ANIMATION PATHS – OVERVIEW

We’ve consolidated all of Maya’s path animation tools, with improved features, in a single, easy-to-access location.

Say goodbye to Maya’s tedious Motion Trail management – our marking menu and UI let you easily create, rebuild, and tweak display settings.

Fast management of Motion Trails with our marking menu.

The Animation Paths/Trails Tool UI.

CV CURVE FROM ANIMATION

Convert the motion of an object into a single CV curve using the CV Curve From Animation button.

This curve can then be easily reattached to paths with the help of our Motion Path Rig tool found under the rigging icon menu.

Other features include a Objects From Anim button duplicates objects at regular intervals within an animation sequence.

The UI also provides access to Maya’s Ghost Editor (2022+).

THE PROBLEM

The display settings for Maya’s Motion Trails are complex and tricky to navigate. They tend to get stuck and fail to update correctly.

The motion trail display settings are clunky and can only be modified one object at a time.

Maya lacks a CV Curve From Animation feature and a way to Duplicate Objects From Animation, which also limits its functionality.

Poor grouping and placement in the menus can make it difficult to locate other motion pathing tools.

THE SOLUTION

The Zoo Tools Motion Trail builder and its accompanying marking menu makes building and managing motion trails fast and intuitive.

Create, rebuild, and tweak display settings with ease.

Our CV Curve From Animation and Duplicate Objects From Animation features provide Maya users with tools not available within the software.

And we’ve added an Open Ghost Editor button for your convenience.

TOOL OPEN CODE

The Animation Paths/Trails Tool can be opened with the following code:

from zoo.libs.maya.cmds.hotkeys import definedhotkeys
definedhotkeys.open_animationPaths(advancedMode=False)

MARKING MENU CODE

To activate the Motion Trails marking menu, press the single quote key (‘) while using our Zoo Tools Default hotkey set.

If you prefer to map the hotkey on your own, you can use the code provided below, or you can install the Zoo Hotkeys and find the code in Maya’s Hotkey Editor (see next section).

Map the following code to a “Press” functionality . Make sure to change the alt, shift, and ctrl keys accordingly.

from zoo.libs.maya.cmds.hotkeys import definedhotkeys
definedhotkeys.motionTrailMarkingMenuPress(alt=False, shift=False, ctrl=False)

Be sure to assign the same hotkey for mapping to the “Release” function as well:

from zoo.libs.maya.cmds.hotkeys import definedhotkeys
definedhotkeys.motionTrailMarkingMenuRelease()

INSTALLING HOTKEYS

To install the Zoo Tools Pro Default hotkeys, open the Zoo Hotkey Editor and follow the prompts.

Alternatively, you can install the hotkeys by accessing the Zoo Preferences Window.

Zoo Preferences Window > Zoo Hotkey Editor > Install Zoo Hotkeys

After installing the hotkeys, you have the option to use our default hotkey set provided by Zoo Tools or access all hotkeys through Maya’s Hotkey Editor.

Windows > Settings Preferences > Hotkey Editor

To access our hotkeys in Maya’s Hotkey Editor, and assign any to your custom hotkey set, select Custom Scripts under Edit Hotkeys For:.

Once Zoo Hotkeys are installed, you can find all our hotkeys here.