Nightshade Blockout v1.0 - Tool for creating blockout/selection maps in Maya
polycounter lvl 10
I've written a new tool in Python for Autodesk Maya called Nightshade Blockout.
This tool makes creating blockout/selection maps a piece of cake:
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/script/nightshade-blockout
Features:
-Easy to use, no-bullshit user-interface.
-No need to clone your mesh(es) or use "Transfer Maps".
-One-click automagic color assignment.
-Proper non-overlapping shell padding (aka "Fill texture seams").
-Perfect, shadeless and artifact-free end results.
-Works on multiple multiple meshes (e.g. exploded meshes, etc).
-Smart file paths - auto-corrects missing file extensions.
-Works great together with Nightshade Color Splitter (downloadable here: http://martin.dahlin.net/scripts.html )
This tool makes creating blockout/selection maps a piece of cake:
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/script/nightshade-blockout
Features:
-Easy to use, no-bullshit user-interface.
-No need to clone your mesh(es) or use "Transfer Maps".
-One-click automagic color assignment.
-Proper non-overlapping shell padding (aka "Fill texture seams").
-Perfect, shadeless and artifact-free end results.
-Works on multiple multiple meshes (e.g. exploded meshes, etc).
-Smart file paths - auto-corrects missing file extensions.
-Works great together with Nightshade Color Splitter (downloadable here: http://martin.dahlin.net/scripts.html )
Replies
Glad to hear they are fully compatible!
But I tried it, got the hang of it in a minute, and it works like an absolute charm. Love the UV editor, too. You make great tools.
Thank you for the kind words.
You are correct that the icon was missing - so I've uploaded a new zip file now on Creative Crash.
Thank you for your kind words.
The link should be working as the file is located on my server - but here's a mirror (speedy share):
http://www.speedyshare.com/ztz3q/NS-color-splitter.zip
Installation instructions are in the zip file.
Any ideas?
Hmm that error suggests that the UI is trying to select a file format from a list that is out of range (ie: select item 14 from a list of 10 items). On Mac, NSB is coded so that there are 10 available file formats - but on PC a list of ALL available image file formats is generated. Either something is wrong in my code when the optionVar is generated (most likely), or you've migrated Maya user files from a PC system to a Mac system (less likely, as Im not entirely sure where optionVars are stored).
Open up the Maya script editor (python tab) and run these two lines:
import maya.cmds as mc
mc.optionVar( intValue=("NSBoptVarFormat", 8 ) )
Then restart NSB and see if things are working.
If it does, then press the file format dropdown -menu in NSB and select another file format (such as Maya IFF), close down NSB and open it up again - do you get the same error now?
ummm lol yes I did copy the whole thing. Everything works flawlessly just not Blockout.
Also I just followed your advice and now no errors and NSB is opening just fine.
Much appreciated
Glad to hear it worked out for you!
If you find any bugs or have any feature requests you can post them here in the thread or on Creative Crash! (any will do!)
A mesh can have several colors ofc, but if any shells are stacked on-top of each other then the baked result will not be blended (instead, the last color rendered is the one which will be on top). As for the magic wand -feature: colors will be auto-applied to all meshes and submeshes, so if you want different colors on two different sides of a mesh: make sure the sides are different submeshes.
ex: clrmap.tga
Feature request:
Can you include a tick box to also capture a wireframe render since I always need id map and wireframe at the same time. Ideally it just piggy backs off the settings and there is just a tickbox to also output a wireframe as a separate file.
Bug:
It's really easy to get the file name out of sync with the file it's going to write.
1. It's weird that you have to type the extension in when doing a file browse, the extension should be driven by the drop down in the main UI for file type.
2. Changing the file type after you have exported one map will result in a new map being created with the old map type appended to the name. For example, browse to a folder, type a name texture.tga hit okay. Create map, now change the file type dropdown to png and create map again, you get a file called texture.tga.png which is confusing as hell.
3. These issues exist in NightShade UV as well when capturing wireframes, always messes me up.
Thanks for your donation. Yeah sure, I can add such a tickbox - no problem!
I´ll take a look at those bugs. Should be rather easy to fix.
Run the script and get an error that UVs are not found.
I can see the UVs on the UV Editor.
I'm using Maya 2015. Any ideas?