Maya skinning tools
An interface which holds many tools for skinning which Maya was lacking.
a speed skinning video can be found here: https://youtu.be/cby7B0ATDDY
video explanation on the various tools can be found here: https://youtu.be/xyfhcdNJL9o
update v5 can be found here: https://gumroad.com/l/SkinTools_v5
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
# SkinWeights command and component editor
# Copyright (C) 2018 Trevor van Hoof
# Website: http://www.trevorius.com
#
# pyqt attribute sliders
# Copyright (C) 2018 Daniele Niero
# Website: http://danieleniero.com/
#
# neighbour finding algorythm
# Copyright (C) 2018 Jan Pijpers
# Website: http://www.janpijpers.com/
#
# skinningTools and UI
# Copyright (C) 2018 Perry Leijten
# Website: http://www.perryleijten.com
#
# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html for a copy of the GNU General
# Public License.
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# I N S T A L L A T I O N:# works in maya 2012+
# Copy the "skinningTool" folder with contents to your Maya scriptsdirectory:
# windows: MyDocuments\Maya\scripts\
# OSX: Users\Shared\Autodesk\Maya\scripts\
# linux: home\<your login name>\maya\scripts\
# use this text as a python script within Maya:
from skinningTool import SkinningToolsUI
SkinningToolsUI.startUI()
# this text can be entered from the script editor and can be made into a button
#
# note: PyQt and sip or pyside(2) and shiboken(2) libraries are necessary to run this file
# skinning plugins are created for
# Windows 2017 to 2020 (64 bit)
# OSX 2017 to 2020
# Linux (centOs) 2017 to 2020
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
-NOTICE-
* gumroad doesnt allow files over 25mb for free products so the tooltip Gifs now need to be downloaded seperately
* they can be found in this location: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1owj0sLVrNjK3uvBQqBcoIK2Ty-XyUPBx/view?usp=sharing
* please unzip the file and overwrite the tooltips folder in the skinningtools directory
-CHANGELOG-
4.0.13
- added plugins for linux(centOs)
4.0.12
- fixed maya 2020 bug with skinweights markingmenu
4.0.11
- freeze skinned joints update;
* better way to deal with transforms in skeleton stack
* removes redundant transforms
* fixes some issues with scalevalues that are not exactly 1 (+/- epsilon values)
- better error report with traceback in undo decorator
4.0.10
- freeze skinned joints now has the option to cleanly set joint scales to (1,1,1) and tries to remove transform nodes in between
4.0.9
- build osx plugin for maya 2020
4.0.8
- build windows plugin for maya 2020 (could not get it to work for mac)
- removed beta node + tab
4.0.7
fixed ascii error osx
4.0.6
* build windows and mac osx plugins for maya 2019
4.0.5
* updated weightmanager, fixed minor mistake in importing by index check
* update on smoothbrush to maintain maximum influences ( based on maxInfluences maintainMaxInfluences attributes on current skincluster )
* set max influences button now also sets these attributes on the skinCluster
4.0.4
* updated documentation
* turned help button into menu
* more elaborate tooltips which show video on certain buttons
* japanese version of documentation
4.0.3
* added new smoothing algorithm + visualisation in bezier graph
* average function now supports edge selection
* fixed storing and unloading weights from weights manager
* widget now dockable in all locations conform maya 2017+ dock functionality
* update plugin load code for mac, sys.executable did not get correct values
* using adjusted version of tech-artist.org stylesheet to keep coherent styles between maya versions
4.0.2
* added japanese ui language (documentation will follow shortly)
* changed node connection edditor for missing bones to listview
* some changes in loading pyside2 for users that have pyqt4 installed while using maya 2017+
* overall performances updated on some tools
* saving and loading skinweights updated to use xml
* made sure plugins now work with maya 2018
4.0.1
* added lattice and curve support to some functions in first tab (will expand support to other tabs and features over time)
* removed need for button to force marking menu on or off, simplified eventfilter and added .2f and .3f submenus
* overhaul on skinweights manager tab to extend its use for within pipelines (some function still slow; looking into this)
* added option to generate mesh from skeleton so it can be visualised in ZBrush for example.
* maya windows now automatically have presets that work best with the tool, and will open label UI when needed for tool
* legacy maya viewport now has opengl screen draw function in smooth skin editor to show which vertex is manipulated (looking into extending this to OpenGL Core)
* fixed bug in smoothbrush undo
* beta tab removed temporarily as plugin code is refactored but python still in progress
* added joint remapper to functions when influence lists do not match
* added few new commands
* help folder contains cheat sheet for all useable commands and arguments
4.0.0
* converted plugin pipeline to Cmake, plugins for OSX versions built ( Maya 2016 and 2017)
* improved most commands with undo stack and removed bugs that caused Maya to freeze and in some places to take too much RAM
* some new commands added
* extra menu added in top to quickly move model files between scenes
* given possibility to unlock beta tab for experimentation of new tools, so please send your feedback! (currently only works in windows maya 2016+)
* create proxymesh has some extra functions, but noticed some issues with special cases so will get a big overhaul in next update
3.9.1:
* compiled plugins for Maya 2017
* now supports pyside2
* added extra options to create proxy mesh
3.9:
* added extra option to convert selected components to a joint with selection as influence (also able to use soft distance)
* added checkbox to enable/disable the Marking Menu as it was sometimes very intrucive with the middle mouse move function
known issues:
* undo failing to work with the smooth brush and smooth button
3.8:
* added extra option to the copy pose and copy skin, right click the button to switch between smooth or 1 to 1 copy
* added extra option to the "+ neightbors", right click allows to switch between automatically growing the selection or not
* fixed missing function to transfer uvs from a clean mesh to a skinned mesh that is identical
3.7:
* added extra option to the average button, right click the button to switch between distance or percentage averaging
3.6:
* fixed function to reset joints in pose for maya 2016+
* added function that allows user to force influences on selected components (prevents minor spikes)
notes:
* re-arranged some ui elements
3.5:
* added function to combine skinned mesh that works also in versions prior to maya 2015 ( uses Maya command in 2015+ )
* added function that seperates a skinned mesh based on poly shells and keeps skinning information (flushes undo stack to keep ram low)
* added function to extract components as new geometry with skinning information
* added function that allows user to copy UV's from nonskinned mesh to skinned mesh
* added function that freezes the mesh and clears history but keeps skinning information
3.4:
* fixed minor problem in undochain for neighbours and neighbours +
* fixed undochain problems of not closing propperly and thus using more ram
* fixed error in vertex weight matcher
* removed stack message display on smooth and smooth brush
3.3:
* added function so store a single vertex weight influence and load that on components of a different object with the same joint influences
* fixed issue in set maximum influecnes; the weight values where not applied propperly which resulted in the command not working
3.2:
* fixed bug in which remove influences was not called after pressing button
3.1:
*updated average: shortest edge path tries to find the edgeloop first before switching to edge length
*updated smooth skin editor: locking a value will now be kept locked at that value, no overshoot possible when sliders combined go over normal value