ZAppLink Properties

The ZApplink Properties sub-palette

The ZApplink Properties sub-palette

The ZAppLink Properties sub-palette provides buttons for different views of your model for use with the ZAppLink plugin.

Make Character Sheet

Create a character sheet .PSD document using the current model and the views set using the view buttons below.

Front – Back

Press the Front button to store the view of your model that corresponds to the front view. The Back view will be automatically stored.

Rght – Left

Press the Rght (Right) button to store the view of your model that corresponds to the righthand view. The Left view will be automatically stored.

Top – Botm

Press the Top button to store the view of your model that corresponds to the front view. The Botm (Bottom) view will be automatically stored.

Cust1 – Cust2

Press the Cust1 and Cust2 buttons to store custom views of your model.

Clear To

Press this button and then press the view button that you wish to clear.

Clear All

Press this button to clear all views.

Save Views

Press this button to save the current view set as a .VWS file.

Load Views

Load a previously saved .VWS file from disk.

ZAppLink Views

When this switch is turned on and the main ZAppLink button is pressed, a multi-view model edit will be sent to Photoshop.

Help

Press to read the ZAppLink documentation PDF file.


 

Painting on Views

  1. Draw a model on the canvas and enter edit mode.
  2. Set Tool: Geometry: SDiv to the highest level.
  3. Position the model to its front view.
  4. Press Document: ZAppLink Properties: Front
  5. Position the model to its right view.
  6. Press Document: ZAppLink Properties: Right
  7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for all the other views you want to paint on.
  8. Press ZAppLink in the Document palette.
  9. Press Enable Colorization if the pop-up appears.
  10. Press OK. You can also choose to enable perspective to work in perspective mode.
  11. In your image editor of choice start alt + click on the Layer 1 you want to work on to hide all other layers. Then turn on the visibility for the shading layer directly above it. When done, save your image and return to ZBrush.
  12. Press Re-enter ZBrush. If confronted with a screen that says OK(Unchanged) and Return To External Editor, press Return To External Editor and make sure your document was saved. Then return to ZBrush.
  13. Press Accept for each view to keep the texturing information. Press Cancel to not accept the view.

 

Load / Save Views

ZAppLink allows you to store views for front, side, top, bottom… Its very easy to store a view. Simply position the model and then press the corresponding view.

If the transform is already defined, and you want to change it, then first press the Clear To switch followed by the button of the transform to clear. Then press the transform button again to store it. The LEDs should indicate which views have transforms stored.

Use the Save Views button to save the .vws file for your tool, that way you can use the Load Views button to get them back if you need them later.

Once you store a view the ZAppLink Views switch will be turned on. This will tell ZBrush to export all of your views when going to Photoshop. Turn this off if you only want to export your current view.

Creating a Character Strip

Character Strip allows the artist to quickly create a .PSD document with all the views stored for the model.

Sample Character strip

Sample Character strip

  1. Draw a model on the canvas and enter edit mode.
  2. Set Tool: Geometry: SDiv to the highest level.
  3. Position the model to its front view.
  4. Press Document: ZAppLink Properties: Front
  5. Position the model to its right view.
  6. Press Document: ZAppLink Properties: Right
  7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for all the other views you want to be part of your character strip.
  8. Press Document: ZAppLink Properties: Make Character Sheet.