September 2010
14 posts
5 tags
Maya subscription pack fixes for dumb 2011.5 names...
If you downloaded the Maya subscription pack, you probably noticed that the install puts the app in a “2011.5” folder instead of “2011.” I assumed it was because they were using a new version Qt or something else that would break plug-in compatibility but after some testing, I found that’s not the case. Everything I loaded (V-Ray, Shave and a Haircut, The Setup...
My review of 3D-savvy virtual machine software... →
4 tags
Made a MEL script for quad cleanup tasks
I got tired of reaching for my shelf when doing mesh cleanup for sculpting so I put together a little palette I called Facer. It’s nothing crazy but I like it because it’s streamlined for this task, with some handy commands for finding ngons, tris, holes, and it has some nice toggles:
Grab the Facer script from the files section of my site. I’m going to make a marking menu...
6 tags
Script to toggle OS and Qt style dialogs in Maya....
I hate the new Qt open/save dialogs for Maya 2011. They don’t work with Spotlight on OS X, they can’t preview images, and they just feel like a step back for me personally. Fortunately, you can set them back to OS style in the application prefs, but you occasionally need to use the Qt ones to set export/import preferences. So I made a simple script to toggle the style and tell you...
2 tags
Maya 2011 Quick-scroll Tip
Maya 2011’s panels are really slow to navigate with the mouse wheel but there is a way to scroll page-by-page. Use the command key on OS X (usually control on Windows) with scroll wheel and it will jump larger distances. Feels like having someone lift a weight off of your mouse.
3 tags
Part Two of my "3D on the Mac" is out
My extensive two-part piece about 3D on the Mac (with plenty of platform-agnostic info) is up:
Click to read a lot.
4 tags
Use Content Aware Fill for extending transparent...
I’m posting this tutorial and Photoshop CS5 action in response to this thread, where someone needed a good method for extending pixel edges of things like foliage for game art. This works also well for creating UV cleanup borders. Perform this script on a duplicate of your layer and put it below your existing one. It alters a 1px radius at the edge while extending, so you might not want that...
5 tags
Quick trick to open files from copied text paths...
I need to open file path from text URLs in Nuke or from text paths in Maya there’s a quick way to do it from the Terminal, which I always have open. Just copy the file path and put “open ” before pasting it:
open /magazineplaceholder/frames/reflectpass_light_Environment.exr
Then the file will open in the app that handles that file type. If you want to make an even shorter...
4 tags
Fix corrupted Maya V-Ray VFB data
Here’s a fix for users of V-Ray for Maya who are having problems with V-Ray’s VFB disappearing. I’ve seen it happen with some older scenes and the fix is simple: open your scene as a Maya ASCII in a text editor and delete the VFB parameters:
Search for “VFB” and delete that set of data. Save and reopen in Maya and the VFB will work again. These .ma text files can...
3 tags
Fast low-res mesh retopology with ZBrush 4 voxels
ZBrush 4 has some new voxel meshing tools that are a big help for those times you just need relatively even quad meshes for things like normal-mapped meshes. I use retopology tools like Topogun when I need strict control over edge loop flow but when I just want some decent quads quickly, this is a huge time-saver and the quality is very good.
The workflow is pretty basic:
send the high-res mesh...
4 tags
V-Ray gets Shave and a Haircut fur support
V-Ray is catching up fast on mental ray for Maya features and a big one that just got taken care of is fur. Joe Alter just added V-Ray support for Shave and a Haircut and even though I’ve had some crashes, it’s a promising start:
I’m trying to find the best primary and secondary bounce combo for speed. Brute force is slow.
9 tags
2 tags
Use the spacebar with ZBrush 4 for precision
When I was beta testing ZBrush 4’s amazing clipping tools, one thing became apparent: they needed a way to transform them before committing the clip or else people would spend a lot of time undoing/redoing with hit-and-miss clips. Pixologic agreed and my request for a Photoshop-style spacebar translate was added to clip and mask operations. So here’s this useful feature in action:
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1 tag
Anonymous asked: are you still a jerk?
