeline. Instead, the user now no longer has to even look at the layers tab and all you have to do is set keyposes using the Zscript buttons and it does everything for you as you deform your model at low-res, then you can go back to high-res and deform further as you like for each keyframe.
However, that only applies for morph keys. But…!
A new feature now for this animation plugin is ZSphere rig animation! This means quite a few things. First is the ease at which you can deform your tool with the ZSphere rig and set keyframes etc. Secondly, it does not involve layers whatsoever but only Zsphere attributes are taken into account. Thirdly, ZSphere rig animation is unlike morph animation and instead gives realistic arcs in bone movement (with an algorithm) maintaining bone length! ZSphere rigs and animation can also be saved and are reusable for other meshes if you bind them to it.
The drawbacks however are that firstly, as you all know, ZSpheres are still currently buggy in Zbrush which can lead to some frustrations while you work with them. But that’s irrelevant to the script, but is only Zbrush. Secondly, there’s a ZScript bug which means that to work with your ZSphere rig, I wrote an algorithm that temporarily decreases the size of your ZSphere rig and meshes to -16 to +16 x,y,z space so that azsphere animation is possible. Thirdly Zspheres rigs don’t have features such as twist etc meaning it’ll be tough to simulate animation such as wrist twisting unless you’re clever with your ZSphere rigs and also clever with setting up surface rigs simultaneously with bones rigs for facial animation.
However a third feature is the use of both ZSphere animation alongside morph animation meaning once you finish Zsphere animation you can save out your animation for a certain mesh and it’ll be converted to the usual 3D layer morph animation where you can work and update each keyframe with morphs and high-res deformation.
A new feature in development is the Render Passes feature. You may not want to render your animation as one simple material, so, with render passes you can render out you animation in several passes such as color, base material, Zbrush occlusion, Zbrush ZDepth, Light Passes, or whatever materials alongside masks you can come up with for external compositing such as in After FX. There are some default passes but you can also save your own passes for the active tool meaning active texture and material properties and lights setup (with masks also, not real masks but just a flat black color where you want to mask). There will also be a Render button in the script which will render all your passes into separate layers and then run ZAppLink to open external program like photoshop where you can composite those layers for a full render instead of rendering each pass manually and having to change material or texture etc each time. A big drawback however is the default Zbrush lighting in your animations which won’t be real but I’ll look into a solution.
PS when I complete the script fully I will definitely post in a new thread with presentation videos for all the features which are so far: Camera, Morph Animation and ZSphere Animation (including save and load for both), Render Passes.
Anyhow, stay tuned. And if you’re interested in a script like this at all it would be nice to let me know by leaving a comment here because I’m not sure 
and the animator will have to be smart in setting the keyframes etc it’s the farthest I’ve gone.
