New Version – Zoo Tools Pro 2.8.4

Zoo Tools Pro 2.8.4 has been released! The Hive Autorigger now has a new horse template ready to go.

Hive comes with a new, live-orient behaviour for IK guides; this makes placing IK guide pivots easy.

We’ve made a significant upgrade to Hive’s Jaw component. The jaw is now a fully functional triple jaw ready for a blend-shape mouth setup.

There are also three new marking menus. Bevel/Boolean (ctrl b), Freeze Transform (alt f), and Delete History (alt shift d) hotkeys now all have marking menus with hidden features.

Hive Autorigger Enhancements

Hive comes with a new horse template:

*A new horse template is included with the Hive Auto-Rigger.*

*Horse rigged with the new template. (Credit: Microsoft Paint 3d Horse)*

All IK/FK components now have an interactive placement mode which simplifies guide placement while maintaining control positions and automatically placing polevectors.

*Affects all IK components. Controls and pole vectors are automatically placed.*

We’ve upgraded Hive’s jaw component. The jaw features three sub-controls: top lip, bottom lip, and chin, which are driven by the jaw and all controls.

The new jaw is demonstrated with the top lip, bottom lip, and chin controls.

This simple triple-jaw setup is flexible with a corrective/combo blendshape setup such as brave rabbit SHAPES.

The updated jaw combined with a blend shape system.

To see a training introduction to the jaw, watch this temporary 25-minute video on YouTube.

We’ve included a jaw build script that accurately tracks differences in the top lip, bottom lip, and chin rotation and translation for blend shape correctives by adding a locator to the scene.

You can navigate to the Hive UI Settings to create the Jaw Differentiator.

Jaw Differentiator Build Script for jaw corrective blendshapes.

To improve the user experience, we have added tooltips to the Hive UI. These tooltips will make it easier for users to discover and use the features of the Hive UI.

*Hive Artist UI now has tooltips on all buttons.*

Hive now defaults to hide channel box history on rig controls. This can speed up selection in many cases.

*Hive hides SHAPE and Output history by default, speeding up selection.*

You can change the history setting under the “Show Node History” checkbox in the Hive UI Settings.

*Show Node History option in the Hive settings window.*

Hive Fixes
– Fixed issues regarding mirroring controls.
– The UE5 template’s arm orientation is fixed, having an inverted upVector.
– We’ve fixed the Tortoise template and build script, which failed when running preDeleteRig.
– Spine component fixes for the COG-Gimbal control will always have the exact alignment as the COG.
– Hive FBX Exporter: UE preset now defaults to FBX 2020.

New Marking Menu: Bevel/Boolean (ctrl b)
We’ve added a new marking menu on the bevel hotkey (ctrl b) with new bevel options and handy boolean menu items.

The default Bevel hotkey remains; the hotkey release will Bevel if the marking menu is not activated.

*Bevel and Boolean Marking Menu (ctrl b)*

The Zoo Bevel also works around a Maya issue with multiple selected objects.

*Zoo bevel selects and edits multiple bevel nodes, unlike Maya’s behaviour.*

New Marking Menu: Freeze Transforms (alt f)
The Freeze Transforms (alt f) hotkey now has a marking menu with extended options ready for quick access.

The default Freeze hotkey remains; the hotkey release is still Freeze Transforms if the marking menu is not activated.

*Freeze Transformations Marking Menu (alt f)*

The Marking Menu now includes the Freeze Matrix feature, found in our Matrix tool.

In most cases, Freeze Modeller Matrix is preferable to Freeze Transforms (Maya 2020+) and can be unfrozen.

Note that Freeze Matrix is not FBX compatible, so you should unfreeze or clean objects with our Cleanup Toolbox before exporting them to game engines or other programs.

*Freeze Modeller Matrix will freeze and keep the rotation axis without additional groups.*

New Marking Menu: Delete History (shift alt d)
The Delete History (shift alt d) hotkey now has a marking menu with extended options ready for quick access.

The default Delete History hotkey remains; the hotkey release is still Delete History if the marking menu is not activated.

*Delete History Marking Menu (alt shift d) offers Maya’s delete functionality in a single menu.*

Hotkey Upgrade Note

Note: Hotkeys must be upgraded. After installing or upgrading Zoo 2.8.4, open and run:

Install Hotkeys
Zoo Preferences > Zoo Hotkey Editor > Install Zoo Hotkeys

or

Upgrade Hotkeys
Zoo Preferences > Zoo Hotkey Editor > Update Zoo Hotkeys

Install or update hotkeys in the Zoo Preferences Window.

If you do not wish to use our hotkey set, hotkeys can be added to any user Hotkey Set. Install the hotkeys, then open Maya’s Hotkey Editor, then you can view and assign any of our hotkeys at:

Manually Assign Zoo Hotkeys
Windows > Settings Preferences > Hotkey Editor > Edit Hotkeys For: “Custom Scripts” (dropdown)