madTools

madTools is a personal rigging & utility toolbox for Maya 2022 and beyond. It provides a clean, easy to install and use UI and shelf for Technical Animators and Riggers.

Overview

madTools has two modes:

• UI (PySide2)
• Shelf with separate buttons

Notable functions:

• Create Joint
  • Creates a joint chain in +X
  • Editable number of joints, spacing, and naming (via command and UI)
• Smarter Create Locator
  • Creates a locator at your current selection or world origin
• Snap To Average
  • Snaps last selected object to average of the rest (translation & rotation)
• Point To Average
  • Snaps last selected object to average of the rest (translation only)
• Snap To Parent
  • Snaps all selected objects to the first selected object (translation & rotation)
• Freeze Transforms
  • Freezes transformations
• Select Hierarchy
  • Selects the full hierarchy of the selected object
• Delete History
  • Deletes history via Delete History → By Type
• Toggle LRAs
  • Toggles Local Rotation Axis on/off
• Joint ZSO
  • Matches rotation axis to translation axis via joint -e -zso
• Make ROM
  • Creates keyframes every 10 frames from current startTime to current endTime to help with creation of RangeOfMotion animation

Installation:

1. Download the latest release here
2. Extract the madtools folder into your maya/####/scripts/ folder
3. Drag and drop install_ui.py (for UI version) or install_shelf.py (for shelf version)
4. If UI selected - a new button will appear on currently selected shelf, if shelf selected - a new shelf called madTools with buttons will appear

Notes:

• Icons are installed automatically in maya/####/prefs/icons/madtools
• Tools are standalone python modules and can be installed one by one via shelfButton command:

from madtools.tools.MODULE_NAME import MODULE_NAME 
MODULE_NAME()"

Editing the "Create Joint Chain" Shelf Button

If you're using the shelf option and want to edit the CRT JNT button:

Right-click the CRT JNT shelf button -> Edit

from madtools.tools.create_joints import create_joints
create_joints(3, 'joint', True)",

You can change create_joints(NUMBER_OF_JOINTS,'NAME', AFFIX)

NUMBER_OF_JOINTS -> integer, min 1

'NAME' -> string, must be in quotes

AFFIX -> True or False

Credits

• Toolbox icon made by Adib Sulthon - Flaticon