HIVE REFERENCE MODEL SKELETON – OVERVIEW

Hive Reference Model Skeleton is a tool that references the existing model and skeleton into your Hive rig.

The tool exports the model and mesh of a Hive rig and saves it out as a .MA file; then it will delete the existing mesh and skeleton in the current scene and reference in the newly exported file. Finally the tool will reconnect the referenced file to the Hive rig in your scene.

Switch a mesh/skeleton in the scene to become referenced.

THE PROBLEM

Many studios work with the skeleton and mesh referenced into the rig scene. For some workflows it can be easier to create many meshes that run off a single skeleton as models can be updated or changed and referenced in and out of the rig scene.

Maya does not support instant referencing of objects while keeping complex connections to a rigging system such as Hive.

THE SOLUTION

The Reference Model Skeleton tool instantly:

1. Saves a copy of the model/skeleton to disk.
2. Removes the model/skeleton from the scene.
3. References back the exported file back into the current file.
4. Reconnects the referenced model/skeleton to the Hive Rig.

NOTE: This process will add a mayaReference build script in the settings section of Hive.

CODE DOCUMENTATION

This tool is further documented in our Hive Code Documentation.

COMPACT SETTINGS

Select Hive Rig Dropdown
Select the Hive rig from the scene to reference it’s model/skeleton.

A valid Hive rig must exist in the scene.

File Path
Sets the filepath of where the model/skeleton will be saved on disk so that it can be referenced.

Export And Reference Model/Skeleton
Export the model/skeleton to disk and then reference it into the scene/Hive rig.

File should be saved before proceeding.