New LCT Scripts Package

Downloads

I’ve updated the scripts package with new tools and a handy shelf that auto-populates with the scripts.

Here are the new additions:

lcBatchBake:
This is an update to a Mel script I made previously.  It now sports a much smaller interface and handles pathing well.

lcCameraTools:
An update to an old Mel script, now with less bugs.

lcHideByToken:
This tool will let you hide one or more objects based on parts of their file name.  For example, and object named ‘polygon_sphere_geo’ can be hidden by typing the word ‘geo’ in the script window.

lcMoveImagePlane:
This tool lets you make image planes in the orthographic views quickly and can add a control curve to them so they can be moved and scaled.  No more using textured polyPlanes.

lcTextureTools:
Another revision to an old Mel script.  This will rename your fileNodes based on the texture linked to it.  You can also reload all the textures in the scene or only those that have changed since you last reloaded.  You can also repath textures if you move project locations, and open textures in Photoshop.

Also included are the lcRetopoBasic and lcObjTools scripts.

Install Help Video:

LCT Scripts Update

Downloads

lcRetopoBasic:

I changed some things so undo will work properly after doing a shrink wrap.

lcObjTools:

Lets you set a path to quickly export obj files.  You can export the selected geometry either combined or each piece individually.  If  you have poly-smooth preview turned on those pieces can be exported with that baked down.  You can also import multiple obj’s at the same time
Note: overwrites without warning.

lcShaderTools_BETA

I’ve been asked about the shadow baking script I was working on.  It made it to the beta form you see here, but I’ve mostly abandoned this project.  The DirectX11 features previewed recently for Maya 2013 address many of my issues, so I’m waiting for that to release new shaders.

This tool is BETA, and I’ll offer NO SUPPORT – the workflow is very rigid, there are bugs.  Extract the ‘lct’ folder to your scripts directory (overwrite as necessary), check the README for run command.

Downloads


USAGE:

1. Click ‘Make CGFX’ and assign this shader as necessary – only the shader created using the tool can interact with it – no other shaders will work with this tool.
2. Click ‘Make or Link Lights’ – this creates a directional light and 3 point lights that are automatically linked to the shaders – you adjust light properties through the light node itself – for point lights the intensity value = attenuation and may have to be set very high depending on your scene scale.
3. For shadow baking, select ONE mesh and click ‘Setup UV’s’ – this creates a secondary UV set for all mesh’s that share the same shader.
4. Mental Ray must be turned ON and available.
5. To bake shadows - select ONE object and click one of the Bake buttons – this bakes shadows for any mesh’s that share the same shader – you do not need to specify a bake path unless you want to.
   

lcRetopoBasic–Another Update

Downloads

Some small changes based on requests

• Removing a mesh from the High Res List will reset its display overrides such as x-ray and hidden
• Added code to better handle Undo queue functionality when doing a shrink-wrap or relax
• Adjusting the mesh layering effect with the slider will do so for all mesh’s in the list not just the selected one
• Adding a new mesh to the High Res List will pop it to the currently active mesh layering distance
• I disable Viewport 2.0’s vertex animation caching when the script is run – this fixes the problem of the mesh layering effect not updating when the viewport is rotated.  Caching will NOT be automatically re-enabled.

lcRetopoBasic–UPDATE

Downloads

Still BETA, but I’ve squashed some bugs and added some helpful features

• Should deal with object names better, and namespaces from importing obj’s
• Should no longer hang on occasion when relaxing or shrink wrapping
• You can work in any selection mode, object, face, edge, vertex and use the Relax and Shrink-Wrap tools
• Will keep your selection mode so you can continue editing components
• Highlights the Object List red to remind you that you have no high-res selected

Still to do:
    Viewport 2.0 should(?) offer some speed boosts, especially when working with large high-res objects, but the method for layering the high and low res geo doesn’t work properly in VP2.0.  I need to come up with an updated method

lcRetopoBasic–Maya Retopology Tool

Downloads

I was inspired after seeing RetopoG, but since it is not currently available I decided to make my own tool for Maya.

This tool will let you use Maya’s makeLive features to easily draw new topology on a mesh.  The tool is designed to be very simple and rely heavily on Maya’s built-in modeling tools.  This is written in pyMel, which only comes pre-installed on Maya 2011 and later.

This is a very early beta-like version, I’ve only just begun to test this in the last few days but it seems workable.  I don’t have any plans to include a full custom toolset like RetopoG, you will mostly have to use Maya’s tools.

A short video explaining the tool:

The Relax Verts and Shrink-Wrap Verts are tools based on Oleg Alexander’s oaRelaxVerts.mel