Version Logs

V12.03

8/18/2023

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Curve Sculpt:

ADD: Now the sculpting tool is ‘repeatable’ through the ‘G’ hotkey (default Maya repeat last step). Please note, the Maya Curve Sculpt UI needs to be open.
UPDATE: Previously, the radius scale on shorter curves was off. Sculpt brush Scale adjustment should now respect closer to the size of curves.
UPDATE: Smoothing is now just Middle Click (the previous Ctrl + Click is no longer used, as it was slower and causes dragging effect on cursor)
UPDATE: Smoothing operation is much faster now. The ‘smooth lock’ option is no longer required so it’s removed from the UI.

Guide Color:

FIX: an error will occur when there’s no visualizing map available.

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V.12.02

7/8/2023

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Guide Color Tool:

Upgraded with a new algorithm
New Parameters:
- Threshold - color radius, lower threshold subdivides the underlying geometry more, and is more accurate, slower.
- Resolution - sharpness of color. A default of 512 (the value that has always been used in previous versions), is good in most cases. In some situations, you might want to increase this value higher to get a more precise color map to avoid color ‘bleeding’ into nearby guides.
- Preview map: Turn this on to see underlying guide color map on the scalp

Curve Copy Paste:

NEW ability to copy and paste curve orientation relative to the underlying mesh face.

Curve Extract:

NEW new extract type: Edges.
- Users can now select multiple edges from geometry and extract edgeloops. This is added as an alternative to Maya’s edgeloop to curve tool, which can only allow one edgeloop to curve extraction at a time.

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V.12.01

5/20/2023

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New launch command required, this is due to the following upgrade.

Allows Repository Call to launch UI:

Instead of putting the xgtc folders only in the documents/maya/version/scripts folder, users are now able to (optional) put Groomer’s Tool’s xgtc folder anywhere and launch it with an additional path added. The change is made to allow compatibility with shared networks (ie, put it in a repository path), or for those that would like to organize 3rd party scripts in a custom folder.

Dockable UI to side Tab:

Groomer’s Tool UI is now dockable as a collapsible tab on the left/right side of your Maya scene.

Backend Addition at launch:

Several tools are based on the Maya Working Unit in ‘centimeters’. A warning message will appear upon launch if the current Maya session is set to another metrics.
Upon launch, Groomer’s Tool will automatically enable the following 3 plugins (if not already enabled by default). This is to ensure the useability of some tools.
- fbxmaya
- objexport
- curveWarp

Allow Multiple Collections in Scene on multiple XGen Utility Tools:

FEATURE: support for multiple XGen collections for XGen Utility Tools.

Affected tools are: Guide Toggle, Guide Cut, Guide To Curves, Multi-Clump Bake, XGen Ptex Tool, Iff shortcuts Tool, Spline transfer, IG To Curves, Collection Rename, Description Rename, Modifier rename, DeepBakeup

XGen Custom Shader Parameter Tool:

FEATURE: This will now replace the old “XGen Remove Attribute Tool”
Users will now be able to copy, remove, and create custom shader parameters

XGen Blendshape:

FEATURE: Option to use the same growth mesh as the old base for blending. This is for those that do not have an extracted scalp/growth mesh.
UPDATE: Clear button is added to remove mesh from slot easily.
UPDATE: Added a security layer check for topology, as well as selection type check before blending occurs.

XGen Guide Color:

FEATURE: Added a quick select button to select “all current description guides”, this will help users in previewing guides, so as not to mistakenly select guides from other descriptions.

PaintFX Tool:

FEATURE: Added auto convert to Maya curve functionality.

Curve Add Tool:

FEATURE: ability to set custom CV counts for adding straight curves (middle mouse click, default is 4)

XGen Palette/Description Rename Tool:

FIX: Shaders will now stay assigned to the XGen node after renaming.

Deep Backup:

FIX: Existence of 3dPaintTexture folder will be properly detected upon rolling back a version.

Curve Reverse:
FIX: Freeze transformation is not required anymore when using auto filter option

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V.11.01

4/7/2023

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Maya 2024:

Groomer’s Tool will now be functional in Maya 2024

Pymel:

Groomer’s Tool will no longer use ‘pymel’. It will not be required for Maya 2022/2023 anymore

XGen Deep Backup:

Backup files will now store the 3dPaintTextures folder.
Users will be able to manually select a backup path.
Rolling back a file will now take in considerations of all of the following:
- Backup Folder:
  - .ma/.mb file
  - .xgen file
  - Entire collections folder
  - Entire 3dPaintTextures folder
- Each time a rollback is initiated, the tool will make a copy of the following into a ‘temporary’ folder (xgt_temp):
  - 3dPaintTextures folder
  - Xgen folder

PaintFX to Curves:

Curves will snap properly now to envelope mesh if there’s a transform

XGen Guide To Curves:

Added “Relink Guides” function, this will reconnect the guides with lost history to their associated mesh.

XGen Guide Cut:

Guides not in current live description can now be cut and will stay in its description.

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V.11.00

3/23/2023

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Curve To Tubes:

Added ability to scale tubes in X or Z independently

Curve Trim:

Redesigned the cutting algorithm:
- Curves are rebuilt prior to cutting, this is to enhance the success of more complicated shape curves.

XGen Ptex Viewer:

Users will be able to browse to a custom map directory now. This is to add the ability to preview maps that are renamed or are located in a non-XGen default folder.

Guide to Curve:

Added a rescuing operation to salvage curves from broken guides .

Curve Pivot To Root:

Your voice have been heard, for ease of access, this tool is added to the main UI now.

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V.10.95

2/26/2023

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Curve Copy/Paste:

Maya Curve Copy/Paste function has now been added to the tool kit.

Curve Extract From Tube(s):

Added ‘retain curvature’ function. This will extract curves that match the curvature from the poly tube(s).
- Example for usage: when extracting from a twisty twist (from the Twist Tool), users can use this mode to keep the extracted curves from smoothing.

Bug Fixes/Refinements:

Multiple Curve Tools:

Fixed a bug where if a curve of the same name exists in different groups causes UFE path string error. This was affecting multiple curve tools on previous versions.

Guide Color Tool:

Fixed an issue with misplaced color when scalp mesh has transforms

Curve Snap:

Fixed an issue where curves’ points jam together when using point snap on multiple curves.

Curve Sculpt:

Fix an issue with curves jumping to the cursor when the cursor is clicked too far away before sculpt.

PaintFX to Curves:

Reduced brush stroke sample density, reduces output curve CVs.

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January 25th, 2023

1/25/2023

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V.10.75
This version comes with UI updates and usage improvements to the curves to geometries tools,

Curve To Proxy Tubes:

Improved UI Layout.
Exposed control for individual tubes
Added rotation/twist control per tube

Option added for toggling control curves to set template on/off for better curve CV selections.

Curve To Proxy Cards:

Improved UI Layout.
Added rotation/twist control per card

Option added for toggling control curves to set template on/off for better curve CV selections.

Curve To Twists:

Improved UI Layout to better separate out Master, Substrands and Target Strand controls
Added the ability to twist sub-strands for twisty twists
Exposed scale and twist control for individual sub-strand (target strand)
Option added for toggling control curves to set template on/off for better curve CV selections.

Curve To Curl:

Improved UI Layout

Option added for toggling control curves to set template on/off for better curve CV selections.

Curve To Braids:

Improved UI Layout
Option added for toggling control curves to set template on/off for better curve CV selections.

Curve Clump/Rebel:

This is now an individual tool itself.
Added ability to preview curve falloff prior to clump/repel
Added ability to reverse clump/repel direction

Curve Manipulator:

Upon UI close, the selection mode and soft selection mode will now be reset

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V.10.50

12/30/2022

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V.10.50
Curve Sculpt:

Allows sculpting on multiple curves.
Sculpting can now be done in orthographic viewports as well.
To sculpt multiple curves, select curves those curves first.
If no curves are selected, only one curve closest to the cursor will be sculpted.

Curve To ProxyTubes/Cards:

Now upgraded and separated into two individual UIs with layer manager control.
More functionalities/settings for both types of conversions.
These two tools are created mainly for studios to get a quick pass of proxy tube/cards geo into their pipeline.

PaintFX To Curves:

Added Average Curves Features - averages the length of converted curves from PaintFX
Simplified UI layout

XGen Collection/Description Rename:

More safeguards were added to prevent renaming to the same name already existing in the scene.

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V.10.00

12/3/2022

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Curve To Twists:

New Tool for making twisting curves from a curve.

Curve From Tubes/Cards:

Added the ‘Traverse’ algorithm as another extraction method for cards to avoid corner pinching.
Fixed an issue where using volume fill extraction on volume proxies disconnects setup from Braids UI.

Curve Snap

Users will no longer need to freeze transformation on mesh/curve anymore.
Added the Limit Falloff To Shortest option. Turn this on if you would like to falloff distance to be contained within the length of the shortest curve. This option is added to prevent curves from disappearing after multiple snapping operations.

Curve Trim

Users will no longer need to freeze transformation on mesh/curve anymore.

PaintFX To Curves:

Improved smoothing function on selected curves.

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V.09.50

11/9/2022

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XGen Guide Color:

For the guide color to work, you will need UV on the scalp mesh.

Instead of going through all guides on every operation, only selected guides will be going through the coloring procedure now. A new algorithm has been implemented for baking out the Ptex for the guide color. This speeds up the coloring process when there are many guides in the scene.
Due to this change, a new ‘Updated Selected’ button has been added. You can apply the current settings (SubD level, Color Randomness) to “selected guides” only.
Click on the Update All button, to apply the current settings to all guides in the current XGen descriptions.
Fixed an error triggered when an empty guide layer is middle-mouse clicked. Now it should give a warning instead of an error message.
Removed the Isolate checkbox as it is no longer required with the middle mouse toggle.
As mentioned, the processing speed has increased dramatically. However, if you are working on creatures and use the entire body as the scalp mesh, it will still take some processing time.
Check out the new Guide Color Demo: New Guide Color Demo

Curve From Tubes/Cards:

Volume Fill feature added. With geo tubes selected, fill in the volume of tubes with curves on selected tube meshes.
3 Card Extraction Modes added: Users can now extract curves from cards with 3 more options:
- Custom Geo Topology and Sides.
Please note that if the face count on cards is high, extraction using these new options can take some time.
Updated input field with a slider.
Check out the new Curve From Tubes/Cards Demo: https://youtu.be/aNfVlzGE9Ug

Curve Reverse:

Added Auto Filter Mode
Remove the UI window and attached a left-click pop-up option instead. Now we have two reverse options:
- 1. Manual select the ‘Tip’ and perform the reverse. This is our existing function
- 2. (NEW) Auto Filter mode: Select all the curves, shift select the scalp mesh, or a reference geometry, and the script will do its work to reverse the curves automatically.
- The icon is defaulted to option 1
Check out the new Curve Reverse Demo: https://youtu.be/9lJZZ84OstY

Curve Snap:

Reverse Mode added. Users will now be able to snap a curve in reverse
Check out the new Curve Snap Demo: https://youtu.be/Qlajq3iCqss

Curve Add:

Middle-mouse clicking a mesh will create a linear curve now. (Just like XGen)
If no curve is detected within the interpolation distance set, a linear curve will be added instead. (Just like XGen)
The linear curve will orient to the normal of the underlying face.
Increased the default interpolation distance from 5 to 50 to respect closer to the real-world scene measurement

Minor Updates:
Curve Sculpt:

Symmetry will be turned off when UI starts, this will fix where the sculpt direction is reversed as some have reported.

Curve To Curl:

Fixed Color Editor Swatch not updating

Curve To Braid:

Unlocked resizing of Side Curve UI for users unable to see the ‘Create Curves’ button.
Increased the subdivision levels on default braid geometries.

Known Issue:

XGen Guide Color Tool on first use shows up a polySmooth() error. Please restart your Maya if you see this.

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