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Creating a tileable scale alpha. Can't find the "Tilde"-key?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Where is the Tilde (~) sign on a Mac (swedish keyboard)? I am trying to build a tileable alpha using a tutorial in the book “Introducing Zbrush” (p.266) and there is a function that lets you shift a pattern sideways to make it tileable by holding the “tilde”-button, but I can’t find that button. What is this function called, can I find it in the menus so that I can change the shortcut?

Hope someone can help. Thanks in advance.

/ Tennet

#2

Hi,

I would guess the Swedish keyboard is very similar to the Danish. Which unfortunately means the tilde key is alt + ^ , which will not work for displacing the canvas. As far as I know the tilde key is wired to that function so you cannot assign a new shortcut.

Instead I have added the US keyboard from - Mac > System Preferences > Language & Text > Input Sources. With the US keyboard selected the tilde key should be next to the SHIFT key on your left. On my keyboard that is the “<” key.

But remember you can also displace the canvas numerically using the Layer > Displace H, V and Z sliders.

#3

The key arrangement may not actually give the right key to use (for example, on the British keyboard the key to use is the one that has @ sign although there is a dedicated tilde key).

If a single key is available you can find it like this:

  1. Open the Preferences palette and dock it on the right or left shelf so it will stay open. Open the Utilities submenu towards the bottom.
  2. You need to look at the second slider down in the Utilities submenu. This will give the ZBrush ASCII code number for the key you have just pressed. If you press the Spacebar this will show 32.
  3. Run through all the likely keys checking the code displayed in the slider. The code to look for is 126. If you find that, that will be your key.

EDIT: Another - quicker - way that should show the right key (if available): press Tool>SubTool>Rename and then press every key until the ~ shows.

Let us know if this works! :slight_smile:

#4

Thanks TVeyes and Marcus. I found the shortcut I was looking for, still using the swedish keyboard layout. Renamed a subtool till I found the ~ (it also shows 126 in the utilities window).

It is “cmd” (command) + “<” next to Shift on the left side (almost like the US keyboard). The shortcut works as in the tutorial. Many thanks to you both! :slight_smile:

// tennet

#5

tennet,

That’s great, I’m glad you got it working. :slight_smile:

For anyone else who has trouble with this, a tolerable solution is to assign hotkeys to the Layer > Displace H, and V sliders. Pressing the hotkey will then bring up the slider at the cursor, making adjustment easy.

#6

With Danish keyboard as the input source the tilde should be ctrl + “<” but that does not seem to work.

But no worries. Using the US keyboard input source and enabling the input source option “Allow a different one for each document” is perfectly fine and unobtrusive in my workflow.