tweenMachine v2 in the works

While a tiny UI with one slider that operates on selected objects is useful, it's also extremely limited. I'm in the early stages of development on v2.0 of the tweenMachine, and wanted to let folks know what's coming. This will be a major update with a number of new features, including:

Sets: Users will be able to create custom sliders that affect a specific set of controls. With this feature, you can more easily sculpt the start of a breakdown pose without selecting a single object. For example, make a slider that affects the entire body, another that only affects the spine, one for the left arm, etc. Controls can be assigned to any number of sets.

Groups: Any number of set sliders can be organized into collapsable named groups. For example, you could create a group for each character in your scene.

Save with scene: Data for groups and sets is saved with your scene file. When you reload your scene and start the tweenMachine, it will read the existing data and rebuild the UI automatically.

Load/Save: Save data for all groups and sets to a text file, and load it into another scene.

Import: Import specific sets or groups from a saved data file.

Timeline ticks: Enable/disable ticks on the timeline for any set or group, so you can see where your poses are without having to select anything.

Stay tuned for more!

New animation software: Reflex

Work buddy Bryan Engram just shared some info he found about a new animation package being developed by some CG animation industry vets. Gotta keep a close eye on this puppy...

tweenMachine Update

Updated the tweenMachine tool last night (a.k.a. early this morning). Now it recognizes when channels are selected in Maya's channel box, and only operates on those channels. This allows you to easily favor specific channels in different ways, which should make it a lot easier to block out arcs, overlap, and other things I probably haven't even considered. I've been wanting to add this feature for some time now, and finally got the "oomph" after reading a post on an Animation Mentor forum from David Martinez that he was looking forward to it. Ask and ye shall receive and all that. ;)