New Version – Zoo Tools Pro 2.9.5

Zoo Tools Pro version 2.9.5, patch F, was released on April 2nd. This latest 2.9.5 patch includes full support for 2026 and introduces compatibility with openPBRSurface shaders, along with numerous bug fixes.

2.9.5c adds the ability to save complex selection sets for animators and riggers alike. Animators can now save selection sets to a file and load the file in different scenes with the same referenced rig. Riggers can quickly rebuild selection sets with rebuilds.

2.9.5d resolves security issues with the Zoo Tools right-clicks and marking menus, removes clashes with third-party marking menus, and improves marking menu load times.

2.9.5f fixes a few Hive bugs, including eye guide components not mirroring and upper leg control mirror issues for animators.

Many other Hive Autorigger bug fixes are also included (see below).

2.9.5 is a significant release because it includes major backend changes as we prepare to release our mouth component for the Hive Autorigger.

Enhancements: Maya 2026 support (2.9.5e March 28)
Zoo Tools Pro is now fully supported for the new release of Maya 2026. This patch e version fixes issues with:

– Hive Autorigger and Maya’s math node name changes.
– Fix Viewport Light tool regarding Maya’s math node changes

Zoo Tools Pro 2.9.5b is fully compatible with Maya 2026.

Enhancements: OpenPBRSurface support (2.9.5e March 28)
Zoo 2.9.5e now adds support for Maya’s new default OpenPBRSurface shader. The OpenPBRSurface shader is a new multi-app standard shader developed by Autodesk and Adobe and promises to offer interoperability between different software packages.

Enhancements: Zoo Selection Sets (2.9.5c Released March 11)
Zoo Selection Sets can now be saved to the scene or in a file such as JSON.

Animators can now save selection sets to a file and load the file in different scenes with the same referenced rig.

Riggers can quickly re-create or copy selection set setups with rig rebuilds or across multiple rigs.

Zoo Selection Sets allow animators to cycle through select sets with a single hotkey.

Zoo Marking menu icons and settings are supported if they exist.

Save and load from a node in the current scene or to a file on disk.

See the next section below for rebuilding Hive rigs and keeping saved selection sets.

Enhancements: Hive (2.9.5c Released March 11)
Two selection set build scripts have been added in 2.9.5c. These can be added to any Hive rig.

You can add new selection set build scripts in the Hive UI. Sets will be built on Polish Rig.

SelectionSetAllComponents builds animator selection sets for every Hive component, nesting the new sets under the “all_sSet.” Use this set to build animator selection-sets quickly if your rig is non-standard and not a biped rig.

Selection sets can then be parented, adjusted, and automatically rebuilt after saving to the scene.

To save selection sets in the Zoo Selection Set UI, select the top set, usually “all_sSet”, and then use “Save To Scene – Selected Set Hierarchies”.

Once sets are saved in the scene, use the build script SelectionSetBuildFromSaved after you have parented and adjusted all your selection sets.

Select the top selection set, and Save To Scene will save data for the scene.

Enhancements: Hive (2.9.5 Released January 28)
– (Hive Fbx Export) Support for export settings tangents and smoothing groups was added.

Hive FBX now supports Tangents/BiNormals and Smoothing Groups.

– (Space Switching) Added copy/paste for space switch drivers between components with ctrl c and ctrl v.
*Note that parent space is not supported for copy/paste.

Custom Switching can now be copied in the UI with ctrl c and ctrl v. Parent space is not supported.

Bug Fix: Hive 2.9.5 (Released January 28)
– (Autoalign) Default Auto Align (FK) doesn’t maintain child guides transform.
– (Spine IK) Added Guide Setting to remove default space switches, allowing users to do it themselves.
– (FK Component) Fix FK custom spaceSwitch drivers being lost between builds.
– (FK/IK) Fix switching from IK to FK, ignoring scale on arms/legs/chain.
– (Spaceswitching) Fix renaming a component that wouldn’t update space switch driver dependencies for other components.
– (Templates) Fixed the horse template spine flipping when moving away from world 0.
– (Templates) Fix the UE template root joint orientation that does not match the UE skeleton.

Bug Fix: Hive 2.9.5a (Released March 3)

– (2 Bone IK) Fix hard coding of aimVector when setting up stretch, allowing for other axes based on the guide’s aimVector.
– (Head) Fix twists not outputting their output nodes, which was making them not connectable to other components.
– ( Hive Twist Knee/Elbow Joints ) Further solved a major issue where twist joints move position, causing incorrect deformation of the knee/elbow while loading the scene after using the Hive UI to build a character. This bug affected all scenes loaded in the Maya session.

Bug Fix: Hive 2.9.5b (Released March 7)
– (EyeComponent) Fix inverted rotations in the rare case where a guide is outside the start or end of the lid curve.
– (MayaApi) Fix the Skin cluster influence weights query that fails when several influences are odd due to float division.
– (GraphicItems) Update widgets/graphics items for Qt6.

Bug Fix: Hive 2.9.5c (Released March 11)
– (Hive default values) A critical Hive bug regression in 2.9.5a and 2.9.5b was not setting default attribute values correctly, this has been fixed in 2.9.5c.
– (Hive FBX Exporter) Fixed an issue causing the UI to fail with FBX settings saved in the scene. This affected Hive versions with the new tangents/binormals checkbox.
– (Hive Jaw Component) Fixed the jaw output node not receiving the auto-top-lip result.

Bug Fix: Hive 2.9.5f (Released April 2)
– Face: Regression issues mirroring eye components in Guides mode have been fixed.
– Legs: The IK hip controller (baseIk) now mirrors correctly for animators.
– Brows: Fixed a build error when a joint guide is outside the raycast tolerance of the brow curve.
– Head: Fixed the neck alignment, but did not maintain guide position when neck guide autoAlign is off.
– Other AttributeError with axisNamesToNegativeVector have been fixed.
Bug Fix: Zoo Tools 2.9.5d (Released March 27)
– (Right-click menus and Zoo Marking Menus ) Zoo Tool’s right-click and marking menus now work well with Maya’s security settings and resolve conflicts with third-party marking menus.
Zoo marking menus have enhanced load speeds, as well as the opening speeds of the Hive UI.
– ( Hive Space Switching ) Fixed an incorrect point Constraint offset when creating a point constraint.