How to use the free Parent Master plugin for Maya

The Parentmaster - a free Maya plugin

Autodesk Maya is free to students, and a result of this it has a huge user base around the world. Many Maya users have sought to improve the software, developing free plugins that can (as the name suggests) be plugged in to your free copy of Maya, adding to its usability and helping to solve some of the trickier problems associated with digital animation.

The ParentMaster is a plugin created by Paolo Dominici which greatly simplifies the business of attaching and un-attaching objects in Maya. Say you want to animate a character picking up a ball and then dropping it. This free tool will make your life much, much easier.

What is it for?
The free Parentmaster plugin is a way to attach and un-attach objects in Maya.

What do you need to do?
By following this tutorial you should be able to:

1. Import a free plugin into Maya – the ParentMaster - and install it successfully.
2. Learn how the Parent Master works by attaching and un-attaching objects in Maya using the free ParentMaster factory Maya file
3. Use the ParentMaster to animate a character picking up a ball and then dropping it.

PART 1 – Import and install the plugin

a) Import the plugin
You can find the free plugin here: http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/script/zv-parent-master
You will need to register with Creative Crash and then log in.

b) Installation

1. Import the ParentMaster plugin and open it up.
2. Find the Read me document inside and follow it carefully
3. Place "ZvParentMaster.py" in your scripts folder in Maya. Navigate through documents to find your Maya folder. It should look something like this: 
1. Win XP: "C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\maya\scripts"
2.  Win Vista/Win 7: "C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\maya\scripts"
3. Mac:"/Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/scripts
4. Place the "zv" folder in the same folder (If that doesn’t work, try placing it in the icons folder instead)
5. In Maya, open up the Script Editor and go to the Python tab, copy and paste these two rows: 

import ZvParentMaster
ZvParentMaster.ZvParentMaster()

Once you have done that, follow these steps:

1. Highlight the text in the Python tab and click on "Save Script to Shelf...", specify a name for the shelf (eg PM) and click "OK".
2. You should now see a tab on your shelf labeled PM. Click on it, and this symbol should appear in your view port:
3. If you have any problems with installation, go through the process again.

To see Paolo Dominici demonstrate how it works, check out the demo at http://www.paolodominici.com/vid/parent/parent.mov

The ParentMaster "factory"

If you want to install it on a Mac, try this video below:



PART 2 – animate the ParentMaster factory.
Your goal is to complete the exercise so that the parcel moves through the factory, attaching and un-attaching as it goes.

1. Open up the Maya scene file that comes with the ParentMaster – it looks like a little factory. Create a project, and set to it.
2. At the frame where you want to attach the parcel to the blue pusher, select the box, select the pusher, and click on the attach button
3. At the frame where you want to un-attach the parcel from the blue pusher, select the box, select the pusher, and click on the detach button.
4. Keep repeating the process until the parcel box moves through the factory.

Technical Notes

How to edit Parent Master constraints and adjust the timing in the Graph Editor:

1. Go to the Parent Master menu bar and select the 5th icon down labeled “Select constraints and snap groups”, and click on it
2. This will show your ParentMaster key frames in the Graph Editor
3. Adjust the timing of the key frames just like you would any keyframes in Maya

PART 3 – Use the Parent Master to animate a character picking up and ball and dropping it.

1. Import the character rig Morpheus. Google “Morpheus rig maya” to find and download the rig.
2. Import a table (find one at www.turbosquid) into your shot
3. Create a ball. Create/polygon primitives/sphere
4. Set Morpheus’s hands to IK.
5. Under Preferences, set your animation to stepped curves
6. On stepped curves, animate Morpheus picking up the ball and dropping it, using the Parent Master.

Problems

Note that the Parent Master does not work with referenced files. Or, rather, it can be made to work - but it is difficult.

---Alex

For more tips and tricks in Maya and other free tutorials, follow this link.  To see the books we recommend for the study of animation and visual effects, click here.  For more on the experience of studying at Bucks New University, come and visit us at one of our Open Days,  take a virtual tour of one of our animation studios, check out what our students think of our course, and see why we're ranked in the top 12 creative universities in the UK. Find out why we're giving free laptops to all our students, and why we give all our students free access to videos at Lynda.com. Also, see what financial assistance might be available to you. Learn which is better for animation, a PC or a Mac? Get hold of a copy of a map so you can find your way around campus, and learn about motion capture at Bucks.

The TweenMachine - the Animator's Best Friend

One of the many advantages of learning to animate in Maya is the wide range of free plugins developed by the user community around the world. A free plugin is just that - a piece of code that can be added to your copy of Maya, free of charge. One of the most useful is the tweenMachine, created by Justin Animator, which helps animators to create breakdown poses in Maya on stepped curves. It's a time saving tool that takes much of the labour out of breaking down your character poses once you are happy with the timing of the main blocking of your animation.

What is the tweenMachine?
The tweenMachine is a free Maya plugin designed to simplify the process of creating breakdown poses between your key poses.

How do you download the tweenMachine plugin?
You can find the free plugin here: http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/script/tweenmachine

Who created it?
The tweenMachine was created by Justin animator.

How do you install it?
The tweenMachin comes with a Read Me file, which you should definitely read.
To install it,  first find these two files:
tweenMachine.zip
tweenMachine.xpm

1. Copy the files into your scripts folder in Maya. The path should look something like this: username/myDocuments/maya/2014/scripts
2. Once you have copied the files into your Maya scripts folder, open Maya.
3. Now open up the script editor (bottom right hand corner of yr screen) and type this in the MEL (not Python) command line: tweenMachine. This should launch tween machine.
4. In the script editor, copy the command, and go to file/save to shelf tab, and create a new shelf tab.
Name it tween. Now you can use the tweenMachine any time you like.
5. Click on the shelf tab to activate the tweenMachine. A pop-up slider should appear:

How do you test it out?

To test the tweenMachine, first create some break down poses on a simple moving object, such as a sphere.

1. Create a sphere. Create/polygon primitives/sphere.
2. Move the sphere to one end of the grid, and set a keyframe on it
3. Click on the preferences tab in Maya, and set your animation curves to stepped curves, not spline.
4. Back in your timeline, go to frame 25. In the viewport, move the sphere to the other end of the grid, and set a key frame. Press play. You should now see the sphere move, but in a very staccato fashion.
5. Go to frame 13 in your time line. Set a keyframe on the sphere, and click on the tweenMachine button. Use the slider on the tweenMachine to adjust the position of the breakdown pose. The slider allows you to favour one key pose over another.

Ok, got it. Now, how do I use it for proper animation?
Now use the tweenMachine to create break down poses on a complex human biped.

1. Import a human biped, such as the Morpheus or Max rig.
2. Create two poses, one at frame 1, and a second at frame 25, following the thumbnails below.

3. Now select all the controls, and set a keyframe at frame 13. Click on the tweenMachine tab, and use the slider to adjust the spacing of the breakdown position.
4. Once you have done your pose at frame 13, go ahead and add breakdown poses at frame 5, 9, 17 and 21, using the tweenMachine.

In conclusion:

What the tweenMachine does is allow you to set breakdown positions on all the control curves, without having to manipulate individual controls one by one. It saves a huge amount of time on production.

And if you are having trouble installing it, try this video below:




---Alex

For more on the experience of studying at Bucks New University, come and visit us at one of our Open Days,  take a virtual tour of one of our animation studios, check out what our students think of our course, and see why we're ranked in the top 12 creative universities in the UK. Find out why we're giving free laptops to all our students, and why we give all our students free access to videos at Lynda.com. Also, see what financial assistance might be available to you. Learn which is better for animation, a PC or a Mac? Get hold of a copy of a map so you can find your way around campus, and learn about motion capture at Bucks.