ngSkinTools 2

Win64, 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

The installer that ran when you downloaded this plug-in from Autodesk App Store has already installed the plug-in. Windows only: To uninstall this plug-in, simply rerun the installer downloaded, and select the 'Uninstall' button, or you can uninstall it from 'Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features', just as you would uninstall any other application from your system. The panel on the Plug-ins tab will not be removed until Maya is restarted.

Linux and OSX: To uninstall this plug-in, simply delete the module directory from your system. The panel on the Plug-ins tab will not be removed until Maya is restarted.

Download .msi and run it on your computer. The installation will place files in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\ngskintools2 (unless your %ProgramData% the environment variable is different).

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