TradigiTools - Animaton Plug-in for Maya

Hey everyone! The folks over at Funhouse Interactive - - has just bought out a super awesome Plug-in for Maya that helps us animators a great deal! The tradigiTOOLS plug-in for Maya has been created to aid the modern animator in utilizing the efficiency and effectiveness of the traditional workflow without sacrificing the creative and groundbreaking spirit that the new digital tools have brought to the table.

The features on this beast are;

* Click to set key and breakdowns quickly and see them differentiated by color-code on the timeline.

* Use the Favor buttons to modify the motion between previously set poses, then tweak the favor settings with a slider for precision or skip both and get mathematical with numerical input.
* Switch between overwrite mode and fix what’s on the current frame or use the ripple mode to shift every pose that follows further down the timeline.
* Select the entire character or just specific attributes when creating keys and breakdowns.
* Change the number of frames between single or multiple keys and breakdowns with a button or numerically entering the change.
* Eliminate manually counting in a complex timeline by automatically displaying each key or breakdown’s length.
* Hit a button to switch between Maya’s Perspective camera and a shot camera you specify.
* Save variations on the scene, automatically numbered, at any time right from the plug-in.
* Switch interpolation of tangent types without opening the graph editor, or the default type without opening your overall settings.
* Swiftly snap one object to another.
* Clean up tools to remove redundant keys and fix overshot tangents.
* Enhanced PlayBlast with identifying marks for more accurate review process.

There are some awesome Video Demonstrations on their site - http://funhouseinteractive.biz/

I highly recommend that you folks check this out! Awesome-ness!!! Woooo!!

You can get all that stuff for free already, this is just a neat little package they made and charge a ton for.

retimingTool
TweenMachine
AnimTools
autoTangent
etc, etc.

jayg, since i'm really lazy......could you post links to the tools you're referring to?

also, is there any way to do onion-skinning in 3d?

retimingtool : http://www.highend3d.com/maya/downloads ... l_090c.mel
Tweenmachine : http://www.justinanimator.com/mel-tweenMachine.php
Comet/AutoTangent : http://www.comet-cartoons.com/melscript.php

Apparently Dimos is the author of Tradigitools who is also the guy who made AnimTools, meaning AnimTools doesn't seem to be around anymore. But it was the same thing as retimingtool from what I understood.

Yea I mean...some of those tools are handy...most of them are already available in max (although I realize it's a maya plugin)....but $100?!?!?...:O

Do you get a free copy with anim Mentor?

Discounted, still not worth it imo.

Hey Jay! No worries man. I guess I should have prefaced my posts with a lot of smiley faces to help get the "sarcasm" across better. I sometimes sound harsh when I message or stuff.

Yes, the tool is designed mostly for folks who don't need or want to script. Yeah a bunch of folks can do stuff for themselves but that is more of a minority then you think. Most animators (in bigger studios at least) tend to be hired to do one thing ONLY and that's animate. This is a tool designed for folks like me who don;t have a HUGE TD or programming team behind them. People who want to animate and do it efficiently, without the hassle of learning programming skills. If you could do it yourself in a script and you are confident you can get it done QUICKLY and make it standardized to how productions flow (or should flow in some instances) then by all means go for it. For those of you who want tools designed by experienced animators (mostly me ), based on proven animation techniques and supported by a programming team dedicated to making things better then you shouldn't waste your time with learning how to program or borrowing scripts from other folks who have limited time to spend on their tools. I've been there and done that with some success but I didn't get all the things that mattered in a good and efficient animation workflow.

In the end it's users preference anyhow. I can't accommodate or please everyone but I sure as hell can try to.

Cheers!
-Dimos

P.S. Just to clarify, humour and lightheartedness is intended in this post.

Makes perfect sense, nice pitch.

You didn't sound harsh man no worries, I just felt like a jerk for talking about your product when I've obviously never tried it. My cheap side came out swinging. =P

Did some reading and watched the videos, it does look awesome.

I'm a cheap SOB too! Or at east I was. But after a few years of that I changed my tune. This is what I learned....

INVEST in the tools that work best for you!

I waiting for a few years before I learned this one. I caved in and put down my own money to develop these tools since no one else was doing them 'right' by me. I have invested a lot into making these work and will probably invest more (of what I don't have) before I break even. I hope to make money off of this soon by at least I can introduce a GREAT workflow to many who have not worked this way and return the sanity back to animation.

Cheers!
-Dimos

I use to sleep on an air mattress because I was cheap until finally someone convinced me to invest in a nice bed, I have to admit it made way more of a difference than I ever expected. (It's awesome, anyone thinking of getting a nice bed...do it! ) I suppose when you look at buying tools and plugins as an investment and not just something to make your job easier than it eases the pain of money spent. I guess I'll start saving my pennies.