Zoo v2.7.2 has been released and comes with new Cycle Animation Tools, the Hive Spline Spine has had a large upgrade, and we’ve made a stability pass with lots of work on the Thumbnail Browsers, Hive Auto-Rigger, and more.
We’ve two new tools, Cycle Animation Tools and Hive Mirror Paste Animation; the Hive Spline Spine can translate space-switch the chest for frame/timeline/bake and more features (see below). Spline Spine is now useful on longer necks and toon legs.
New Tool: Cycle Animation Tools
Cycle Animation Tools is a collection of tools related to animated loop cycles such as runs, walks, idles, etc.
– Mirror/offset left/right animation with optional offsets for loops.
– Limit offset cycle animation to start/end time.
– Match start and end tangents for continuity on cycle loops.
Mirror Animation Hive automatically mirrors Hive rigs.
Mirror Animation Selected mirrors animation for any object or control.
Limit Cycle Time forces the cycle to the frame range.
Cycle End Tangets corrects continous start/end keyframe tangents.
New Tool: Hive Mirror Paste Animation
Hive Mirror Paste Animation is a mirror animation tool dedicated to the Hive Auto-Rigger; this tool has identical features found in the Cycle Animation Tools only this tool is for Hive only.
Select any set of Hive left controls and you can instantly mirror/offset to the right controls, or vice versa.
Hive Mirror Paste Animation is a dedicated mirror pose tool for Hive rigs.
Hive Auto-Rigger (beta) – Many Updates
The Hive Auto-Rigger has added Parent Space Switching to the top of the Spline Spine component. Rigging Misc has been added to Hive’s side menu. We’ve upgraded our default rig templates and had a significant bug fix pass.
Hive Upgrades and Changes:
– Added: Spline Spine top FK control can now be space-switched for translation and rotation.
– Added: The tool Rigging Misc to the toolbar for the Mark Center Pivot function.
– Changed: Finger component defaults with auto-orient off
– Change: Hive UI Height has a better setting on load.
Top spine control can now be switched between translate-world-space modes.
Tortoise’s legs/neck are built with Spine Spline using the new parent space option.
Mark Center Pivot creates locator handles for setting pivot-snap-points for Hive Guides.
Template Upgrades and Changes:
– Changed: All arm templates default to auto-orient off for fingers.
– Updated: We’ve updated Robot templates with stretch joints on the legs and arms.
– Changed: We’ve upgraded Natalie’s template with minor tweaks.
– Updated: Robot templates use stretch joints with disable twist build-scripts.
– Updated: Build scripts added for all Zoo character rig templates supporting animator-friendly selection sets.
Bug Fixes:
– Bug Fix: End toe joint unexpectedly shooting out in the wrong location.
– Bug Fix: The leg component’s Ball Roll used the wrong axis after the Foot Break limit.
– Bug Fix: IK issues with limited range after file open due to stretch set to 1.0 on legs.
– Bug Fix: Controls maintain the correct visibility setting after Right-Click > Align Selected
– Bug Fix: Adding a new FK guide via right-click, adding from a parent guide with existing children.
– Bug Fix: Live Linking a root joint off world zero would result in a transform offset.
– Bug Fix: Duplicated space-switch driver labels.
– Bug Fix: Custom space switches were not being maintained during the rebuild.
– Bug Fix: Toggle LRA failing in the UI
– Bug Fix: IK/FK default dropdown labels being reverse order.
– Bug Fix: Attribute Error raised when a constraint no longer exists but attempts to change the UI.
– Bug Fix: Hive UI window position saving.
All robot templates now have stretch joints and disabled twist.
Thumbnail Browsers – Improved Performance
Various backend improvements for all Thumbnail Browsers have made the browsers considerably faster, with improved navigation and bug fixes and fewer draw issues.
Thumbnail Browser’s new hotkey f will find the currently selected icon in any browser.
Improved browser performance. Icons are shown here with fast lazy-loading.
Browser Bug Fixes:
– Bug Fix: Rename now refreshes correctly.
– Bug Fix: Taking Snapshot bug fixed that incorrectly changed the wrong icon with the Renderer Filter.
– Bug Fix: Extra grey space and small icon sizes while loading the browsers.
Improvement: Graph Editor Toolbox
Graph Editor has a more intuitive UI layout for cycle curves.
Cycle buttons on the Graph Editor Toolbox has been improved.
Improvements: Hotkey Update
New Tool UIs are available in the Zoo default hotkeys.
Zoo hotkeys Step to Next Frame (alt c), and Previous Frame (alt x) now loops correctly on cycles.
Note: If upgrading, please update your hotkeys manually with the following:
1. Zoo Preferences Window > Zoo Hotkey Editor > Delete Default Hotkeys .
2. Restart with ZooToolsPro (shelf) > Dev (purple code icon) > Restart .
3. Zoo Preferences Window > Zoo Hotkey Editor > Install Default Hotkeys .
Toolsets – Dots Menu Tool Search
Improved toolset functionality, Search by Tool (right-click), Search by Toolset (left-click), Search by Tool Icon (middle-click) windows look and feel.
Left-Click, Middle-click, Right-Click dots menu options improved.
Scenes Browser (.MA/.MB) and Shader Presets (.MA/.MB)
Browsers default to All on the renderer filter, so all icons are viewable when the tool opens; this avoids confusion in previous versions.
Scenes and Shader (.MA/.MB) browsers always default to “All” on open.
Refresh Viewport – Fixes Maya Viewport Issues
The Refresh Viewport menu item has been added under the shelf Lighting Icon Menu; the refresh runs the python code cmds.ogs(reset=True) to refresh Maya’s viewport.
Fix issues in Maya’s Viewport.
Windows General – Reset Lost Windows
Zoo Windows should no longer disappear with dual monitor changes.
Note: If you still lose windows, use Utilities (shelf icon) > Reset All Zoo Windows. If windows don’t load without errors, the windows are probably hidden on another monitor.
Lost Zoo windows should be fixed, but can be reset here in case of any issues.
Bugfix: Marking Menu – Icon Fix
Zoo’s Constraint, Joint/Control, and other marking-menus have icons again.
Bugfix: Marking menu icons missing in previous versions are back again.
—————————————–
Buy Zoo Tools.
To see all tools go to the Zoo 2 Information Page.
Registered users can download and upgrade from the Zoo 2 Install Page.
—————————————–
