I am working on a couple new scripts that Load stored models and wanted to see what people saved their work as most often? A Ztool or a Zproject?

Both have their uses and I was just wondering if I should include both. Other thoughts welcome.

I use Ztools only, never really looked into how Zprojects can be better...?

What kind of scripts are you planning on doing?
Would be nice to have something that reorganizes subtools alphabetically, or one that hides all the subtools under or over the active subtool (I'm always having to hide lots of stuff one by one to merge stuff and export for retopology, quite annoying).
Wish there was a way to group subtools, such a hassle moving around the list when you have a lot.

i usually just save as a ztool

zproject since i'm used to ctrl S , ctrl o
it does suck up unnecessary space

well changing save tool to ctrl+s takes you like a second, maybe 2 ^^

Originally Posted by Bal

I use Ztools only, never really looked into how Zprojects can be better...?

Zprojects store more settings. I am not sure everything they store but they keep the materials you had applied and tools you loaded. I believe they also keep the brushes and alphas you loaded? Maybe render settings too?

Of course the con of this is that they KEEP this stuff and it can get cluttered real fast. File size could be an issue too. If I decide to use a Zproject I don't typically do it until later in the sculpting phase where I know I am not going to be loading many other files.

What kind of scripts are you planning on doing?

I am making basically a "quick load" that will store tools in between sessions so they can be recalled without browsing for the same damn file you have been working on for a month. I had alot more planned for the UI but Zscripts are super limiting so I am having to sacrifice some features. One was a toggle between Ztools and Zprojects.I have 3 "slots" for Ztools but I was considering adding some for Zprojects as well. I just didn't want a huge wall of buttons.

Would be nice to have something that reorganizes subtools alphabetically, or one that hides all the subtools under or over the active subtool (I'm always having to hide lots of stuff one by one to merge stuff and export for retopology, quite annoying).
Wish there was a way to group subtools, such a hassle moving around the list when you have a lot.

Yea I wish there was better subtool management too. Reorganizing subtools in script would be.... pretty difficult I think. Manipulating the subtool menu in script is really awkward. You have to continually check what position the scroll bar is in. I use the "move up/down" hotkey alot which helps. Default is CRTL+Up/DownArrow I believe.

When you say "hides all the subtools under or over the active subtool" do you mean in the menu or on the canvas? Hiding subtools below/above the active one in the menu is totally doable. Hmmm....Thanks for the idea!

Yeah I meant in the order they're in in the subtool menu, I usually order them logically (using the keyboard shortcuts yeah, at least those work well).

Yeah I don't think I'd like zprojects, I'm always loading other subtools to check stuff or import from previous models etc, so it'd get quite messy quickly.

zproject .. just save and load! ready to work =)

Thanks for your opinions guys.

Both. Depends on what I'm doing. Usually at the beginning of a project when I only want the tools/subtools saved I save ZTools. Once I start messing with materials, etc I use ZProjects.

Just a heads up guys. I updated my Plugin with the Quick Load scripts I was working on. If you are interested in the scripts check out the tread.

Oh. Also Bal
I have the hide above/below scripts half written for ya. I just have to finish them up and I will integrate them into the plugin as well.

Dammmmn, I was searching forever to find something that would toggle all polypaint. Awesome plugin nick, extremely handy stuff!

nyx702, great thanks!
New addition is interesting, will give it a try.
I tend to increment my Zbrush saves though, which doesn't work so well with this (makes GoZ finicky as well)...

Do you have access to how Zbrush saves? Would love to have an incremental save like in Maya (when you save, Maya moves the old file to a backup folder, adds an incrementation to it, and then saves your current file with the same name, so that the latest version of the file always has the same name).

Bal, that is quite easy to do in ZScript. I do incremental saving in my ZTool autosaver.

nyx702: cool idea for scripts! Something like a "most recent Project/tool" would be cool as well!

DeadlyFreez Thanks man! Haha me too that is why I got fed up and just made it.

Bal Yea, I increment as well just not EVERY save. You can still use this for incremental saves. Whenever you save with a new name just click "Store" again.

Yea there are some ways you can get ZB to increment save. However some other people have done a pretty good job at it already so I wanted to do something different. Heh... the poster below you, Maph, has a pretty good Autosaver! Also Sven quicksave plugin has some iterate save features.

Maph Thanks man. Originally that is what I was trying to do. I had some ideas that would have made it alot better but I couldn't do it within the Zscript limitations. Ideally I wanted the button name to change to the stored tool name. I couldn't do what I wanted without using Note interfaces. I messed around with it some and it just wasn't what I was looking for. I couldn't seem to do a "recent files" thing without loading thru a special button (like how the projects are saved now). It just ended up being too many button clicks so I went back to the regular Plugin interface.