FJTools - ZBrush plugin

floon

Hey fellow Polycounters!

FJTools is a Plugin for ZBrush, that will help you to organise your Subtools and speed up your workflow in general. It does so by automating repetitive tasks, or solving them intuitively.
You can find the plugin on ArtStation, Gumroad and Cubebrush.

Disclaimer:

This plugin has been tested in ZBrush 2022/2023/2024/2025 on a Windows 64 bit machine.
Previous versions of ZBrush are NOT supported and may cause issues.

All features are explained in a mini video series, which can be found on the plugins’ ArtStation page or YouTube!

Installation:

To install FJTools simply copy the "FJTools_1_5.zsc" file, together with the "FJTools_1_5_Data"-folder into the Zplugs64-folder
(...\Pixologic\ZBrush 2022\ZStartup\ZPlugs64) | (...\Maxon ZBrush 2023[or 2024/2025]\ZStartup\ZPlugs64) of your ZBrush 2022/2023/2024 installation.

Done!

1.5.8 Release Notes

• Custom Swatch Set can now be added:
  You can now create custom Swatch Sets to create a consistent pipeline for you and other artists
  
  
• Random Range was added as a coloring option:
  A new coloring function that allows you to apply random colors within a certain range
  
  
• Two new Swatch Sets have been added:
  The new Sets have a large distance between their RGB values,  which allows greater tolerances when selecting from the baked ID maps
  
  
• The plugin is now localized in 7 languages:
  English, French, Japanese, Spanish, German, Chinese and Korean.
  (The localization was done by machine translation. Please let me know if anything feels wrong!)
  
  
• There is now also a FJTools Discord server, where you can reach out and hear news about this plugin (and possibly others to come)
  https://discord.com/invite/fcb8QpWQKt
  

floon

Awesome! I'm super happy to hear that !
Also thanks a lot for the suggestion, I think the feature really adds a cool facette to the tool set.
The reloading of the plugin (so collapsing and appearing at the bottom of the plugin list), unfortunately is needed to switch to the new swatch icons. I agree though that it's a bit jarring from an UX perspective. (it actually works better in the pop-up menu, so you can already see which colors are in the selected swatch-set, because I can quickly redraw this type of menu ).
Btw if needed you can also create custom swatch sets, if e.g. another client would need a specific vertex color assigned. "All" you would need to do is to duplicate one of the SwatchSet-folders within the plugin data folder. It's quite a cumbersome process though, I just wanted to mention that it IS possible to extend the existing sets by custom ones.


I'll think about your suggestion of combining multiple features, it actually sounds like a fun idea. Thanks again for the input!

floon

When working on a personal project I had an idea how to use the new color range feature to generate random selection (this might also be useful for you @torba!):

- First step is to get individual Subtools, so in case of the example you would need so split them first
- Then colorize the Subtools with the new Range function. The amount of colors determines how many selections you will end up with.
- Use "Merge Visible" to quickly merge all Subtools back again
- As the final step use (Group) "From Polypaint", hereby it's important to set the tolerance to max
- Now you could split your Subtools again if needed

Unfortunately due to the splitting and merging this is a bit of a destructive workflow, but I think it's a neat move nevertheless.
I used it to get some variations in a piece of chainmail quickly

torba

Hi Florian,

Thanks a lot for the tip! You are right. This will work great!

I tested the new features on my latest batch of sculpts and it worked flawlessly. The above addition will only make it better.
It's great it already exists in the app.

On a side note; Do you have any type of buymeacoffe or fiverr etc profile? I couldn't find any.

I wanted to send some euros your way and I was wondering if buying fjtools on gumroad with a nice tip would work for you.

Artstation doesn't allow custom amounts, I think.
Would you prefer a direct paypal transfer? Asking so that you don't lose too much on fees etc.
Let me know

cheers

floon

Glad you like the idea !

You can tip on Artstation, but just having a conversation here and brainstorming about new features is already more than I can ask for. I appreciate the gesture though

torba

Hi Florian,
No problem.

True, I see tips on Artstation. Still, I went with gumroad, because on Artstation the tip was limited to €10.

Thanks again.

shockobonss

Hi @floon ! This new feature with color range looks so cool! But is it also available for zbrush 2022 version or only for higer? I have Zbrush 2022.08 version and newest version of plugin 1.5.7 and I dont have color range feature in color tab.

floon

Hey @shockobonss!
The reason why you don't have this feature yet, is that I haven't released the update yet x). I was stuck fixing something minor and life got in the way, but I finally have some vacation and therefore time to wrap this up. So I promise you will get your hands on this feature very soon! 

shockobonss

Oh, sorry, my fault, I didn't read it carefully, I just skimmed through it and got excited seeing new things and started checking for "updates". Take it easy and do it when you have some free time, without rushing or stress. The plugin is so amazing and an inseparable part of my work that one of my biggest fears is that one day you might get bored with it and the plugin will disappear. My Christmas wish to Santa is that this will never happen, haha. I have sent something you on artstation cuz even superheros need presents on Christmas. Merry Christmas!

floon

Much appreciated! 
I don't plan to stop supporting the plugin any time soon and I plan to give release the source code if it would ever come to that point. I'm happy to hear you found good use for the plugin
Have a good New Year!

floon

Why is it almost April already?
I must have lost track while localizing the plugin... anyway I just released 1.5.8.1, with some cool coloring features