Editor Configuration¶

Explains how to configure a code editor for ZBrush script development.

The ZBrush SDK can be used with any editor (that ideally supports autocompletion), such as Visual Studio Code, PyCharm or Sublime Text. This manual explains how to setup Visual Studio Code, as it is the recommended editor to use with ZBrush.

Installation¶

The listed components are recommended for developing ZBrush scripts. All listed components are free of charge and provided by Microsoft.

Component	Description
Visual Studio Code	A free, open-source, and cross-platform code editor with a rich ecosystem of extensions.
Python Extension	Extension that provides Python language support and features such as code completion, linting, and debugging for Visual Studio Code.
Pylance Extension	An optional extension that provides better performance and more features for Python language support, including improved type checking and code analysis for Visual Studio Code.
autopep8 Extension	An optional extension that can be used to consistently format Python code to conform to the PEP 8 style guide for Visual Studio Code.

Configuration¶

We now must configure Visual Studio Code for a good development experience with ZBrush. Open the JSON setting of VS Code by pressing Shift + Command + P (Mac) or Ctrl + Shift + P (Windows/Linux), and then type Preferences: Open Settings (JSON) and press Enter. With your users settings JSON file opened, add or modify the following settings and then save the file. You can technically also set all settings via the VS Code settingGUI, but this is more time consuming.

{
    // --- Mandatory Settings for Autocompletion -------------------------------------------------------------------

    // Setup the autocompletion by linking to the API definitions shipped with the ZBrush SDK. Note that you can
    // add both Windows and MacOS paths at the same time when you are using on multiple platforms under the same
    // user account.
    "python.analysis.extraPaths": [
        "/Users/alice/Documents/ZBrush SDK 2026.0.0/api", // example path for MacOS
        "C:\\Users\\alice\\Documents\\ZBrush SDK 2026.0.0\\api" // example path for Windows
    ],

    // --- Optional Settings (not required but recommended) --------------------------------------------------------

    // Also point the linter to the ZBrush API definitions. Not really needed at the moment due to the simplicity
    // of the API (only required when using Pylance).
    "python.analysis.extraPaths": [
        "/Users/alice/Documents/ZBrush SDK 2026.0.0/api/", // example path for MacOS
        "C:\\Users\\alice\\Documents\\ZBrush SDK 2026.0.0\\api" // example path for Windows
    ],

    // Use autopep8 as the default formatter for Python files (only required when using autopep8).
    "python.formatting.provider": "autopep8",

    // The pep8 specification enforces a 79 characters line length limit by default, which is not very practical
    // for modern needs. We set it to 120 characters instead (only required when using autopep8).
    "python.formatting.autopep8Args": ["--max-line-length", "120"],

    // Insert a ruler at 120 characters, as a visual indicator for the line length limit.
    "editor.rulers": [120],

    // Use four spaces for indentation in Python files (this is the default for Python files of VS Code).
    "[python]": {
        "editor.tabSize": 4,
        "editor.insertSpaces": true
    },

    // Make sure GitHub Copilot is enabled for Python files.
    "github.copilot.enable": {
        "python": true
    },
}

Category	Option	Description
Query		The search does not support special search operators. Terms are joined by default with OR unless the AND join mode is enabled. Queries can contain search literals denoted by double quotes. E.g., `foo bar` would search for documents that contain `foo` and/or `bar` (depending on the selected join option). But `"foo bar"` would search for the exact phrase "foo bar". The search is case-insensitive. Note that search literals will always implicitly enable strict search mode, even when the user has selected fuzzy mode.
	/	Toggles the visibility of the facet selection panel.
	/	Toggles the visibility of this help panel.
	OR / AND	Toggles between joining search terms with a logical OR or AND. In OR mode, the search will return results that match any of the search terms, while in AND mode, it will only return results that match all of the search terms.
	/	Toggles between fuzzy and strict mode when searching. In fuzzy mode, the search is more lenient and may return more results, while in strict mode, the search is more exacting. Switching modes may affect the relevance of the results.
	/	Toggles between detailed and compact result views. The detailed view shows more information per search hit.
	/	Toggles sorting the search results by relevance only or by a combination of classification and relevance. When sorting by classification and relevance, results are grouped by their type (e.g., pages, classes, methods) and then sorted by relevance within each group.
Facets		Facets restrict the search to specific content types. You must have at least one facet enabled per facet group to see any results. Domain is the largest facet group, enabling or disabling whole groups of content types. Entities are the next level down, allowing you to search within specific types of content such as generic pages or a function definition. Contexts are the most granular level, allowing you to search within specific contexts of the selected entity such as a code block ot the name of an entity.
Domain	API	Enable matches within API documentation pages.
	Manuals	Enable matches within general documentation pages.
	Examples	Enable matches within example pages.
Entity	Page	Enable matches within a page body that are not one of the following entities.
	Classes	Enable matches within class definitions.
	Methods	Enable matches within class method definitions.
	Functions	Enable matches within module function definitions.
	Attributes	Enable matches within class or module attribute definitions.
Context	Paragraphs	Enable matches within normal text paragraphs of a page.
	Headings	Enable matches within the headings of a page.
	Code	Enable matches within code blocks of a page (e.g., in the Examples domain or code blocks embed elsewhere).
	Names	Enable matches within the names of API entities. This searches the plain names (`func`), not the qualified names (`foo.bar.func`).
	Signatures	Enable matches within the signatures of API entities. The signature is what is shown on top of the entity description, e.g., `foo.bar.func(a: int, b: str = "Hello") -> bool`. When you want to search for fully qualified names, you should enable this option and disable the "Names" option.
	Metadata	Enable matches within the metadata of entities.

Editor Configuration¶

Installation¶

Configuration¶

See also¶

Search