Ramp Weights from Brave Rabbit !

    Ingo Clemens ( Brave Rabbit) has been putting out amazing tools for some time.. I'm sure some of you have used his "shapes" plugin, which is fantastic. 
 He recently released a new tool to handle blendshapes , that uses a Ramp to control the weighing of the targets.
 Not only does it look amazing, but it is also "free" ! 


  

rampWeights - Split deformer weights from brave rabbit on Vimeo.

From Ingo's vimeo page:



Node for Autodesk Maya to control blend shape weights or weighted deformers with an axis based ramp for various effects.

Download rampWeights here: braverabbit.com/rampweights/

The ramp weights node gives fast access to splitting blend shape targets or weighted deformers along any axis.

The split can be controlled by a number of attributes defining the split width and position which even can be used for animation effects. Each ramp weights node allows for controlling any number of deformers. The resulting deformer weights can be inverted, either globally or individually per output. For advanced control it's possible to create a placement node or even use a custom control to refine the split.

When disconnecting the ramp weights node from a deformer or even deleting it you can choose between keeping the generated weights or discard them.

The ramp weights node also has a couple of presets to create centered or mirrored results which cater for a greater variety of effects.

The open source release of the plug-in is mainly to give people easier access to the node without having to fully commit to using the blend shape editor SHAPES.

The rampWeights node is also part of the SHAPES plug-in braverabbit.com/shapes/, our advanced blend shape editor for Maya. If you have the SHAPES Blend Shape Editor installed it's not necessary to download this newer version of the plug-in.


rampWeights is under the terms of the MIT License

Node Calculator add-on

Mischa Koibe has released his second release of the node calculator. Which basically is like an expression converter from script to nodes. Nodal networks vs expresssions can not only run in parallel ,but also tend to play a lot nicer with references, and with in-evitable name changes of controls and geo etc, ( which expressions tend not to ) 

 I really like his way of building on previous code and making modules that cna be re-used in the nodeCalculator.. I have tried writing a converter before and it does get pretty hectic quick, dealing with order of operations especially, so I can only imagine the amount of time it took to build this all out. 
 I haven't tried it out yet, but I definitely like the idea. 

NodeCalculator Script: github.com/mischakolbe/node_calculator

NodeCalculator Documentation: node-calculator.readthedocs.io



NodeCalculator - Introduction from Mischa Kolbe on Vimeo.


This is a great use case of using the nodeCalculator to set up soft IK


NodeCalculator - Example: Soft Approach from Mischa Kolbe on Vimeo.

MtoA 513: using Cryptomatte with Arnold Maya & Nuke

In Arvid Shneider's latest youTube series he walks thru using Cryptomatte with Arnold and Nuke. 

Be sure to follow Arvid on Youtube,
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1KDwEVBlxr4ew7xqLOhu9g
 and support him on his Patreon Site:
https://www.patreon.com/arvidschneider

MainFrame Bool

   Mainframe, the creators of "MASH" for maya have released a very clever front end for working with, and debugging, maya Booleans.  While Maya's booleans have come a long way and get better and better, there are still a few things that will trip you up, and Mainframes new plug-in Bool  strives to reduce the headaches. 

Available on the Mainframe website https://www.mainframe.co.uk/products/bool .  Bool costs £20  and is currently only available for Maya 2018. 

I particularly like the visual ui with drag and drop order operations, and quick access to display and operations per mesh. 


Also "bug" button, for finding and alerting issues with the boolean operations is quite handy. 

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Bool from Mainframe (North) on Vimeo.

Maya 2017 Bonus Tools

Steven Roselle releases a nice overview of all the bonus tool additions and updates for 2017


  For those you unfamiliar with Bonus tools, they are a lot of small production tools packaged up to a menu set for Maya. Sometimes these tools will find there way into the next version , but more often than not I treat them as "possibilities" and jumping off points for scripts that you could update and add yourself.   But they do include a lot of tools that make your life easier. 

 Bonus tools does have in installer so it will hijack some of  your personal setup, like hotkeys and some menus. So be sure to save a copy of your prefs before installing , just to make sure you don't over write some of your own custom setups. 
  For me, I generally install bonus tools to a fresh preferences, and then pick out the tools I want and copy them over to my Maya preferences.  ( case in point there are several hotkeys like ctrl + 2 that will activate the HUD for bonus tools Display ,, I've already got that mapped, and would like to keep my own settings) 


blog: http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/author/my-oh-maya
bonus tools available here:  http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/the-maya-blog/bonustools



of note:

•  weight editor window ( windows only) 
• rigging performance tracking
• Display Control   ( hud display controls)
• navigate graph marking menu 

Quick Pipe 1.5 updates from Adnan Chaumette

Adnan Chaumette just released a couple of new videos for his Maya plug-in Quick Pipe, for creating complicated pipes along curves ....  a little bit more powerful than the normal Maya extrude.

available on gum road: https://gumroad.com/l/QPipe1a

from gumroad:

Quick Pipe is a curve-edge based path creation tool for Maya.With it’s selection-based formula,Quick Pipe lets you create simple shapes like tubes,pipes,corrugated pipes and more complex meshes like tunnels,caves,floaters,floating bevels,welding and many more.

For studio licensing please contact me with this Email : theadnart@gmail.com

You can stay in the tool’s comfort zone and prototype with it as much as you want or go crazy and experiment with all it's advanced options to see the results happening in real-time.

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Leap Motion Plug-in for Maya

Wondering what to do with your new Leap Motion, and how it can make your job more fun?

its like a theremin for maya !






( Leon Theremin, presenting,, the theremin )

Fume FX released for MAYA !

Even though you can move back and forth from Maya to 3dsMax, its really awesome to see that fume Fx has found its way into Maya so you don't have to!

http://www.afterworks.com/FumeFX_Maya/Overview.asp



( from the site)

Overview


 
Welcome to the FumeFX - a groundbreaking solution designed for realistic and breathtaking fire, smoke and explosion effects.  This unique plug-in is a powerful gaseous fluid dynamics simulator created by Sitni Sati for seamless integration with Autodesk Media & Entertainment’s Maya™ modeling and animation software.  Designed for use by visual effects artists, game developers, and visualization professionals who demand the utmost in realism, FumeFX is unrivalled in its ability to capture the nuance and complexity of fluid gas behavior.

FumeFX for 3ds max has been already production proven in feature film titles such as Oblivion, Hugo, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,Thor, Red Tails, Priest, 2012, Skyline, Suckerpunch, Spiderman 3, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Superman Returns, Iron Man, The Host (Gwoemul) and various games cinematics such as Warhammer Online, Classic Transformers and Dante's Inferno while FumeFX for Maya has been used on The Avengers, Oz the Great and Powerful and Thor.

Key Features

- Production proven results demonstrate this technology's ability to achieve realistic smoke and fire effects for cutting-edge industry applications.
- FumeFX supplements the user's artistic vision with the power of real-world physics for the ultimate in both style and realism.
- GPU accelerated Preview Windows with self-shadows, multiple scattering and geometry.
- A multitude of parameters and FumeFX helpers give users maximum control of the fluid's behavior and appearance.
- Easy to use, basic effects can be created with just a few clicks.
- Dynamic simulations allow for bi-directional influence between FumeFX and particle systems.
- FumeFX is capable of dynamic interaction with other scene objects.

Simulation

- Simulation of nested grids in one go (N-Sim).
- Powerfull Effectors that can contol almost every parameter on a per-voxel basis.
- Application of various Deformers on caches.
- FumeFX can use Variable Density solver that uses smoke density and temperature as variables.
- Start simulations from scratch or by using other simulation results as a starting point.
- Stop, pause and continue simulations at any point.
- Simulation is multithreaded - users can select how many CPU's to dedicate to their simulation.
- Users can watch the simulation progress in the interactive GPU accelerated Preview Window.
- Interactive simulation allows user to change almost every parameter during the simulation and see it's influence on the simulation result.
- Draft simulations can be created in mere minutes for fast previewing.
- Multiple advection schemes that can minimize numerical dissipation.
- User has control of which data is written to output files for rendering and further processing.
- Wavelet Turbulence algorithm quickly adds extra detail to low resolution simulation caches while preserving the existing overall motion.
- Retimer is a very efficient and fast method to slow down or speed up caches without the need to re-run simulation.
- Post Processing module can significantly reduce cache size by optimizing grid size around smoke/fire. It also allows users to decide which channels will be excluded from the final caches.

Rendering

- mental ray renderer support - available for both Windows and Linux.
- The GPU accelerated Preview Window gives users almost instant feedback on render settings.
- Fast self-shadowing is produced through an Illumination Map which is integrated inside of the FumeFX object.
- A highly efficient Multiple Scattering model enhances light dispersion throughout fluid .
- Fluid Mapping integrates procedural map details with fluid motion.

Maya 2014 Bonus Tools released....

you can Download and get more info here:



http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/stevenr/maya-bonustools-2014-isare-ready--isare-you

snow factory - plugin

Custom Maya python script to generate blobby mesh over selected polygon face.
Download Script from here:
creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/scripts-plugins/dynamics/c/snow-factory
Inspired by:
cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/maya/snow/snow.html

Display Layer Tree 1.5 - plugin

Wow, this just got that much better!

MASH - nodes for maya

This is really cool stuff!

What is Mash? MASH is a suite of Maya nodes developed in-house at Mainframe aimed at enabling our artists to create versatile 'motion design' style animations. It offers a selection of effector nodes which can be daisy chained together to generate a wide variety of customisable effects. It's fully controllable from both Maya's Attribute and Node Editors.

Skip straight to the Examples page to get a flavour of what it's all about.

 Installation details can be found on the Download page. MASH has been tested in Maya 2013 on both Mac and PC, however, it should work on all Maya versions back to 2010. Note: In Maya 2012, uncheck the 'Enable Points' checkbox on the Points node to get stop the errors (it's a Maya bug).

We'd love to here your thoughts so email us at mash@mainframe.co.uk with any work produced, comments, bugs, requests, etc. and check out Ian's Posterous for more clever time saving Maya scripts. All the videos on here are also on Vimeo.

Flex - feather system for maya

very cool.....




FLEX: General purpose feather system for Maya – Plugin Development
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technology: C++, Maya API, MEL
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Description:
Main Features:
• Non-Destructive workflow
• Interactive modification
• Applying animation using key frames and dynamics
• Styling using control curves
• Pipeline friendly; Saves and Exports feather data to attribute maps and Maya’s geometry cache
Flex Pipeline:
Stage (1) – Sample distributing
• [ Particle Repulsion ]: Distributing samples using particle repulsion algorithm
• [ Uniform ]: Distributing samples using uniform methods including grid and padded grid
• [ Paint Samples ]: Painting samples using Artisan for greater control over samples distribution
• [ Randomizing Samples ]: Adding chaos to samples using various methods including noise and randomization
• [ Cut and Density Maps ]: Applying Cut map to remove samples; Applying density map to alter density of samples
Stage (2) – Flex geos scattering
• [ Spine ID Editor ]: Defining Edge Spine ID for flex geometries
• [ Flex Scattering ]: Scattering flex geometries over samples using various options including Instancing, initial
orientation, etc.
Stage (3) – Tweaking and Editing Flex geos
• [ Flex Replacing ]: Non-destructive flex geometry replacement using various options including map, range and deep mode
• [ Flex Attributes Mapping ]: Setting flex geometries attributes by mapping to files and textures
• [ Randomizing Flex Attributes ]: Adding randomization to flex geometries attributes
• [ Flex Initial State Editor ]: Setting flex geometries initial states after tweaking and editing
Stage (4) – Flex Partitioning
• [ Flex System ]: Defining various flex system for greater control over flex geometries (Wing, Body, Chest, …)
• [ Flex Active Mode Editor ]: Setting active flex mode including Guided (Control Curves), Passive (Interpolated), Static
Stage (5) – Styling
• [ Guided Flex Styling ]: Styling passive flex geometries using active guided flex geometries
Stage (6) – Dynamics / Animation
• [ Set Collision ]: Attaching geometries to flex systems as collision objects
• [ Connect to Field ]: Connecting Maya’s fields to flex systems
Stage (7) – Exporting Cache
• [ Flex Attributes Exporter ]: Exporting flex geometries attributes using texture maps
• [ Flex Cache Exporter ]: Exporting flex geometries animation to Maya’s native geometry cache format
===========================================
Please visit my website for breakdown and detail: cgdna.com/web

MAYA bullet in Maya 2012 Service advantage Pack

Autodesk just posted Docs and Sample Scenes for Bullet in Maya 2012 SAP


get em here !

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=17944685&linkID=10809894