:: ABOUT ::
Nightshade UV Editor extends the default functionality of Maya's native UV Texture Editor by adding scripts that greatly speed up the time it takes doing UV-related work.
:: LATEST ::
2015-08-10
Nightshade UV Editor 2.0 (NSUV 2.0) has now been released!! Other than all the new features and improvements listed below, NSUV 2.0 is now split into two versions: Nightshade UV Editor and Nightshade UV Editor Pro. A license for the pro edition is now required if you intend to use NSUV for commercial purposes (ie: for freelancing or in a studio environment). For more information about this, check under "License" and the "FAQ" below.
:: CHANGELIST ::
-NSUV is now split up into a free version and a pro version! A license for NSUV Pro is now required for professional (commercial) use.
-New UI: The UI has been updated with a new, more logical layout.
-4K resolution support added. UI and icons scale accordingly to the UI-scale setting under Maya's preferences.
-New feature: Distribute shells. Distribute shells side-by-side with or without spacing, or towards a target.
-New feature: UV Set Order Manager. Manually set the primary, secondary, n:th UV set.
-New feature: Fetch Texel Density (from face selction). Value is pasted into the TD/units field.
-New feature: Cycle the pivot position of the selected shell(s) through the bounding box corners.
-New feature: Cycle the pivot position of the selected shell(s) through the UV range corners.
-New feature: Calculate angle. Gets the angle of two selected UV's by calculating the inverse tangent.
-New: Relative Rotate. Right-clicking the rotate buttons will rotate shells around their own pivot points.
-New: Added a NSUV menu at the top which contains things like an FAQ, tips/tricks and a basic workflow guide.
-New: Faster and more intelligent startup script.
-Creating a shelf button can now be done automagically via the NSUV menu.
-The function createShells() has been optimized and is now approx 200 times faster!! Affects all heavy-work tools in NSUV!
-Additionally, orientShells() has been optimized and is now an additional 15 times faster on top of that.
-It is now possible to lock the NSUV window size (lock icon - bottom right corner).
-Unitize UV's has been added as a button to the UI under the Arrange frame.
-Pre-processing of shells no longer runs multiple times when stacking or aligning shells.
-Match UV's now properly counts down instead of up.
-Straighten UV's no longer fails when only one UV edge loop is selected.
-Fixed Gather Shells not working on a UV selection.
-Fixed an issue with Pixels/Units (under Texel Density) only using one decimal when calculating the TD.
-Marking menu has been tweaked. Smooth UV's is back where it always has been!
-All display toggles (shaded view, shell borders, etc) are now stored between sessions in NSUV.
-Normalize UV's now works on any selection (mesh, face, edge, vertex, uv).
-Fixed a selection issue with the feature "Select Unmapped Faces".
-Fixed a bug with the Orient shells -UI.
-Fixed a bug with the Create UV Set -feature.
-The pinning and iteration options under Unfold UV's are now applied to the Unfold U/V button as well
-Improved readability for the Calculate Pixel Distance UI.
-The Find Unmapped Faces -icon has been moved to the Project UV's -group.
-The Find Unmapped Faces now has a proper selection check as well as a dialog when no unmapped faces was found.
-A third variable has been added for the UV Manipulator.
-Revamped progress bars. All data-heavy operations have a progressWindow, and they should no longer get stuck being all white.
-Set Working Units (for the TD features) is now located on the Set TD button (right click!)
-The Orient Shells -settings window has been removed as it's no longer needed.
-Guido Neumann's "Calculate UV stats" is no longer included with NSUV for legal reasons.
:: FEATURE LIST ::
-Advanced UV manipulator: Less typing, more options.
-Structured and logical user-interface with 4k resolution support.
-Powerful new marking menu.
-Extended UV projection tools, such as normal-based mapping.
-New snapshot window. Create 2:1 ratio UV snapshots with ease.
-Orient shells: Orients shells straight.
-Orient edge: Orient UV shell(s) around a UV/edge selection.
-Stack shells: Stack shells on top of each other.
-Match shells: Match UV's to their closest neighbors.
-Straighten shell: Straighten edge loop and unfold shell around it.
-Straighten UV's: Straighten all edge loops in a UV selection.
-Stitch Together: Move & Sew like in 3D Studio Max (Stitch selected).
-Randomize shells: Randomize shells individually.
-Distribute shells side-by-side with three different modes.
-Push/Move UV's so that they line up (max, min, average U or V).
-Align shells to min, max or average U or V.
-Snap shells to the UV range bounds (eight directions +center).
-Snap shells A to B: Connects two shells via two UV's.
-Spread shells: Unstangles and unstacks your shells neatly.
-Gather shells: Offset back shells that are outside the 0->1 range.
-Unfold UV's along U/V only with the click of a button.
-Custom Unfold/Relax UI's with extended options.
-Normalize shells: Normalize along U, V, UV or UV with stretch.
-Layout UV's along a U or V -strip.
-Integrated UV Set Editor: Native functionality fully implemented.
-UV Set Order Manager: Manually override the UV set order
-Texel density control: Scales shells to the same texel density.
-Fetch texel density from face selection.
-Rotate, scale, transform and flip shells around custom pivots.
-Relative rotate/scale: Rotate/scale shells around their own pivots.
-Cycle pivot point position around the four corners of the selection bounding box or the UV range bounds.
-Measure the distance between two UV coords: in pixels or units.
-Calculate angle between two UV coords.
-Checkbox for the "Retain component spacing" -option.
-Buttons for Copy, Paste and Delete UV's.
-Buttons for pinning UV's (Maya 2016 and later only).
-Button for Unitize UV's.
-NSUV top menu with a workflow guide as well as tips and tricks.
-Cycle edge colors: Change color on selected edges.
:: LICENSE / TERMS OF USE ::
The free version of Nightshade UV Editor (intended for NON-COMMERCIAL use) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0).
A human-readable format of this license can be found here:
Creativecommons.org
The legal version of this license is found here:
Creativecommons.org
For COMMERCIAL use of Nightshade UV Editor - such as for freelance work or in a studio/production environment - you are required to purchase the pro version available on Creative Crash.
One license = One person
If you want to purchase more than one license, please contact me directly.
:: LINKS ::
NSUV 2.0 Free version. For non-commercial use:
Creativecrash.com
NSUV Pro 2.0. For commercial use:
Creativecrash.com
:: INSTALLATION ::
NOTE that Nightshade UV Editor is only compatible with Autodesk Maya 2012 and later (32/64 bit - Mac and Windows). Support for Maya 2011 and earlier has been discontinued and will not be re-implemented. Older versions of NSUV can be handed out on request though. NSUV for LT is impossible due to it’s lack of Python support.
1) Unzip the files from the zip file to your Maya user script directory. This directory is NOT the same as your installation directory. Path to this directory:
Windows: C:\Users\ %USER \Documents\maya\ %MAYA VERSION \ Mac: /users/ %USER /Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/ %VERSION /scripts
Make sure you copy everything! (Two folders: prefs and scripts)
2) Start up/Restart Maya and in there write the following in the command line or the script editor in order to load up NSUV: import NSUV
Make sure that you enter the command as Python!
3) A shelf button can be added to the currenyl active shelf via the NSUV menu.
4) Please note that files from an older installation of NSUV might interfere with the functionality of NSUV 2.0 - so make sure that you delete those files from the Maya user script directory prior to installing.
:: F.A.Q. ::
Q: Will NSUV interfere with other UV Editors that I use?
A: No, it shouldn't! NSUV does not modify any native files! Additionally NSUV comes with a button for quickly switching to the native editor if/when you need it.
NOTE: if your studio is using in-house scripts/tools hacked into the native Maya Editor, then you need to edit some rows in core.py for sourcing a custom script.
More instructions are located in core.py under the function defaultEditor().
Q: How do I flip shells vertically?
A: Right-click the Flip UV's icon. Keep in mind that many icons in NSUV have double functionality like this. Other examples are Unfold Along U/V and Normalize Along U/V.
Q: Does Nightshade UV Editor work for my version of Maya?
A: As of now, v2.0 works for all versions from 2012 to 2015 - for both 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows (tested and verified) as well as Macintosh (untested). Maya LT support is impossible because Autodesk does not think Maya LT should have Python interpreter. Older versions of NSUV (running MEL - which work for Maya LT) can be handed out on request. The last version running on MEL was 1.4.1.
Q: How do I use variables for the manipulator and texel density fields?
A: Right-click an icon to WRITE a value and left-click it to READ a stored value.
Q: How do I copy a UV Set with the integrated UV Set Editor?
A: Click and hold the button on the copy icon. A popup menu will appear.
Q: How do I do a planar projection or access the planar projection options?
A: Click and hold the button on the copy icon. A popup menu will appear.
Q: How do I rename a UV set?
A: Double-click it in the UV set list.
Q: NSUV is taking up too much screen space, how can I make it smaller?
A: The window is scalable and the frames and icon groups can all be collapsed (hidden).
Q: Where are the U and V input fields?
A: NSUV only has one general-purpose field. Use it for both U and V manipulations.
Q: Running Straighten shell doesn't work, what's wrong?
A: Make sure that you have a legal selection active, such as no edges shared by two shells. See the manual for details.
Q: Icons are missing! How do I get them back?
A: You forgot to copy the prefs -folder from the NSUV zip file.
Q: How do I reset all settings in NSUV?
Close down the NSUV window, then open up the script editor (Python tab) and execute this:
"NSUV.core.resetOptVars()
NOTE: that the window sizes and positions are not reset. Those settings are stored in a file native to Maya called windowPrefs.mel located in the Maya user script directory under the "prefs" folder!
Q: NSUV crashes during import, what is wrong?
A: You may have a broken Maya installation. Try running the row below and if that crashes Maya as well, you have a broken installation or a pirate copy:
import math
Q: My question isn't answered here, where can I send it?
A: Contact me directly via ModDB or via my portfolio.
