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Alphas, materials and textures as ring items: {"alpha": "Alpha 058"}, {"material": "SkinShade4"} and {"texture": "Txtr01"}, also as steps in a steps item. The name is the file's name; case and spaces are ignored,
and the first folder that has the file wins. An item ZBrush already has is selected. Otherwise it is loaded from its
file with Alpha > Import, Material > Load or Texture > Import, then selected. Material > Load replaces the material
in the selected material slot, as ZBrush does itself.
Both bridges handle the new items: the Python plugin for ZBrush 2026 and newer, and the ZScript plugin for ZBrush
2022 to 2025. The 2022 to 2025 plugin needs an update from Settings > Older ZBrush (Update) before these items
work there.
Thumbnails for the new kinds, cached in %LOCALAPPDATA%\ZOrbit\thumbs. Materials use the icon stored in their .zmt
file, and alphas and textures use their image. EXR textures have no thumbnail.
The browser window has four tabs, Brushes, Alphas, Materials and Textures. Ctrl+Tab and
Ctrl+Shift+Tab switch between them. Search, folders, tag chips and the size slider work per tab. The tab you were on
is remembered in popout.json. --kind brush|alpha|material|texture opens the browser on a tab, and a browser slot
can say "kind" too.
Studio's Library and the Library tab on the Menus screen have the same four tabs. Add to menu and drag and drop work
for every kind. The item inspector offers Alpha, Material and Texture, each with a picker and a "Not found" warning,
and a Browser item has a "Shows" select.
Tags apply to every kind, with one shared tag set. A tag slot's fan lists brushes first, most used first, then
alphas, materials and textures by name.
The browser has its own icon, and its Start menu shortcut is called ZOrbit Browser.
A Browser button in Studio's top bar opens the ZOrbit Browser from any screen.
Two buttons in the browser's header: one collapses the folders and tags column and shows it again, the other
moves it to the right side of the window and back. Both are remembered in popout.json (column, side).
ZOrbit.exe --check prints each item's resolved file, opens on <kind> for browser items and N items tagged for
tag slots.
Settings > Import and export. Export... saves the menus, settings and tags to one .json file, as they are
on screen. Import... accepts that file, or a plain radial.json or tags.json, and shows what it holds first.
Imported menus and settings load as an unsaved change, so Undo takes them back. For tags, choose Merge tags or Replace tags; a replaced tags.json is kept as tags.json.bak.
A Setup screen in Studio, the sixth button in the rail (Alt+6). It is a checklist with live state: ZBrush found,
plugin loaded in ZBrush, try the ring, your brushes, and what's where. A fresh install opens Studio on it; Finish
or Skip for now marks it done (setup_done in studio.json), and closing Studio without either brings it back.
Existing users are not sent to it, and Show Setup on next start at the bottom brings it back.
Setup shows every ZBrush version found. For ZBrush 2026 and newer it says whether ZBRUSH_PLUGIN_PATH points at the
plugin, and Fix adds it the way the installer does. Rows for ZBrush 2022 to 2025 have the same Install, Update and Remove as Settings > Older ZBrush, plus Add a ZBrush folder.
Setup checks whether ZBrush is running, which version, whether it loaded the plugin, and whether it needs a restart
because it was started before the plugin was set up. Start app starts the app from there.
Try the ring on Setup ticks off three checks as you use the ring in ZBrush (ring opened, pick sent, ZBrush did
it), and gives a hint for the pick's route when ZBrush does not confirm it within a few seconds.
An amber dot on the Setup button when no ZBrush found has the plugin set up, or a running ZBrush does not.
%LOCALAPPDATA%\ZOrbit\activity.json, written by the app: the last ring opened and the last pick it sent, with its
route and whether the plugin picked it up. Setup reads it. Safe to delete.
Favourites: a built-in tag, shown with a gold star instead of a dot. It always exists and always comes first. It
cannot be deleted, renamed or merged away, but its colour can be changed in the tag manager. Starring an item does
not change its colour cue; the first other tag does.
Star an item in the browser (on every tab) or in Studio's Library: hover a card and press the star in its top-right
corner. The selection strip has a star button for the whole selection, Ctrl+D toggles Favourites on the
selection or the highlighted card, and the right-click tag picker lists Favourites first.
A Favourites entry at the top of the folders list on every tab, with a count. It lists starred items, most used
first, then by name.
A {"tag": "favourite"} ring slot: a fan of your favourites, drawn with a star. {"browser": "favourite"} opens the
browser filtered to favourites. New installs get a Favourites slot in the starter Tools menu; existing menus are
not changed.
Recent, under Favourites: every brush, alpha, material or texture you pick in ZBrush, from a ring or from the
browser, newest first. Up to 24 per tab, and 200 across all kinds in the file. Right-click an item in the Recent view
for Remove from Recent. Stored under "picks" in usage.json.
Changed
Picks of alphas, materials and textures are now recorded in usage.json too, for Recent. Brush auto slots are
unchanged.
"Brush browser" is now "Browser" in Studio, the Start menu and the user guide.
The Studio web API: get_library(refresh, kind) returns the items under items. The brushes key is kept for the
brush kind for one release. get_thumbs(names, size, kind) takes a kind.