CHANNEL BOX MANAGER – OVERVIEW

Channel Box Manager adds missing functionality to controlling attributes in Maya’s Channel Box.

– Shuffle/reorder attributes up and down
– Create Maya’s hidden proxy attributes
– Add separator/divider attributes

Add divider labels in the channel box, and re-order attributes.

Proxy attributes act as instanced attributes. The same attribute can be on multiple objects.

THE PROBLEM

Maya is missing Key functionality for managing attributes in the Channel Box.

THE SOLUTION

Zoo Tool’s Channel Box Manager allows you to reorder attributes and create proxy attributes which are not available in Maya’s UI.

We’ve also added a handy Add Separator button to add title dividers to the Channel Box too.

WHAT ARE PROXY ATTRIBUTES

Proxy Attributes have been available available in Maya since the later versions of 2016, but they have not been exposed in Maya’s UI.

Proxy Attributes are a bit like copying an attribute to another object. But when you change one attribute the other is changed automatically at the same time, it’s like they are a same attribute.

You can also say that the proxy attributes is an instance of the original, so when the proxy is updated then the original driver attribute will be too.

Proxy Attributes are handy in many situations, for example Hive uses proxy attributes for editing IK/FK and space switch settings on our rigs.

ATTRIBUTE WINDOW SETTINGS

Open Add Attr Window Button
Opens Maya’s Add Attribute window.

Open Edit Attr Window Button
Opens Maya’s Edit Attribute window.

Open Delete Attr Window Button
Opens Maya’s Delete Attribute window.

Delete Selected Attr
Deletes any selected attributes in the channel box.

ATTRIBUTE TOOLS SETTINGS

Shuffle Selected Channel Box Attributes
Highlight an attribute name/s in the Channel Box and press up/down to shuffle down.

Add Separator Attribute
Add the name of the new label, select object/s then press to create an attribute separator.

CREATE PROXY ATTRIBUTE SETTINGS

Driver Obj
The driver object name. Must be unique in the scene.

Driver Attr
The driver object’s attribute name.

Add Driver Icon Button
Adds the selected object into the text fields.
Select an attribute in the channel box to also add the attribute name.

Proxy Obj/s
The object name that the proxy will be created.
If left empty the currently selected object will be used.

Proxy Attr
The name of the proxy attribute to be created.
If left empty the original attribute’s name will be used.

Add Proxy Icon Button
Adds the selected object into the proxy object text field.

Create Proxy Attribute
Creates a proxy attribute using the text settings.

If the bottom text section is left empty then will attempt to use the selected object and the driver’s attribute name.