ngSkinTools 2

Mac OS, 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 .pkg and open it. The installation will place files in /Users/Shared/Autodesk/ApplicationAddins/ngskintools2.

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

Now, restart Maya and a new tab ngSkinTools2 should appear on 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 available at ngSkinTools official website.

Contact in private

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

Version History

Version Number	Version Description
2.0.24	2.0.24 (2021-Mar-12) * Fixed: stylus pressure is not updated during the stroke; * Fixed: Maya crashes when smoothing an empty layer with “adjust existing influences only”; * Fixed: (regression) UI is not opening on macOS; 2.0.23 (2021-Mar-10) * Fixed: crashes on older CPUs on Windows that do not support AVX2; * Fixed: crashes on Linux when using the installer.sh (build system packaged wrong files!); * Added: adjustable brush size: don't reset to zero when changing brush size in the viewport; * Added: randomize influence colors in paint/display settings; * Added: layers on/off "eye" button in layers tree UI; * Fixed: ngSkinTools will not modify skinCluster's `normalizeWeights` value anymore; for performance boost, you still can disable skinCluster's normalization by setting `normalizeWeights=None`. In "normalizeWeights:interactive" skinCluster mode, Maya will no longer complain that "The weight total would have exceeded 1.0". ngSkinTools will try extra hard to normalize each vertex to a perfect 1.0; * Fixed: UI is not displayed correctly on high DPI displays when UI scaling is enabled in Maya. 2.0.22 (2021-Feb-06) Added: convenience tool for adding influences to existing skin clusters. Select influences, target mesh and select “Tools \| Add Influence”; Fixed: weights will now display properly when viewport option “use default material” is turned on; Added: (v1 feature) Limit max influences per vertex before writing to skin cluster; Added: (v1 feature) Prune small weights before writing to skin cluster. 2.0.21 (2021-Jan-11) Added: copy/paste vertex weights between different selections (tab “tools” - “copy component weights/paste average component weights”); Added: tool “fill transparency” - for all empty vertices in a layer, assign weights from closest non-empty vertex; Added: “duplicate layer” operation; Added: “Merge layers” operation: combine selected layers into one. 2.0.20 (2020-Dec-02) Fixed: linux: crashing on startup 2.0.19 (2020-Nov-28) Added: influences mapping in mirror screen will now allow matching joints by DG connections; if symmetrical joints are linked between themselves with message connections, ngSkinTools will be able to leverage that information when mirroring weights; Added: symmetry mesh: an option to provide an alternative mesh for calculating vertex mapping for mirroring; Fixed: deleting visibility node can crash Maya sometimes, e.g. switching to component mode (F8) while paint tool is active 2.0.18 (2020-Nov-20) Added: “use all joints” option for “weights from closest joint” tool; few internal optimizations to speedup operation; Added: “weights from closest joint” option: create a new layer Fixed: “weights from closest joint”: the tool is only using joints as spots, but not as segments; Fixed: after “weights from closest joint” operation influences list is not refreshed; Fixed: “weights from closest joint”: “assign” button sometimes disabled; 2.0.17 (2020-Nov-19) Fixed: “resume in workspace” error while opening UI 2.0.16 (2020-Nov-15) Added: skin data will be compressed for ngSkinTools data nodes, which should substantially reduce file size for scenes with lots of skinning layers; Added: paint mode intensity sliders are now exponential: “smooth”, “add” and “sharpen” sliders will now be more precise for lower values, and “scale” mode will allow for more precision when setting high values. 2.0.15 (2020-Nov-10) Added: new “Set Weights” tab contains tools to apply weights to vertex/edge/polygon selection instead of painting. Added: new option for smooth tool - “only adjust existing vertex influences”; when this is turned on, smooth tool will prevent influences weights spreading across the surface Fixed: layer mirror effects correctly saved/loaded in files; Fixed: mask mirror effect was not correctly used by layer blending engine

Version Number

Version Description

2.0.24

2.0.24 (2021-Mar-12)
* Fixed: stylus pressure is not updated during the stroke;
* Fixed: Maya crashes when smoothing an empty layer with “adjust existing influences only”;
* Fixed: (regression) UI is not opening on macOS;

2.0.23 (2021-Mar-10)
* Fixed: crashes on older CPUs on Windows that do not support AVX2;
* Fixed: crashes on Linux when using the installer.sh (build system packaged wrong files!);
* Added: adjustable brush size: don't reset to zero when changing brush size in the viewport;
* Added: randomize influence colors in paint/display settings;
* Added: layers on/off "eye" button in layers tree UI;
* Fixed: ngSkinTools will not modify skinCluster's `normalizeWeights` value anymore; for performance boost, you still
  can disable skinCluster's normalization by setting `normalizeWeights=None`. In "normalizeWeights:interactive"
  skinCluster mode, Maya will no longer complain that "The weight total would have exceeded 1.0". ngSkinTools will try
  extra hard to normalize each vertex to a perfect 1.0;
* Fixed: UI is not displayed correctly on high DPI displays when UI scaling is enabled in Maya.

2.0.22 (2021-Feb-06)
    Added: convenience tool for adding influences to existing skin clusters. Select influences, target mesh and select “Tools | Add Influence”;
    Fixed: weights will now display properly when viewport option “use default material” is turned on;
    Added: (v1 feature) Limit max influences per vertex before writing to skin cluster;
    Added: (v1 feature) Prune small weights before writing to skin cluster.

2.0.21 (2021-Jan-11)
    Added: copy/paste vertex weights between different selections (tab “tools” - “copy component weights/paste average component weights”);
    Added: tool “fill transparency” - for all empty vertices in a layer, assign weights from closest non-empty vertex;
    Added: “duplicate layer” operation;
    Added: “Merge layers” operation: combine selected layers into one.

2.0.20 (2020-Dec-02)
    Fixed: linux: crashing on startup

2.0.19 (2020-Nov-28)
    Added: influences mapping in mirror screen will now allow matching joints by DG connections; if symmetrical joints are linked between themselves with message connections, ngSkinTools will be able to leverage that information when mirroring weights;
    Added: symmetry mesh: an option to provide an alternative mesh for calculating vertex mapping for mirroring;
    Fixed: deleting visibility node can crash Maya sometimes, e.g. switching to component mode (F8) while paint tool is active

2.0.18 (2020-Nov-20)
    Added: “use all joints” option for “weights from closest joint” tool; few internal optimizations to speedup operation;
    Added: “weights from closest joint” option: create a new layer
    Fixed: “weights from closest joint”: the tool is only using joints as spots, but not as segments;
    Fixed: after “weights from closest joint” operation influences list is not refreshed;
    Fixed: “weights from closest joint”: “assign” button sometimes disabled;

2.0.17 (2020-Nov-19)
    Fixed: “resume in workspace” error while opening UI

2.0.16 (2020-Nov-15)
    Added: skin data will be compressed for ngSkinTools data nodes, which should substantially reduce file size for scenes with lots of skinning layers;
    Added: paint mode intensity sliders are now exponential: “smooth”, “add” and “sharpen” sliders will now be more precise for lower values, and “scale” mode will allow for more precision when setting high values.

2.0.15 (2020-Nov-10)
    Added: new “Set Weights” tab contains tools to apply weights to vertex/edge/polygon selection instead of painting.
    Added: new option for smooth tool - “only adjust existing vertex influences”; when this is turned on, smooth tool will prevent influences weights spreading across the surface
    Fixed: layer mirror effects correctly saved/loaded in files;
    Fixed: mask mirror effect was not correctly used by layer blending engine