Jan 19

New Version – Zoo Tools Pro 2.6.4

In Zoo 2.6.4 Hive Auto-Rigger (Alpha)  supports timeline space switching and change rotation order over a time range, and improves game engine support. VRay and Maya’s native shader support has been added to many of our tools including: – Shader Presets – Shader Manager – Randomize Shaders – Convert Shaders (previous version) – Shader Swap Shader Manager and Shader Presets now support metalness and emission. Shader Manager now can change multiple... read more →
Dec 21

Hive in Zoo Tools 2.6.3

Hive auto-rigger keeps growing in Zoo Tools Pro 2.6.3!  With new "update symmetry" where you can change pivots/controls while keeping the existing skinning.  Many other Hive updates and fixes too in 2.6.3, enjoy and Happy Holidays!
Dec 20

New Version – Zoo Tools Pro 2.6.3

Zoo Tools 2.6.2 is out and Hive Auto-Rigger (Alpha) has been upgraded now supporting symmetry changes on skinned meshes and more. We have two new tools Convert Shaders with Arnold, VRay, Redshift and Renderman support and the Rigging Miscellaneous tool with some nice rigging features. The new tool Convert Shaders converts shaders between Maya’s default, Arnold, VRay, Redshift, and Renderman shaders. Textures are not yet... read more →
Dec 10

Hive Auto-Rigger Templates

Hive uses templates as our prebuilt presets for starting to rig your characters.  The new Zoo 2.6.2 comes with new look templates and components. The newly added biped is ready to go and better control designs for all existing templates too. Components are our rig parts/modules and templates are multiple... read more →
Dec 08
Dec 05
Dec 01
Nov 16

New Version – Zoo Tools Pro 2.6.1

Zoo 2.6.1 is here and Hive Alpha has been upgraded with multi-branch fk, new look feet controls, and pole vectors that space-switch to feet/wrists. Hive has also had all round stability improvements. This version also fixes many small bugs from 2.6.0 which was a major upgrade. Enhancement – Zoo Shelf The ZooToolsPro shelf now remembers... read more →
Nov 05

New Version – Zoo Tools Pro 2.6.0

Zoo 2.6.0 is our biggest release and marks the first version of Hive our brand new auto-rigger! Please note that Hive is in alpha and ready for testing but it should not be relied upon for production. We’ve upgraded five browsers with a new multi-folder select feature, and Focus Puller now supports all our supported renderers and bokeh settings. The Zoo UIs now sport a new look... read more →
Sep 27

Hive Alpha For Testing

We've snuck out an initial alpha release of Hive our brand new autorigger. Email us at info@create3dcharacters.com if you'd like to take it for a trail run.  You must be a site subscriber and have the latest version of Zoo Tools to run.  See this page for a full video... read more →
Sep 27
Sep 14

Pot – Tortoise Chris Ayers

New character pots, and what better way to start that with Chris Ayer's author of The Daily Zoo where he has been drawing an animal everyday for 15 years!  Here I'm block modeling one of Chris's great characters. Tools used. 0:03 Image Plane Tool 0:07 Model Assets 0:08 Fix Viewport... read more →
Sep 12
Sep 06
Sep 03

Fix Viewport Tool – Overview

New in ZooTools Pro 2.5.4.  Make Maya's viewport look beautiful with the Fix Viewport tool.  This tool creates a viewport light and HUD with many controls. Create soft shadows in realtime and use in cunjunction with our HDRI Skydomes tool. For more information about this tool visit this page. See... read more →
Aug 26
Jul 22
Jul 21
Jul 20

Tool Overview – Image Planes

Create Image Planes effortlessly with just a double-click. Move and scale the images around your viewport, add multiple images. Copy/paste images into the browser and screen grab images too.  This browser also has a lot of tag functionality for organising large image libraries. More more information see the Image Plane... read more →
Jul 14

Tool Overview – Displacement Manager

Apply and manage displacement maps in seconds with the Displacement Manager tool. Easily apply and control vector displacement with Zoo Tools Pro. Supports Redshift, Arnold and Renderman for Maya. See the full tutorial on the Displacement Manager tool page. Credits Rhino by Andrew Silke (Instructor) Ear displacement by Andrew Camenisch.... read more →
Jul 13

Tool Overview – Unfold Tube

Unfold Tube, instantly UV unwrap quad-mesh tubes and open-grids.  Unwrapping objects in straight grids is a suprisingly common task, let Zoo instantly unwrap hair, grass, leaves, pipes, roads and more. To use this tool simply select the long edge along the tube and run. For more information see the Unfold... read more →
Jul 09
Jul 08
Jul 07
Jul 06
Jul 02

Tool Overview – Shader Presets

Assign materials fast in Maya with Shader Presets for Zoo Tools Pro. Includes over 50 presets and add your own. Supports Arnold, Redshift and Renderman with VRay support coming soon. More Info see the Shader Presets Page. Model Van Credit: Bailey Smith Original Design: Anton Shameta 
Jul 01
Jun 30
Jun 29
Jun 25
Jun 08

New Version – Zoo Tools Pro 2.5.2

This version features three new tools Animate Along Curve , Replace Shapes , Render Object Display , and large upgrades to our Installer and Preferences management. Modeling Align has a new function Place Objects on surface, where multiple object’s can be snapped to a single piece of geometry. There’s a new Getting Started Page and popup window will help you get up and running with... read more →
May 10

New Version – Zoo Tools Pro 2.5.1

This version features three new tools Randomize Shaders , Zoo Select , Animation Paths , and a new installer and uninstaller. Many of our UIs have had a facelift with a new more modern button style. We’ve fixed a rare Maya 2022 startup error related to security issues. New Tool – Randomize Shaders: Randomize Shaders helps assign and manage... read more →
Apr 26

New Version – Zoo Tools Pro 2.5.0

This version supports Maya 2022 (Python 3) and features six new tools. The Animation Toolbox which was previously named General Animation Tools has had a major upgrade. New hotkeys are included and many bug fixes and improvements. — New Tools — Randomize Objects Graph Editor Toolbox Bake Animation Numeric Animation Retimer Randomize Keyframes Scale... read more →
Mar 09
Dec 19

New Version – Zoo Tools Pro 2.4.3

This version adds two new tools Maya Scenes and Manage Nodes . We’ve released a new Rig Pack . The Rhino model, Octopus and Robo rigs have been added. You can download those from the Zoo Tools Pro Install Page and browse the files in the new Maya Scenes tool. Create 3d Characters.com has had a major site upgrade and Zoo Tools... read more →
Nov 17
Sep 14
Aug 31

New Version – Zoo Tools Pro 2.4.0

In version 2.4.0 we have three new tools, Thick Extrude and Skinning Utilities and Reparent Group Toggle . Spline Rig is now interactive and can space switch, NCloth Wrinkle Creator can automatically generate thickness on thin meshes and Zoo Mirror Geo supports mirroring in object space after an object’s transforms have been frozen. We’ve simplified the latest version of Zoo Tools so that... read more →