ZBrushCentral

How can I place the pivot point where I'd like?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I’m aware of Transform->Set Pivot, but this places the pivot at the center of the bounding box of the subtool I’m on - which is not what I want. I want to place the pivot point where I want because I intend to use the model in another program and having it rotate around a certain point makes things easier for me.

How do I do this?

Edit: I just realised that I can use Transpose Master to move multiple subtools at the same time, and that in doing so I’m effectively moving the pivot point in a round-about way. If there’s an easier way let me know, in the mean time I’ll try this.

#2

If you want to do normal transformations then transpose give you freedom to place a temporal pivot where you want. Also in the last version can jump to the center of the object with the white circle. But This would include move, scale and rotation and all the special transformation that it allows, as it is possible to bend the object in soft angle or hard angle with transposer.

If you try to use the deformation panel is a completely different topic as by default you only have set pivot tool for that.

As a workaround you could use the plugin from Marcus Civis position-size values:


  • Use the copy button to store the position of the subtool
  • Move the subtool using transposer with the grid visible knowing that the pivot is where the colored lines crosses. You can make also these lines more visible if needed with another plugin from Marcus but default could be OK.
  • Do the deformation (this is only worth for deformations as for transformations better use transposer)
  • Now restore the position with the “paste position” button. Don’t use the “paste” button or will paste also the scale that is likely to be changed by the deformation

But there was another way to set pivots in objects, that is the preview window. It seem a legacy tool that is malfunctioning or I don’t know how to use it. If you drag the red arrow to the point you want the pivot then this will be your new pivot. And it seem to work, sometimes. But also it is most likely that you will mess the full scene as it behaves chaotic. For example it has a store and restore function that I cant get working and has lots of other issues. I mean, don’t use it unless somebody can tell us how.

Copy paste plugin
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?195599-Scale-Offset-Copy-Paste&p=1151204&viewfull=1#post1151204

#3

I appreciate your in-depth reply.

In the end I had to manually move each subtool to the right place relative to the pivot point which got the job done. Luckily my project was simple otherwise this would’ve been a massive pain in the buttocks. I wish ZBrush made the pivot point an object that could be adjusted using the move/rotate transpose tools, similar to 3ds Max.

#4

Or at least that having transposer active the deformation tools should use that pivot instead ignoring it. It would be a logical solution and fully integrated.

#5

Yeah looks like Zbrush is quite backwards even with simple tasks as changing pivot point. Let’s say I need a pivot point to be below the model for 3Ds Max export, but in Zbrush it’s above the model (logic somehow). There there is no real way to change it for all subtools. Really annoying.