I’ve recently found this cool plug-in created by Nick Miller. It’s really useful when automating certain tasks within Zbrush so I thought I’d share this great resource. Nick was kind enough to make this Plug-in available (as well as a couple of Photoshop ones) as a free download. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

To install, copy all the contents of the ZIP file (including NicksToolsdata folder and NicksTools.ZSC) into your \ZStartup\ZPlugs directory.

Mask Grow: this script will attempt to grow your mask similar to how you can grow a selection in Photoshop. Enter how many polygons you want it to grow by in the slider and click grow. This is best used at medium to low SubD levels. At higher SubD levels it takes forever and the effect is barley noticeable.

All SubTools to SubDivision level: This script will put all your subtools at the SubDivision level indicated by the slider. This is similar to “All High” and “All Low” in the SubTool menu only with more customization.

PP to Mask: If you have any Polypaint , this script will convert it into a mask based on color value with a single click. This is useful if you want a way to preserve complex masks. Note: this script will work with layers as long as the layer(s) are not active.

Random Colour: This script will assign a random color to each of your subtools. This is useful when rendering a flat color pass so you can easily select your subtools when compositing.

Material Cycle: To use this script, pick your desired material and then select a number to assign it to. Click “Set Mat” and the material will be assigned to that number. Whenever you scroll to that number or use the “<<Mat/Mat>>” buttons the material will be assigned to the mesh. Continue doing this for your other favorite materials. You can overwrite a material using the same process or clear it out altogether using the button. Note however that if a number is “blank” you will have to press the “<<Mat/Mat>>” again to move on to the next mat so I don’t recommend leaving “blank” spots between numbers. The materials will stay assigned between ZB sessions as well. For optimum use, you should assign the “<<Mat/Mat>>” buttons to hotkeys. I use the Left and Right Arrows. Also note that the materials HAVE to be loaded first before they be cycled to. So either use the materials in your Zstartup folder or load them beforehand.

Hide Above/Below: This script hides Subtools above or below the active Subtool in the Subtool menu. This DOES NOT hide Subtools above or below based on the canvas position.

Store/Restore Visibility: When you press “Store Visibility” the current visibility status of all your Subtools are stored. You can hide/unhide subtools any way you want and then recall the stored visibility later. This is saved in between ZB sessions as well.

** Note: It is very important you do not add/delete or rearrange subtools after storing. It will give you an error and you will have to store the visibility again.

Batch Rename: Pressing “Rename” will rename only the visible subtools from the user input. You can set a prefix/suffix as well as any padding before the serial. You can also adjust the starting number of the serial with the slider. The “Underscore” button toggles if underscores will be placed before/after the prefix/suffix (Ordinarily ZB will change all your underscores to hyphens.)