Helper Manager - Updates

v2.8

• Moved all the display options to a new Display rollout to shorten UI.

• Added Display rollout ability to "Toggle Bones" which affects bone system objects, CAT parts and Biped parts.

• Added Display rollout ability to filter display Names and Pivots by object selection.

• Added Display rollout parameter "Names Offset" which pushes display names away from objects along with a visible connection ilne.

• Added Hiererchies rollout ability to "Select Full Hierarchy" based on partial selection. First hierarchy found in selection gets selected.

• Added Hiererchies rollout ability to "Store" and "Restore" a hierarchy based on selection.

• Added Hiererchies rollout ability to "Straighten Evenly" a hierarchy so middle objects lie in line from root to tip and spaced evenly.

• Added Hiererchies rollout ability "Joint Shifter", which allows transforming a selection without affecting immediate child objects.

• Added Hiererchies rollout ability to toggle "Skins On" and "Skins Off" for any skinned meshes found in the scene.

v2.7.1

• Hotfix; fixed crash when reapplying re-align X-axis in orientation rollout due to deleted dummies.

v2.7

• Added "Transfer Skinned Meshes" option to Duplicate Hierarchy. Creates a new hierarchy of helpers and transfers all found skin meshes to it then deletes the original hierarchy. Useful for replacing a Bones System with helpers.

• Added new rollout "Orientation" containing functions to re-align axes down positive X, as well as applying individual axis rotation offsets.

• Added new ability to show object names, as well as object pivots with adjustable axis length to Display options.

v2.6

• Restored the legacy "Replace With Bones System" from version 2.4 to the System Bones rollout, as an alternative to the new method.

v2.5

• Rebuilt how "Replace With Bones System" works and moved it to a new rollout. It now requires a selection of CORE helpers and optional EXTRA helpers to be stored prior to creating the new bones. CORE helpers will convert to bones with parent to child lengths, whereas EXTRA helpers will convert to nubs (length = width). Also added options for reshaping the newly created bones.

• Removed "Replace With Bones" from the Add Helpers rollout, as now redundant with new Replace With Bones System functionality.

• Replaced the wire color picker with a new UI for storing and retrieving a color palette for setting helper or bone system colors.

• Duplicated helpers created with "Duplicate A Hierarchy" will now inherit the wire colors of the original helpers.

v2.4 

• Hierarchies method "Constrain Nearest" now allows holding SHIFT to apply constraints with Keep Initial Offset toggled on. Also added a Distance spinner to set position tolerance value for constraining.

• Added new method Add To Polygons Orient to enable helpers to align to the surface normals of selected polygons.

• Renamed sub-object faces to polygons to better reflect that N-sided poly objects are used and not meshes with triangular faces.

• Fixed a crash when attempting to add helpers to sub-object parts.

v2.3

• Added a color picker with apply button to change selected point or dummy link colors. Note that dummy wireframes cannot be changed.

• Using the Select All will now handle frozen helpers as well as hidden.

• Using the Add To Selection without the Use Names checked will now add the PT_ or DM_ prefix to the new helpers.

• Using the Add To Selection Sets in sub-object section will now name the added helpers the same as the selection set name.

• Hierarchies method "Link Points To Dummies" now uses a Distance spinner value to determine proximity of points to dummies.

• Added "Constrain To Nearest" method which binds each object in a selection to its nearest neighbor based on very close proximity.

• Reordered some hierarchy sections in the UI.

• Added a link to the online guide in the About section.

v2.2

• Added three new methods to the Hierarchies rollout for linking a selection: "Link To Last Object", "Link By > Names" and "Link By > Picked". The link to last method will link all selected objects to the last picked object. The names method will link objects based on the sorted node names, whereas the picked method is based on the order the objects are selected. For both the names and picked methods you can optionally reverse the order when the CTRL button is held, and for all three methods you can optionally not display links when the SHIFT button is held as they are shown by default.

v2.1

• Added new Preserve Hierarchy option when using Replace With Bones in Add Helpers section. If active, relinks the parent and child nodes to the newly created bone.

• When replacing a hierarchy with a Bones System in the Hierarchies rollout, linked skin meshes will now be excluded when building the new hierarchy.

v2.0

• Added new buttons for creating helpers based on sub-object selection: Add To Verts, Add To Verts Average, Add To Edges (helpers are placed at the midpoint of each selected edge), Add To Edges Average. Added radio buttons for adding selection set helpers based on component type.

• Moved buttons for adding to sub-object components to their own rollout.

v1.9.1

• Add To Elements now creates helpers at each selected element without detaching elements from the original object.

v1.9

• Added conversion buttons for changing bindings between hierarchy links, Pos/Rot constraints and link constraints.

• Added a Replace With Bones button for swapping out selected objects to individual Bones System bones (not linked).

• Separated Add To Face selection from adding to sub-object face selection sets. Now only adds helpers to the center of each selected face.

• Added Add To Face Average button to allow creation of a helper at the average center of selected faces.

• Added Add To Elements button to allow creation of helpers at the center of each selected element (note: a selected face will automatically select that element).

• Added Add To SO Selection Sets button (separated from Add To Faces) to allow creation of helpers at the center of any pre-defined face selection sets.

v1.8

• Constrain Hierarchy can now bind a source rig with the exact same object names as the target rig.

• Duplicate Hierarchy now has the ability to add a prefix to the duplicated object names. Also, the new duplicated objects will now have their dispaly links turned on automatically.

v1.7

• Added a new option to constrain one hierarchy to another based on shared pivots (both position and orientation).

• Stopped script from crashing if skin meshes were grouped, while using the Replace With Bones System option.

• New helpers created using the Duplicate Hierarchy method now have their scale transforms reset.

• Reset Scale option now works correctly on hierarchies.

v1.6

• When using the Replace With Bones System option, if no skin meshes are found the new bones will receive the same names as the original hierarchy.

v1.5

• UI is now a floater with collapsible rollouts.

• UI rollouts (except Main and About) remember which rolled up state they were last in.

• Changed Toggle Display Links to be explicit on and off buttons.

• General UI cleanup and clarity improvements.

• Bones can now be baked to follow the original hierarchy if animated.

• Bones can be resized using a spinner (based on selection).

• Dummies added using the script now have the prefix DM_ instead of DUM_.

• Added an option to Add To Selection to allow linking from the selected object to the added helper (as the parent).

• Removed previous checkboxes for "Create Bones" and "Nubs".

• Added a toolbar icon for the macro.

• Added new buttons for displaying trajectories for a selection.

• Added a new button called Reset Scale: basically the same one as found in the Hierarchy > Link Info panel.

• Added a new button called "Replace With Bones System" which duplicates a picked hierarchy using a Bones System. If any skinned meshes are found, it will re-skin them to a matching hierarchy of point helpers that are constrained to the new bones. The skin helpers will be added to a new scene layer called #__SkinHelpers__# then frozen. The old hierarchy can be deleted or kept. By default, the bones are created pointing down the X-axis. If the original picked hierarchy does not do this (i.e. they point down Y or Z), then there's a checkbox to process using a different algorithm so that the bones hierarchy matches the original joints, but has "display only" bones pointing from parent to child (Reason: 3ds Max bones can only point down the X-axis and have geometry to match that alignment). The display bones will be added to a new scene layer called "#__DisplayBones__#" then frozen.

v1.4

• Duplicate Hierarchy should now create a properly aligned hierarchy of bones with the same names as the original selected hierarchy. Assumes the selected hierarchy is perfectly aligned for bones (as though originally created using bones).

• Using Duplicate Hierarchy with the Bake Keys option should now bake keys properly for each new bone.

• Changed the Duplicate Hierarchy checkboxes to radio buttons to indicate exclusive modes only.

• Fixed toggle display links to actually toggle properly.

• Removed button images (due to 3ds Max 2017 UI changes).

• UI change: moved Toggle Display Links and Select All higher up the interface.

v1.3

• Duplicating a hierarchy now uses a namespace identifier in the new hierarchy to allow for multiple duplications of the original. Also, duplication now links nodes properly - matching the original hierarchy structure.

v1.2

• Contact email changed.

v1.1

• When using the AddHelpers method the point sizes will now use the Size setting and their colours set to red. Also the new points and dummies will have their respective prefix's added (PT_ or DUM_). The checkbutton will now disable when the create helper is right-click cancelled. Autogrid will now work as a toggle during helper creation.

v1.0

• First public release.