Curve Tool Kit

Overview

This is a tool kit consists of multiple small functions for Maya curves. We can dock the UI to the side for easy access.

Random Curve Select

• ​Set Selected Curves For Random Select:

  • ​Tag all selected Maya curves to be counted in the random selection.

• Random Select Slider:

  • % for random curve selection.

Batch Curve Transform

• ​Pivot to Root:

  • ​Set pivot to the root of all selected curve(s).

• Batch Mode On:

  • ​Toggle selection mode to curves only. This will affect all curves in scene. If you do not want some curves to be affected, please put them in a display layer and hide it.

  • After clicking on 'Batch Mode On', Maya will only be able to select 'curves' in your scene.

• Batch Mode Off:

  • ​Make sure to click on 'Batch Mode Off' to set Maya selection back to normal.

Sometimes, curves with transform values (when it's too dramatic) can fall outside of the batch mode falloff area. If there are curves not being affected (gradient orange/red display), please freeze transforms.

Curve CV Selection

• Select "First", "Last", "Next" or "Previous" CVs based on current selections.

• Expand / Shrink will operate on current selected CVs.

Curve Rebuild

• Rebuild - A simple curve rebuild. Default degree is set to 3. To build a curve with total of 8 CVs, put a span of 5.

• Smooth - Smooths selected curves with the strength value.

• Average Curves - Scale the selected curves so they have equal length.

• Get Length - Get the 'average length' of selected curves.

• Set - Scales the selected curves so they equal the defined length in the field box.

Rebuild/Smooth/Average Curves

Get/Set Curves Length

Functions

• Mirror - Choose between Global, or a Custom Mesh mode to make a copy of selected curves and flips them over either X, Y, or Z axis.

  • Global - Mirroring will happen across the global axis.

• Custom Mesh - Mirroring will happen across the bounding box axis of the set mesh.

• Lattice - Maya's default Lattice function.

Using Lattice On Curves and Baking it

• Check Overlapping Curves - From selected curves, check if curves are sitting within the threshold distance.

Check for Overlapping Curves

• Length Check - Without selecting anything in scene, set a length, and click on Select. The tool will select all curves that are shorter than the defined length in scene. This can be useful to clean up curves that has almost 0 length in scene.