ngSkinTools 2

Linux, English

Viktoras Makauskas

ngSkinTools is a skinning plugin for Autodesk® Maya®, introducing new concepts to character skinning such as layers, any-pose-mirroring, enhanced paint brushes, true smoothing, and more.

Version History

General Usage Instructions

The installer from Autodesk App Store loads the application under the Custom shelf.

http://www.ngskintools.com/docs/

Screenshots

Commands

Installation/Uninstallation

Download "Installer for Linux" on the release page. The zip contains a single shell file that will extract plugin contents in:

~/Autodesk/ApplicationPlugins/ngskintools - if choosing single user option,
/usr/autodesk/ApplicationPlugins/ngskintools - "all users" option;

Using the autoloader system, nothing needs to be configured additionally. Maya scans autoloader locations for plugins at startup and configures each discovered plugin automatically. Autoloader will create a “ngSkinTools2” shelf with a button to open UI.

Now, restart Maya and a new tab ngSkinTools2 should appear in your shelf.

Additional Information

Known Issues

For upcoming features and bugfixes, visit ngSkinTools v2 public roadmap.

Contact

Company Name: Viktoras Makauskas

Company URL: http://www.ngskintools.com

Support Contact: support@ngskintools.com

Author/Company Information

Viktoras Makauskas

Support Information

If you have a problem, a question, a feature request, let me know. Your feedback is what drives the project forward!

Documentation

Features, tutorials & FAQ are available at ngSkinTools official website.

Contact in private

Use the online contact form or email support@ngskintools.com.

Version History

Version Number	Version Description
2.4.0	2.4.0 (2025-May-16) Removing license key management features, as ngSkinTools is now free for commercial use as well. 2.3.0 (2025-Apr-05) Added: Maya 2026 release. 2.2.5 (2025-Mar-23) Fixed: in some cases, smoothing was not working when there were locked influences in the layer. Fixed: delay in UI when switching between meshes 2.2.4 (2025-Feb-16) Added: zooming into current paint target while painting (viewport shortcut F) now zooms into selected influence as well. Works with multi-influence selections as well. 2.2.3 (2025-Feb-15) Fixed: when changing intensity in the viewport, in some cases intensity value is drawn with artifacts. This seems to be a Maya bug - attempting a workaround. 2.2.2 (2025-Feb-13) Fixed: UI got broken with 2.2.1, making it impossible to change brush intensity via slider. Added: MMB brush size/intensity controls now support modified keys. Holding CTRL reduces mouse sensitivity, allowing for fine changes in brush intensity; holding Shift key picks intensity from predefined presets. 2.2.1 (2025-Feb-11) Added: MMB controls for brush size/intensity, similar to Maya’s sculpting tools. Middle-mouse button drag left-right controls brush size, and up-down controls brush intensity. 2.2.0 (2025-Feb-03) Fixed: exporting/importing layers for a transformed rigs (e.g. mesh+joints enclosed in a rotated group). All relationships will now be resolved in world-space. Note: there still might be issues with older export files, as they will contain pre-transformed data. Added: option to sort influences alphabetically in influences view. 2.1.6 (2024-Apr-10) Fixed: rebuilding binaries due to false-positive virus warnings 2.1.5 (2024-Apr-08) Added: Maya 2025 release 2.1.4 (2024-Mar-09) Added: “lock influences” button now toggles all selected influences. Added: color ramp display mode for mask; Fixed: growing/shrinking component selection does not update while painting; Fixed: layer effect direction resets after file reload; Fixed: improved memory management for layer hierarchy deletion & undo iteraction. 2.1.3 (2023-Dec-01) Fixed: vertex selection support while painting got broken in 2.1.2. 2.1.2 (2023-Nov-30) Fixed: Added additional checks to prevent invalid weights appearing in layers after smoothing. Some hard-to-reproduce bugs are being reported, so while the cause is unclear, blindly trying some major suspects. Fixed: Slight improvements to color display visibility when painting. Fixed: With multiple layers selected, toggling layers enabled/disabled status should no longer reset layer selection. 2.1.1 (2023-Nov-27) Added: Even if the “Prune Small Weights Before Writing to Skin Cluster” feature is not used, extremely small weights (below 0.000000001) will still be converted to 0 to avoid precision problems with the skinCluster node, which is particularly sensitive to the weight sum not being exactly 1.0. Added: Increase precision for the slider “Prune small weights before writing to skin cluster”. Fixed: Addressed another cause of skinCluster warnings “Warning: Some weights could not be set to the specified value”. Fixed: “Cycle display mode” viewport shortcut should be functional again.

Version Number

Version Description

2.4.0

2.4.0 (2025-May-16)
Removing license key management features, as ngSkinTools is now free for commercial use as well.

2.3.0 (2025-Apr-05)

Added: Maya 2026 release.
2.2.5 (2025-Mar-23)

Fixed: in some cases, smoothing was not working when there were locked influences in the layer.
Fixed: delay in UI when switching between meshes
2.2.4 (2025-Feb-16)

Added: zooming into current paint target while painting (viewport shortcut F) now zooms into selected influence as well. Works with multi-influence selections as well.
2.2.3 (2025-Feb-15)

Fixed: when changing intensity in the viewport, in some cases intensity value is drawn with artifacts. This seems to be a Maya bug - attempting a workaround.
2.2.2 (2025-Feb-13)

Fixed: UI got broken with 2.2.1, making it impossible to change brush intensity via slider.
Added: MMB brush size/intensity controls now support modified keys. Holding CTRL reduces mouse sensitivity, allowing for fine changes in brush intensity; holding Shift key picks intensity from predefined presets.
2.2.1 (2025-Feb-11)

Added: MMB controls for brush size/intensity, similar to Maya’s sculpting tools. Middle-mouse button drag left-right controls brush size, and up-down controls brush intensity.
2.2.0 (2025-Feb-03)

Fixed: exporting/importing layers for a transformed rigs (e.g. mesh+joints enclosed in a rotated group). All relationships will now be resolved in world-space. Note: there still might be issues with older export files, as they will contain pre-transformed data.
Added: option to sort influences alphabetically in influences view.
2.1.6 (2024-Apr-10)

Fixed: rebuilding binaries due to false-positive virus warnings
2.1.5 (2024-Apr-08)

Added: Maya 2025 release
2.1.4 (2024-Mar-09)

Added: “lock influences” button now toggles all selected influences.
Added: color ramp display mode for mask;
Fixed: growing/shrinking component selection does not update while painting;
Fixed: layer effect direction resets after file reload;
Fixed: improved memory management for layer hierarchy deletion & undo iteraction.
2.1.3 (2023-Dec-01)

Fixed: vertex selection support while painting got broken in 2.1.2.
2.1.2 (2023-Nov-30)

Fixed: Added additional checks to prevent invalid weights appearing in layers after smoothing. Some hard-to-reproduce bugs are being reported, so while the cause is unclear, blindly trying some major suspects.
Fixed: Slight improvements to color display visibility when painting.
Fixed: With multiple layers selected, toggling layers enabled/disabled status should no longer reset layer selection.
2.1.1 (2023-Nov-27)

Added: Even if the “Prune Small Weights Before Writing to Skin Cluster” feature is not used, extremely small weights (below 0.000000001) will still be converted to 0 to avoid precision problems with the skinCluster node, which is particularly sensitive to the weight sum not being exactly 1.0.
Added: Increase precision for the slider “Prune small weights before writing to skin cluster”.
Fixed: Addressed another cause of skinCluster warnings “Warning: Some weights could not be set to the specified value”.
Fixed: “Cycle display mode” viewport shortcut should be functional again.