Install and uninstall¶

Requirements¶

Windows 10 or 11
ZBrush 2022 or newer. ZBrush 2026 and newer load the Python plugin that the installer sets up. ZBrush 2022 to 2025 have no Python API, so they get a ZScript plugin, which you install from Studio (see ZBrush 2022 to 2025).
The Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime, which Studio uses for its window. It is part of Windows 11 and of up-to-date Windows 10.

Install¶

Download the installer from the Releases page.
Run it. It installs for your user only and does not need administrator rights. It adds the plugin folder to your ZBRUSH_PLUGIN_PATH user environment variable and creates a Start menu shortcut called ZOrbit Studio.
Restart ZBrush once. ZBrush reads ZBRUSH_PLUGIN_PATH only when it starts.
Open a canvas, hover over it and press Q.

The first time you open ZOrbit Studio it starts on its Setup screen. Setup walks through the rest: it finds your ZBrush, tells you whether to restart it, installs the plugin for ZBrush 2022 to 2025, and has you try the ring once. You can reopen it any time with Alt+6.

The Setup screen with ZBrush found, Plugin loaded in ZBrush and Try the ring all ticked, and a row for each ZBrush version with its Install, Update or Remove button

The first run puts a starter set of menus in %APPDATA%\ZOrbit\radial.json. They use only brushes that come with ZBrush.

ZOrbit used to be called Radial Menu for ZBrush. Run the new installer over the old install. It moves the program to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\ZOrbit and removes the old folder, its Start menu shortcut and its plugin path entry. Your menus and settings are copied to %APPDATA%\ZOrbit on the first start, and learned auto slots to %LOCALAPPDATA%\ZOrbit. The old RadialMenu folders stay where they are; you can delete them.

In ZBrush 2026 the palette is now Zplugin > ZOrbit. If you bound F9 to the old Apply by hand, bind it again on Zplugin > ZOrbit > Apply: Ctrl+Alt+click it, press F9, then Preferences > Hotkeys > Store. In ZBrush 2022 to 2025, Studio shows the old plugin as Update available. Update replaces it with the ZOrbit plugin.

ZBrush 2022 to 2025¶

These versions load plugins only from their own ZStartup\ZPlugs64 folder, so Studio puts the plugin there:

Open ZOrbit Studio and go to Settings > Older ZBrush. It lists the 2022 to 2025 versions it found. If yours is missing, use Add a ZBrush folder. The Setup screen (Alt+6) lists the same versions with the same Install button.
Click Install. A ZBrush under Program Files asks for administrator rights once.
Restart that ZBrush.

The plugin has no listener window, so every pick in these versions goes through the bridge key, F9. The plugin binds F9 to Zplugin > ZOrbit > Apply itself, so there is nothing to set up. If you change the bridge key in Studio, bind the new key by hand in each version: Ctrl+Alt+click Apply, press the key, then Preferences > Hotkeys > Store. When a new version of ZOrbit has a newer plugin, Settings shows a badge and the row says Update available.

Windows says "Windows protected your PC"¶

The installer is not code-signed yet. Code-signing certificates cost money every year, and this is a free hobby project, so Windows SmartScreen shows its warning for any program it does not recognise. The warning does not mean it found a problem.

To continue, click More info, then Run anyway. If you would rather not run a binary you did not build, the whole source is in this repository and Build from source explains how to make the installer yourself.

Uninstall¶

Open Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find ZOrbit and choose Uninstall. Restart ZBrush afterwards so it lets go of the plugin.

The uninstaller cannot reach the plugin inside a ZBrush 2022 to 2025. Remove it first with Studio > Settings > Older ZBrush > Remove, or afterwards by deleting ZOrbitBridge.zsc and the ZOrbitData folder from that ZBrush's ZStartup\ZPlugs64.

Your menus and logs are not part of the program. They live in %APPDATA%\ZOrbit and %LOCALAPPDATA%\ZOrbit; delete those folders if you want no trace.