From The Creator - Our Journey
- nobraintools
- Mar 3
- 4 min read
About Groomer's Tool
Groomer’s Tool is a Maya grooming and curve toolkit that I build and maintain. I started it during a real animation production, when XGen was getting popular and our team was still learning it. We had tight deadlines, and we kept doing the same steps over and over fixing the same problems too. So I began writing small tools to make the work faster, and less stressful.
Why I Made it
I started as an XGen groomer long before I ever wrote a single line of code. I did not have a technical degree. I only had a script editor, a deadline, and during that time, grooming was not established as it is nowadays. There was a lot of frustration.
In production, there was always something blocking or slowing down our creative flow as artists. Naming rules were different everywhere. Assets were handed over between teams that never followed the same structure. XGen would break for reasons and nobody had time to dig deep. The body base model kept changing and it messed up the grooms. These small problems just piled up.
Instead of accepting that’s just how it is, I pulled many off hours to find reals cause and look for solutions. While learning to code, I built small scripts one by one. Over time, those scripts took over my Maya shelf, and I packed them together into one place. That’s how the first Groomer’s Tool UI was born.
Built From Real Production Problems
Every tool in Groomer’s Tool has a reason to exist. None of them were made “just because it looks cool”. Coming with full experience in real production pipelines, all the tools/functions has to be production useful. A few early examples:
XGen Renaming Tools (Growth Mesh, Collection & Description), came from passing XGen files between studios and watching them break because each studio used different naming rules.
Deep Backup Utility came from moments like this: an art director wanted to roll back a groom from 20 days ago while XGen was already live, so artists ended up spending days trying to match the old look again.
Guide Color Tool was made after looking at sea of orange guides for hours and hours that hurt my eyes.
A lot of features still start the same way today. A user hit a road block in their production, and I try to make it easier with a magical button.
Why Maya Curves Became Part of It
Groomer’s Tool started with XGen utility tools, but I soon learnt that was not enough. Many grooming tasks need direct curve work in Maya. Maya feels natural for a lot of artists. Even on Houdini shows, artists often come back to Maya to block the first pass of curves.
Working with Maya curves can be fast, but the traditional workflow is also full of repeated clicks. Artists keep switching between component and object mode, digging through menus, and doing the same small steps over and over. I built quick scripts/functions (now the Groomer’s Tool toolkit) to reduce that.
Examples of Curve Tools
I will keep this list short on purpose. The full details are on the Documents page.
Curve Extraction Tool: extract what you need in one go (center curve, edge loops, custom amount of curves, or filling a tube with curves). It later evolved to support cards and direct edge loop extraction too.
Curve Snap: base meshes can change alot, and XGen handles updates poorly. This tool helps snap curves to the new mesh, then convert them back to guides. It saves hours when the model changes.
Trim / Curve Fill / Copy and Paste Curves: small tools that remove repeated steps that keep showing up across many assets and styles.
PaintFX Curve Tool: a fast way to lay down curves or guides on the mesh for creatures, short hairstyles, fur patches, feathers, or precise eyebrows. I later added simple preset length options to speed up short hair work.
Interactive Curve Tools: work with curves directly in the viewport. Artists can sculpt, add, cut, attach, extend, or move curves without relying on Maya’s default transform tools.
What's interesting is that, since Groomer's Tool was born in 2020, artists often discover new ways to use these tools that I did not plan for. That kind of feedback keeps improving the toolkit.
From Curves to Cards and Tubes
In many traditional productions, proxy geometry in Maya is important for preview. Cards and tubes keep scenes light. Many studios nowadays still rigs a light-weight proxy hair because it’s a fast way to see hair shape and motion in the viewport.
That is where our first Curve to Proxy Managers (Tube/Card/Twist Manager) began. Over time, these tools grew into the Hair Tube Builder and the Hair Card Builder, with more features and more controls. The Interactive Curve Tools also grew with them, so shaping cards and tubes can be done with strand curves, or with curve and geo selection.
What Keeps it Going?
There is no big team behind Groomer’s Tool. It's just myself. I build it mostly with Python, one function at a time. Some days it's smooth sail. Some days are debugging feast.
Instead of the tools getting abandoned after version 1.0, features are added, improvements are made, and compatibility is maintained through the year to keep the toolkit alive. Groomer's Tool has been around since 2020, and went through many version updates.
If Maya curves are not a regular part of your work, you might not use Groomer’s Tool every day. But when curves becomes a major focus, it can save hours, reduce stress, and make grooming work feel much smoother.
It has been quite a journey so far and I believe there's a long way ahead still. I like to thank my teams and friends, you all have helped Groomer's Tool shapped what it is today.
Thank you
- Jason
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