Tools Maya
Table of Contents
- 1 Table of Contents
- 2 Tools
- 3 General Tools
- 3.1 Sanity Check
- 3.2 Turntable Playblast
- 3.3 Playblast for Set Dressing
- 3.4 Publish
- 3.4.1 Animation specifics
- 3.5 Sets Tool
- 3.6 Export Build (Review Caches)
- 3.7 Switch shot camera type
- 3.8 Submit Render (Obsolete)
- 3.9 Render Settings Tool (Obsolete)
- 3.10 Light Setup Settings Tool (Obsolete)
- 3.11 Object ID Tool (Obsolete)
- 4 Asset Tools
- 5 Align Tools
- 6 Material Tools
- 7 Other Tools
Tools
This window is the collection of tools specific to the task you are working on.
In the Maya shelf, click on the Pipeline tab and select Tools.
The tools listed can vary by the type of task you are working on.
Some important tools will always show, like Sanity Check and Publish.
These tools are split up in categories and each tab represents a category.
General Tools
Sanity Check
This tool provides scene checks to ensure you are working with correct data and are outputting correct data.
The sanity check also runs in the background during important steps of the pipeline like submitting for render, publishing, ... So if it pops up while using another tool, it means something is wrong and you should fix it before you can continue.
By default the items in the tool will be gray. When a sanity check result is ok, it will appear green, otherwise it will color red (error) or orange (warning). When it appears red, you will need to fix it. When orange, the choice is up to you. Usually orange means it would normally need to be fixed, but because that sanity check is not strict, it could be that you don't want that specific setting (for instance project resolution forcing in case of special shots that need a different resolution).
At the top of the window you can find explanations on how to use the tool.
To fix a single sanity check, press the button. After that, the sanity check should be green.
When right clicking separate items, you have the choice to run the selected one, or to run all or to reset.
By clicking Check all at the bottom, everything will be checked but not fixed.
By clicking Fix blocking (errors only) at the bottom, only the red items will be fixed automatically. Be careful, this might not always be wanted. Some items should be fixed manually if you see that the auto fix does not do what you expected from it.
By clicking Fix all (errors and warnings) at the bottom, everything will be fixed automatically.
When all lights are green, you can head to the next step.
Turntable Playblast
This tool allows you to make a video playblast.
Asset tasks will have a Turntable Playblast
Shot tasks will have a normal Playblast
When the playblast button is clicked, a window pops up with multiple options.
First, define your frame range.
Next, you can choose between creating a turntable with an existing camera (which you can select below) or creating a turntable from scratch. This second option will create a camera with an X rotation of -25 to rotate around the asset. On shot tasks there will be a popup to ask which camera to use, which will mostly be a shot camera (defaults to camera on shotCamera namespace).
Finally, you will be prompted to choose between Local, Deadline or Local Batch. (Although all options might not always be available, Local will always be present)
When using Local, the active view will be playblasted on your local workstation.
When using Local Batch, a local publish will be launched, but you can continue working.
When using Deadline, a render will be made from the defaultRenderLayer and sent to the render farm (since playblasting requires a GPU, which the farm doesn't have at the moment).
At the moment the Local option is used the most and this will create a customized window.
Playblast for Set Dressing
You can choose to do a Playblast instead of a Turntable Playblast when working on a Set Dressing task. The tool will appear just below the turntable tool.
Open the playblast window and select the Multi tab.
To add cameras to be rendered you have to select them in the Outliner and click on the Add button. You can change the order of the camera by selecting it in the list and using the ↑ and ↓ buttons.
For the tool to work properly the cameras will need keys. These keys will determine the frame range of the playblast for each camera. This means you have to set 2 keys per camera, one in and one out.
Once everything is setup click on Playblast. You’ll see a preview of all the cameras being used for render, their respective frame ranges and the total length of the playblast. Click on Yes to launch the render.
Publish
This tool is used to publish your work to ftrack to be reviewed. The publish tool will check certain things, even on startup, and will notify the user when required renders e.a. are missing with a popup. If everything is present, the Publish Tool window will appear.
In the left part of the tool will be a list of actions that will be executed when publishing this scene.
These actions should be left alone in most cases.
On the right, you have the Publish choice, where you can choose between Deadline, Local Batch or Local.
It is best practice to send everything to the farm (Deadline) so your workstation doesn't slow down and you can keep working without problems except when you’re publishing small files of course.
Next, you can select the status that the task on ftrack should change to. You can choose between Pending Review and In Progress.
In most cases, you publish your work because you want it to be reviewed, so by default the status is set to Pending Review.
Finally, there is a description text box to fill with what you did, to give the reviewers more information about the publish and the work done.
When everything is set and filled in, press the publish button and the window will disappear when the process is sent to the farm, or when the process is started (Local Batch) or done (Local). You can also cancel or close the window if you don't want to proceed.
When cancelling a publish, you will need to increment your version before you can publish again.
When publishing, a review movie will be uploaded to ftrack and the server (inside the reviews folder of your asset/shot). Your review will also be added to the list of today's dailies on ftrack.
When the publish is done Locally, you
Animation specifics
Animation publishes no longer require mandatory FBX cache exports, in order to speed up the process of reviewing. Only a playblast can be created and published to ftrack.
Once you are satisfied with the playblast, use the publish tool.
As you will see the Cache FBX action is off by default, so this will only create a playblast review on ftrack.
IMPORTANT: If you need to export FBX caches, activate the main checkbox and all the caches you want to export.
When the publish is done Locally you will be prompted the following:
Continue will open the work file and version up (hence taking up a few minutes).
Open cache build will load a fresh scene and load the caches.
Third option will do both, opening a new maya to display the caches.
Sets Tool
This tool is used to create sets that will trigger certain behavior on other places in the pipeline, like publishing. At the moment this tool is only available on the rigging task to indicate what needs to be cached.
Fbx
Add/Remove selection to/from FBX set will create a set that is used during FBX export, to indicate what needs to be exported.
Important: This set is mandatory, without it nothing will be exported as fbx!
(On rigging builds this set is automatically created.)Add/Remove selection to/from exclude_on_export will create a set that is used to exclude meshes from the export. This set is optional and is strictly for geometry situated under the Geometry transform node:
Example of an exclude_on_export set:
Alembic
Add/Remove selection to/from ABC set will create a set that is used during ABC export, to indicate what needs to be exported.
Important: This set is optional, but without it nothing will be exported as alembic!
Export Build (Review Caches)
This is available on the animation task, enabling to create a new scene with the latest exported / published caches for review purposes.
The caches are grabbed from the latest asset version published and loaded as references.
Switch shot camera type
This is available on the animation task, enabling you to switch between abc and fbx camera (if available!).
A context/shot has a preferred camera type to use, and this can be changed by this tool. If a camera of the type is available, it will load in the camera. From that moment on, that type of camera is preferred, also when updating the camera later on.
Submit Render (Obsolete)
Tool to submit scenes to the farm for rendering.
Only available on shading and lighting tasks.
This tool hasn't been used in a while, render layers also changed so could need some adaptations.
Render Settings Tool (Obsolete)
Tool to save render settings (of renderlayers), enabling easy re-use project wide.
Only available on shading and lighting tasks.
This tool hasn't been used in a while, render layers also changed so could need some adaptations.
Light Setup Settings Tool (Obsolete)
Tool to save light setups, enabling easy re-use project wide.
Only available on shading and lighting tasks.
This tool hasn't been used in a while, so could need some adaptations.
Object ID Tool (Obsolete)
Tool to apply an id to objects / meshes, so they can be rendered in an id pass with unique colors (object masks).
Only available on shading and lighting tasks.
This tool hasn't been used in a while, so could need some adaptations.
Asset Tools
This tab will contain asset-related tools and utilities.
Asset Browser
The Asset Browser window is structured into 2 parts.
The left part matches the hierarchy of the project’s assets structures. You can expand the folders to find the asset you want to import.
The right part is where you’ll be able to see and select the assets individually or select all the assets in the list by type. You can see the total amount of asset selected next to the Import button.
Also, the assets that can be imported is filtered with the task you’re working in. Additionally, when working on sets or environment tasks a link from the asset(s) to the set will automatically be created in ftrack when the file is published.
Locator Snapping Tool
This tool will snap your selection to a parent locator on the Set Dressing task. This will ease the moving of the assets with the locator only.
It is active by default. When activating the tool, and on selection, you wil be notified if the tool is active with a HUD message:
If you want to create assets with the Create New Asset From Selection tool, you will first need to turn off Locator Snapping.
Duplicate Reference
This tool allows you to make an instance of a reference in your scene without having to think about namespaces or containers.
To make an instance of a referenced asset, do the following:
Select any object of the asset
Click on the tool Duplicate Reference
The tool automatically selects the locator node of the duplicated reference. Move, scale and rotate it as you wish.
Create New Asset From Selection
This tool let’s you create a new asset on ftrack from the selected nodes in maya.
Conform the outliner to pipeline convention
Freeze transform the asset you want to assetize
Correct the Outliner hierarchy to fit the pipeline (See screenshot below)
Select the root node in the Outliner (Parent Group). The root node should be named as is: {AssetType}_{AssetName}_{Variant}
Open the tool Tools>Asset>Create Asset From Selection
Press OK
The tool will make a Maya file and reference it in the scene. The root node will be parented to a locator where the world transform will be applied.
If you want to create assets with the Create New Asset From Selection tool, you will first need to turn off Locator Snapping.
Asset Variant Switcher
This tool replaces an asset with one of its variants.
Select either the locator or a part of the mesh you wish to switch
Click on the Asset Variant Switcher button
Select one of the variants available.
Align Tools
Copy AnimCurves
This utility will copy animation curves from a source node to a destination node.
First select the source, then the destination.
It will create a copy of the animation curve and is set as input for the destination.
Align
This utility will align your selection, to another node selected.
First select your source which needs to be aligned, then select the object it needs to be aligned to.
Your source object will be placed on the destination (without contraint).
Parent constraint
This utility will constraint your selection, to another node selected, maintaining the offset.
First select your source which needs to be constraint, then select the object it needs to be constraint to.
Your source object will be constraint to the destination.
Create aligned locator
This utility will create a locator aligned to your selection.
Create constraint locator
This utility will create a locator that is constraint to your selection.
Material Tools
Material Browser
Browse and apply materials to objects in your scene.
This tool is available in shading, texture-shading, texture assignment and lighting tasks.
Selecting Base under Brick will give you a screenshot of the material.
To load it in your scene, select the object you want to apply it to in your scene and select Brick_Base, then press Load Selected.
For a more thorough guide on how to apply materials and their naming conventions, go to Apply Substance Designer Material.
Substance Preset Publisher
You can publish substance presets from a scene to be able to reuse it on different occasions,
once you are done tweaking and everything has the right naming conventions.
Select the preset you created and press Publish Selected.
Once this is done, you can use the Material Browser to load in this preset.
For a more thorough guide on how to create presets and their naming conventions, go toRigging for FBX#Apply-Substance-Designer-Material-(and-Naming-Convention)Create New Substance Designer Presets.
Preview Unity Shading
This utility can be used to render Arnold IPR in the viewport.
When you click the button, lights will be created and several settings are set.
Activate the Arnold view renderer and press play to view the result.
Below is a cube with a rock material applied to it.
The normal viewport 2.0 looks like this.
Other Tools
Studio Library (plugin)
The studio library tool is available for every project.
So when this tool is used, there will be a Global library and a project specific library.
These libraries will be created automatically when used. (So when a new project is used it will create a new one). Things that can be reused over several projects should be put in the Global library.
The libraries can be found at:
BigIce\06_Tools\facility\[project name]\maya\studiolibraryFtrack project code, user settings and thumbnails are saved per ftrack user on the facility in the .users folder in the root folder.
For how to use this plugin, visit https://www.studiolibrary.com/ .
Clean unused AnimCurves
This utility will remove all unconnected animation curves.
Remove Unknown Nodes
This utility will remove all unknown nodes. (Usually from plugins)
FBX Anim Clips Tool
This tool is used to cut up your animation into different parts, so the different parts can be used/chosen in unity.
If the animation doesn't need to be cut up, a clip will be made by default and you don't need to use this.
Give your clip a name, and fill in the duration of the animation that should be used for that clip.
Example: An asset animation from 0-100. IN clip 0-20, CYCLE clip 20 - 80, OUT 80-100
Dressing Cameras Import
With this tool you can load in layout cameras exported from unity into your environments.
However, this requires the environment to be at the same world location in unity. If the environment shifted in unity for whatever reason, the camera’s will not match.
Also to note that there are often scaling issues. I have noticed that for HOAT the environments need to be scaled with *100 to match the camera’s coming from unity.
Load the tool and press on the sequence you would like to load camera’s from.
The sequences and shots visible here are linked to this environment (you will only see sequences and shots that actually use this environment.)
Press the button of the shot and the camera will be loaded in your scene.
Example below of envs_HospitalRoom_A, with a layout camera of shot 11880.
(I scaled the environment temporarily on the root to have the camera display correctly)