Roadkill Pro

Nihilus

Hello all!

I had a quick question regarding the Pro version of Roadkill.
I love using it at work to do UV's as it has one of the best unfold/straighten operations ive used so far.
What I was wondering is whether anyone knows where it lives as a mll file for Windows 64 these days?

Ive found what looks like the code on Github but as far as compiling it to work correctly for Windows 64 Maya 2017/18 goes....thats far beyond my skill level with code/script.
https://github.com/Swannotron/RoadkillProfessional

I have tried the "free" version but they are in no way comparable. The free version is standalone and based on a very old UV mapping system taken from blender. Whereas the pro version is fully integrated inside maya and has much more useful tools.

If anyone can help this would be amazing as its been driving me nuts for the past few days.
I reached out to the devs aswell to see if they could assist but havent heard back.

Thanks all!

triton

Is this link helpfull?
http://www.pullin-shapes.co.uk/page6.htm

Nihilus

Thats not the pro version, that is the standalone application I mentioned that uses an old Blender UV mapping system.
That version and the pro version im looking for may aswell be named different things as they are almost completely different programmes.

Ive had a go at compiling it myself and managed to get a plugin built.
But loading it into maya it throws up a "cannot find procedure error".
I had to alter some of the library dependency names in Visual Studio because I think Maya had renamed them. And I also had to change it to compile in VS2017 instead of VS2015. So im not sure which of the things ive done has ruined it. Apart from me changing those things it looked like the settings were already in place.

RN

You're brave for trying to build this thing when the author hasn't given any build instructions. If they had, it'd be a sign that they expect people to do it, that everything you need to build it successfully is in that github repository (what if there's some essential piece missing?)
It appears to use Maya SDK \ devkit v2013.5, but maybe that's what you meant about changing dependencies?
https://github.com/Swannotron/RoadkillProfessional/blob/master/flipUVCmd.vcxproj#L17

Nihilus

Loading it into VS it looks like its all been set up already to be built.
By changing dependencies I meant that some of the external lib files its pointing to seem to have different names for Maya 2017/18 and it wouldnt compile without pointing these to the correct files.

I also had to change the target so that itd be compiled in VS2017 as opposed to 2015 (I cannot get 2015).
As mentioned it does compile successfully as an MLL but bringing it into maya using the ENV file just causes it to run into that error. "Cannot find procedue RoadkillPro Menu".

At this point I'm a bit stuck as I've never compiled anything before and code/script is really not my forte.

RN

Did you also install the MEL? (I'm not sure where it should go)
https://github.com/Swannotron/RoadkillProfessional/tree/master/MEL_script

Edit: Oh it says in the instructions from that pullin-shapes website that it should go into a folder like "C:\Users\your_user_name\Documents\maya\2017-x64\scripts"

RN

Also, it seems to be hard coded to run on Maya 2017 only:
https://github.com/Swannotron/RoadkillProfessional/blob/master/MEL_script/RoadkillProInit.mel#L666

Nihilus

I am running it in 2017 as there's a few areas in the code that points to it needing to be that. Even changing those lines to point to 2018 will throw up an error, so itll be coded in somewhere else aswell I think.

Does the mel need to be added if its a Plugin file?
From what I can see a lot of plugins just exist as MLL's (Windows) or SO's (Linux).
I can try putting it in the script folder this evening and see if that helps as maybe the function the MLL is looking for lives in the mel but that strikes me as odd.

RN

Oh yeah, the only mention of roadkillpromenu is in the MEL, check this out:
https://github.com/Swannotron/RoadkillProfessional/search?q=roadkillpromenu&type=

Nihilus

Right, thats good to know as thats exactly the error that comes up is that it cant find that procedure.
I'll drop the MEL in this evening and see if that will fix the issue.

oglu

just wondering why do you not use the maya native unfold.?

Nihilus

Its really not that good at all (especially Unfold3D) and it struggles with unfolding objects that Roadkill Pro doesnt even break a sweat at.

The operator in Roadkill Pro which is actually vastly superior to a lot of the UV tools i've used. UV layout/Ninja UV/UV master etc. Granted you could get the same results with these other tools but it'd take much more time.

oglu

could you give us an example... i have no troubles unfolding my stuff... 

triton

Have u used https://www.unfold3d.com/ ?
I love that software.

Nihilus

I'll run some more tests with Unfold3D (maya operator) this evening, but there's a particular set of objects it was struggling hugely to unwrap. Testing it in roadkill pro however worked with no issues. Will report back!

That Unfold3D looks pretty great! Though sadly I cant currently drop 150 EUR on software. I'll try the evaluation version and keep note of it, although it not being integrated into maya may prove to be a dealbreaker.

Nihilus

Well ive checked and after renaming a few files so the mel can find them Ive gotten a bit further.

Currently its now failing on /Autodesk/Maya2017/scripts/startup/autoLoadPlugin.mel line 32: initializePlugin function failed (RoadkillPro2017_x64)

Im not really sure where to go from here, but will do some digging.

EDIT: After restarting, I load the Plugin from the manager and it gives a "waitCursor stack empty" warning. If I load the plugin after running the Roadkill Mel script then it loads in the UI for roadkill.

HOWEVER, the pack functions seem to work but whenever I run the geometric/organic unwrap function it hard crashes maya to desktop. Not sure whats going on.