In the latest release of Zoo Tools, version 2.7.3, we have added four new templates to the Hive Auto-Rigger, and have made several other enhancements. One of the new features is the automatic snapping of new objects to vertices, edges, or faces upon creation.
The focus of this version is on stability and minor upgrades, and we have conducted thorough testing of Zoo Tools on both OSX and Linux operating systems. Additionally, we have updated the user interface to be compatible with Qt5, catering to studios with custom Qt installations.
Hive Auto-Rigger Skirt Template added in Zoo Tools Pro 2.7.3.
Hive Auto-Rigger
Hive has added many new templates including the Toon Tortoise, Skirt FK, Natalie Lightweight, Sir Moustache
Added new Hive Tortoise example template.
Added new Hive Skirt template.
Added Natalie Lightweight template with FK spine and lower twist counts
Added new Brow FK template for toon brow setups.
Added new Sir Moustache example template.
Hive Upgrades and Changes:
– Changed: Joint guides that can be moved are yellow spheres with triangle shapes. Joint guides that cannot be moved are pure spheres.
– Added: Hive FBX Exporter. Added user message when attempting to export geometry with no geometry parented to the hrc group.
– Changed: Hive FBX Exporter. Added a more description message while saving the file for FBX export.
– Change: Twist guides on the arms and legs are scaled smaller to 0.25 by default.
Hive Joint Guides (yellow balls) have arrows when guides are moveable, twists are smaller.
Template Upgrades and Changes:
– Added: New Skirt FK Template
– Added: New Natalie Lightweight Template
– Added: New Sir Moustache Template
– Added: New Tortoise Toon Template
– Upgraded: Biped, Natalie, Mannequin Templates with minor changes
– Changed: Tortoise up vector neck control visible by default.
Bug Fixes:
– Bug Fix: Joints are now returned to bind pose correctly while returning to Guides or Skeleton modes. Previously needed a couple of toggles to correct.
– Bug Fix: Fix Elbow and Switch To IK now handle the Pole Vector while switching when the leg or elbow is perfectly straight.
– Bug Fix: Issues regarding building FK joints in tree chains have been fixed, removing the joint count successfully removes joints again.
– Bug Fix: Guides are locked again and cannot be accidentally deleted or parented.
– Bug Fix: Fixed update issues related to hidden guides being moved in Maya 2023.
– Bug Fix: Named Presets fixed bug related to case sensitivity.
– Bug Fix: Natalie buildscript face attributes now reset correctly.
Upgrade: Rigging Misc Toolbox
The Rigging Misc UI adds the Match Objects button that can be used in combination with the Mark Center Pivot tool.
Mark Center Pivot now matches to the pivot of a single selected object, or center of two or more selected objects.
Mark Center Pivot centers object/component selections.
Hotkeys: Match Pivot and Creation Snap
We’ve added Match Pivot as a hotkey (ctrl shift L) this will create a small locator with a handle in the middle of the selection. If nothing is selected the locator/handle will be created at world zero.
Hotkeys related to create objects for locator, cube, sphere, cylinder and plane now all support snapping to component selection. Select components and run these hotkeys and the objects will be created at the center of the component selection (verts/edges/faces).
Create Locator (shift L)
Create Cube (ctrl shift U)
Create Cylinder (ctrl shift I)
Create Sphere (ctrl shift O)
Create Plane (ctrl shift P)
Create hotkeys now snap to object and component selection.
Bug Fix: Convert Shaders
Fixed bug converting lamberts and blinns etc to standardSurface shader type with no clearCoat values.
Added: Trigger Toggle
Trigger Toggle has been added under the Developer (purple code) icon. This will disable all of Zoo Tools right-click marking menus and trigger functions, for example selecting and object triggers the selection of another.
Zoo Trigger toggle is now found under the Zoo dev icon.
With the triggers on (default) Zoo right-click menus will activate.
With the Triggers off right-clicks will default to the regular Maya menus.
Added: Qt5 Support
We’ve done a lot of work to make Zoo Tools support custom installations of Qt (UI framework) such as Qt5 for studios.
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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.
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