Great news!
You can now add GS Toolbox and GS CurveTools plug-ins to your list of used software when creating a portfolio project on ArtStation!
Simply start typing "GS" and you will find them in the list:
They will now appear in your project details:
You can also add them to the already existing projects.
Adding the plug-ins to your amazing artworks will help me immensely!
Thank you for your continued support! :)
After long wait the new update for GS Toolbox v1.1 is finally here!
In this update big focus is on the Procedural Arrays workflow, Mac OS (OSX) support as well as adding much needed Quad Fill function!
Plug-in available here: LINK
Linear and Radial Arrays are now available with Uniform and Deformed modes.
Uniform will simply copy the objects along the axis and add a control curve.
Deformed will copy the objects and deform them to match the control curve curvature.
Change number of copies procedurally.
Create instant jewelry from different objects all controlled by one curve.
Combine Uniform and Deformed arrays for added effect.
Filling holes in objects with quads that follow the curvature and spacing? Yes!
One simple button with a lot of control. Select one vert for simple fill and two verts for advanced patterns.
New Features:
Reworked User Interface. It will now stretch with the window, expand text to fill the buttons and more.
Arraying System with two types of arrays, each one of them with two different modes. Select axis, add or remove objects to/from the array. Change parameters. Control with a curve. All procedural. All editable:
- Select initial Axis.
- Multiple objects in one array. Create procedural pipes, jewelry, laces and other repeating patterns.
- Add or Remove objects to/from the array. Create Patterns.
- Deformable and Non-Deformable Linear arrays.
- Deform with a curve. Linear arrays will follow the controller curve.
- Deformable and Non-Deformable (Uniform) Radial arrays.
- Radial Mirroring (Radial Arrays)
- Procedural Parameters. Change them on the fly.
- Array randomization.
- Quickly apply arrays to continue modeling.
New Smooth Edge function. Smooth Edges and Edge Groups. Change multiplier to increase or decrease the effect.
New Fill Hole with Quads function. Select one vert to fill the hole. Select two verts for custom patterns of quads. Works on curved and complex surfaces.
New and Reworked Instance+ function. Now it allows to switch between two modes (Mesh and Inst) and apply modifiers to the mesh itself or to the Instance+ if needed. New button highlights.
New Align functions for Live Plane. Align any object to live plane in one click.
New Online Documentation is now available. It will be expanded an updated as the development continues.
Mac OS is now supported (Beta). It should work just fine but may have some bugs. Please Report.
Improvements:
Fixed Bugs:
Regarding GS CurveTools.
Maya 2020.2 was released and the UV bug is still not fixed by Autodesk.
I will report it for 2020.2 as well.
If you are forced to use 2020, just stick to Maya ASCII scene files (.ma) for now.
More info here: MAYA 2020 UV BUG
It seems that this issue only affects Maya Binary file type (.mb) and not Maya ASCII file type (.ma)
Until Autodesk fixes this issue, please try to use only Maya ASCII project files for your hair projects.
Steps:
1. Open your Maya Binary file
2. Apply the "Fix Old UVs" fix in the Options Menu of GS CurveTools
3. Save the scene as Maya ASCII using "Save Scene As"
4. It should now work perfectly fine
Maya ASCII opens kind of slow, at least for me, but it should at least work properly.
P.S. And that’s why you never update to a latest version …
Forum topic : https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/maya-programming/polymoveuv-node-in-maya-2020-is-broken/m-p/9429317
Bug report number: BSPR-35061
Just a quick announcement that there is a bug in Maya 2020 (and 2020.1 as well) that breaks the UVs on any mesh that uses polyMoveUV node when you reload the project.
This is an internal Maya issue and I can't fix it on my side. It has nothing to do with GS CurveTools plug-in. I've tested this on a simple plane with the plug-in disabled and got the same bug.
I strongly recommend avoiding Maya 2020 for now.
However, if you still want to use 2020 there is a temporary fix button "Fix Old UVs" in the options menu of GS CurveTools v1.1 and higher. The naming is a bit wrong here because it is not an issue with "Old UVs" as I first thought. But it works regardless:
This will only work before you reload the project. You need to apply the fix each time you open/reload a project.
P.S. For those of you who are interested, the issue here is polyMoveUV node and its inputComponents attribute.
inputComponents attribute shows the wrong value after reload:
Where it should say map[*] it says nmm[*] each time the scene is reloaded.
Just a quick announcement that today, at 15:00 (3 pm) GMT there will be a "New Features and Q&A" livestream for GS CurveTools update on my Twitch Channel:
Check your local timezone here:
Edited version will be on my YouTube channel soon after the live event:
Hello everyone and welcome to this quick overview of the new features of GS CurveTools v1.1!
Plug-in is available in my ArtStation Store. Update is free for all the previous customers (ArtStation -> Purchases -> My Library)
Update Video:
In this major update I've added a brand new mode for curves and tubes - Warp Mode.
This mode mirrors the functionality of the old "Extrude" mode (it creates, converts and adds cards/tubes), but it creates new type of cards and tubes - Warp Card and Warp Tube.
Maybe one of the most anticipated features of Warp Mode - twist at any point of the curve!
Yes, you can now not only twist uniformly but also choose where to twist your cards!
Same control graph is available for Width. You can now change width along the curve with any number of control points.
You can also unlock length of the geometry and it will no longer stretch with the curve:
These new cards and tubes are fully compatible with all the previous functions and have some additional controls available.
This new button expands upon warp functionality by allowing you to attach (bind) any geometry AND any number of curves to a single cuve.
Original geometry and even curves will keep their shape, so you can create braids or clumps of hair cards and then control them with a single curve.
This single curve will have twisting, scaling, orientation and much more options available.
Attaching Geometry:
Attaching Curves:
Editing Already Attached Curves:
*This function should not be confused with the old "Control Curve" function. Control Curve had no control over twisting/orientation and was, in general, very limited.
You can quickly extract geometry from selected curves or even extract and combine all the geometry from all the layers in one click.
You can now quickly show/hide any component of the card in all layers!
You can now switch between original texture and checker texture in one click:
https://gs-curvetools.readthedocs.io/
And much more!
You can see all the old features in this Full Tutorial Video from v1.0:
GS CurveTools v1.1 Major Update is almost ready to be released. All the main and secondary functions are done and the only thing left is to update the documentation, make a demo scene and record release stream/video.
There is a lot of stuff to showcase!
Original release was delayed from the end of February to early March because of the hardware issues (HDD and RAM died at the same time).
Approximate release time is within 1-1.5 weeks.
GS ToolBox will also receive an update, mainly to fix some annoying bugs. No major functionality changes just yet.
Release will be streamed on my Twitch channel and edited version will be released on YouTube soon after. Stay tuned!
P.S. Updates for existing customers will be available in My Library in ArtStation profile for free.
If you are interested in these plug-ins for Autodesk Maya 2017-2020, here is the STORE link with video tutorials, documentation and more.
► Plug-in Available Here: STORE
► Livestreamed on Twitch: Twitch Channel
I've just added a quick overview of the main functions of GS Toolbox v1.0 Plug-in for Autodesk Maya:
Join the discussion here: https://discord.gg/f4DH6HQ