Scale Master

 

The Scale Master plugin, located in the ZPlugin palette allows you to choose what size your model should be, converting the model to generic units that resemble mm. With this size now being a constant your files will append and insert at the correct size and dimensions, giving you greater control when dealing with scan data or models for 3D Printing.


Installation

The plugin is installed automatically with the default installation of ZBrush. If you need to reinstall the plugin, please execute the ZBrush full installer.


Video Introduction


Step By Step – Scale Master

Using the Scale Master Plugin is fairly straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step guide to the process.

Before you start, your model must be in Edit mode.

  1. With a model loaded into ZBrush click the ‘Set Scene Scale’ Button.
  2. This will open up a dialog with various sizes listed. At the top you will see the Default values of the Subtool that ZBrush is reading then below various sizes in mm, cm, in, or ft.
  3. Choose the size in the desired units that is the closet to what the selected Subtool should equal. (These values may not be exactly what you want but can be changed later.)
  4. After one of the options is selected the scene will be converted to mm and the X, Y, and Z sliders will be updated to the selected size and unit value.
  5. From here you can now change the X, Y, Z sliders to your liking. These sliders will be linked by default.

    Expert Tip!

    The Maximum value for these sliders will be based around the Max XYZ Size [Tool:Geometry:Size:XYZ Size] of the selected Subtool multiplied by the Export Scale [Tool:Export:Scale]. Resizing with the ‘All’ option or running ‘ZBrush Scale Unify’ after resizing will increase the Maximum slider values. It is possible to resize the longest dimension of a Unified Tool to a maximum of 20,000mm, 2,000cm, 787in, or 65ft respectively.
  6. After changing the sliders you can now resize the Current Subtool or Process All the Subtools in relation to the Current Subtool.
  7. After the model has been resized it can be exported out to *.obj files at a specific generic unit.

Exporting out from the [Tool:Export] area will export a Scale Master processed tool out in millimeters.


Scale Master Functions

Scale Master interface

Scale Master

Clicking on this button will open up the Scale Master ‘Cheat Sheet.’ This contains information on using the ScaleMaster plugin along with links to download the latest version and tutorial video.

Set Scene Scale

Clicking on this button opens a dialog allowing you to select the Size and Units of the selected Subtool. This process will convert the entire Tool to millimeters allowing for resizing to easily take place.

ZBrush Scale Unify

Subtools function best in ZBrush when their XYZ Size is set to 2. Clicking this button will resize all Subtools so that the bounding box of the entire tool returns an XYZ Size of 2 holding the existing scale. Think of this as a full tool Unify. The original size of the model is held by converting the XYZ Scale of the model and updating the Export Scale values appropriately.

mm, cm, in, ft

This selects the Units that will be used by the sliders.

Sliders to Subtool Size, R

Clicking Sliders to Subtool Size will update the sliders below based on the Units selected. Enabling ‘R’ will lock the sliders to the current size ratio of the selected Subtool after clicking ‘Sliders to Subtool Size’

X, Y, Z

These sliders will allow you see and change the X, Y, and Z size of the selected Subtool. If the ‘R’ option is enabled these will be locked to the size ratio of the Subtool that was selected when ‘Sliders to Subtool Size’ was clicked. If values are typed in make sure to press ‘Enter’ on your keyboard.

Resize Subtool, All

This will resize the current Subtool to the value above. When resizing a single Subtool only the models XYZ Size value will be changed. If the ‘All’ option is active all the Subtools in the tool will be resized based on the change of the selected Subtool. When processing All Subtools after resizing the scene will be automatically Unified (Holding ALT and clicking ‘Resize Subtool’ will disable the automatic Unification.

See ‘ZBrush Scale Unify’ for more information on the Unification process.

New Subtool

This creates a new Subtool based on the slider values and unit selected.

1 Unit Helper

This creates a new 1x1x1 unit Subtool based on the units selected.

New Bounding Box Subtool

This creates a new Cube Subtool based on the bounding box of all the Subtools. This is useful for resizing all Subtools with the ‘Resize Subtool’ function.

mm, cm, in, ft

This selects the generic Units that will be used when Exporting below

Export to Unit Scale, All

This will export a *.obj of the selected Subtool or separate *.obj’s for all the Subtools to the selected unit value. This allows for the model to be exported out in generic units instead of mm values.