origin 0 0 0
... the third number relates to adjusting the vertical positioning of the model and increasing the number moves the model downwards (which seems counter-intuitive to me). i decided to experiment and see which setting place the model correctly so that it's feet were touching the ground. to do this i built a special model...

...where there were two pyramids meeting at 0,0,0. which was also where the origin of both the model and armature were. the point where these two pyramids touch is were a models feet would normally be. i exported it to zym without changing it's position by using this line in config-zym.txt...
origin 0 0 0
... which left the model too high above the ground, like this...

... i experimented with increasing the third number until i got this result...

...which was acheived by using this line in config-zym.txt...
origin 0 0 24
i hope this is useful to someone.