The Alchemy Tools for Maya
Demo Video:
What are they?
A very handy collection of scripts and tools designed to help you work quicker and easier in Maya. They have been specifically designed with the artist in mind to be very easy to use and fully customisable to your own preferences and workflows.
What do I get?
The alchemy tools set consists of the following set of scripts:
1. Alchemy Combine
- Combines 2 or more objects in a clean and tidy way whilst preserving object properties AND skinning.
2. Alchemy Separate
- Detaches the selected faces from the associated mesh, in a clean and tidy way.
3. Alchemy Duplicate
- Select one or many faces on a mesh object and duplicate them into a new, clean object.
4. The Renamer Tool
- Quickly and effectively rename objects in your Maya scene. Also contains a search &replace names feature.
5. The Skinning Tool
- Allows you to copy & paste skinning very effectively as well as quickly apply and adapt exisiting skin weights
6. The Collection Tool
- Collect all the external files which your current scene depends on and output them into a specified folder.
7. Super Copy
- Copy your selection between Maya scenes and sessions
8. Super Paste
- Paste your previously copied selection into the current Maya scene.
9. Refresh Textures
- Provides a quick and easy way to refresh/reload all the texture files used in your Maya scene
The above are very brief description of the tools. A complete set of detailed documentation, along with step-by-step guides on how to use them accompany the download.
How do I install them?
(WINDOWS)
1. CLOSE MAYA (IF OPEN)
2. UNZIP THE ALCHEMY TOOLS FOLDER ANYWHERE YOU LIKE
3. COPY THE CONTENTS OF THE "ICONS" FOLDER FROM ALCHEMY TOOLS TO YOUR MAYA FOLDER (example = C:\Users\user_name\Documents\maya\2011-x64\prefs\icons)
4. COPY THE CONTENTS OF THE "SCRIPTS" FOLDER FROM ALCHEMY TOOLS TO YOUR MAYA FOLDER (example = C:\Users\user_name\Documents\maya\2011-x64\prefs\scripts)
5. COPY THE CONTENTS OF THE "SHELVES" FOLDER FROM ALCHEMY TOOLS TO YOUR MAYA FOLDER (example = C:\Users\user_name\Documents\maya\2011-x64\prefs\shelves)
6. RE-OPEN MAYA
7. YOU SHOULD NOW HAVE A "ALCHEMYTOOLS" SHELF WITH ALL THE REQUIRED BUTTONS ON IT.
* Further details about the installation process and the tools themselves can be found with your download.
Other Stuff
These scripts have been written and tested in Maya 2011 x64.
If you have any requests or bugs please report them via the tabs at the top and I'll do my best to respond as soon as possible. If you have any further questions or queries please message me directly here.
MAC USERS: These tools have not been tested on a Mac/Linux system, so I cannot guarantee their stability - however I see no reason why they wouldn't work, so please download and give me some feedback!
Thanks! :)