Free Maya Animation Scripts and Tools

Tweener

A modern tween machine. It allows you to blend between 2 keyframe poses with any controllers selected. A very fast way to speed up your workflow - especially in stepped. 

Tween Machine

An older but still effective Tween Machine. Updated for the newer versions of Maya using Python 3.

Less features than tweener.

Arc Tracker 110

A very old tracker that still gets it done better than Maya's built in Arc Tracker.  It plots the curve, your timing, spacing, and allows you to customize it.

Arc Tracer

Morgan Loomis's Arc Tracer is a fantastic. It may have less visual options than others but it gives you everything essential. INCLUDING camera space arc tracking. Essential when your animating to a moving camera. You also need ML Utilities. More info on all scripts: LINK

FCM Hider

Create quick on/off buttons for hiding any part of any character very easily. This way you can focus your eyes and attention to what your fixing in your animation.

Studio Library

Save face poses, hand poses, body poses, or entire animations for any character. This way you can click a button to add it to your character instantly in the future. It can easily double your animation time. 

World Bake

Completely change pivots / reorient an entire animation, save / copy parts or all of your animation from one rig or object to the next. Extremely useful. You also need ML Utilities. More info on all scripts: LINK

Convert Rotate Order

THE cure for gimbal lock. It will swap the rotation order for any controller on the fly while preserving your animation (unlike maya) and give you recommendations. You also need ML Utilities. More info on all scripts: LINK

JT Ghost

Create semi-transparent ghosts of your character to track arcs, see silhouettes, etc. A super fun and useful script! 

Sticky Mod

Create custom deformations on any character to clean up poses, shapes, and contacts.

IK/FK Switcher

Snap from IK to FK with your arms, legs, spine, etc without losing your starting 

aTools

Where the paid animbot suite originally came from. A Tools gives you the main essentials in a free download. With newer versions of Maya it may not work without the python code update here: LINK

Paid Maya Animation Scripts

Anim Bot

The end all be all complete animators toolset. Available at various tiers and features.

That said, often for less experienced animators this is overkill. 

Keyframe Pro

The ultimate shot playback and review tool designed specifically for animators in production.

Additionally its a great way to study your favorite animations without the need for heavy or online software.

FCM Multi-view

Quickly output a playblast that has multiple camera views in 1 video.

This is fantastic for showcasing demo reel shots like game cycles or for getting critiques.

bh Aim Tools

Based off a Richard Lico presentation - this uses an aim constraint (typically on top of normal parent constraints) to create arcs intuitively by hand off where the arcs should be (tip of a sword).

bh Anim Proxy

To focus your eye  -- hide parts of your character and turn the rest into simple shapes basic cubes.

Allowing you to see the big picture.

bh Wave it

Once you've mastered overlap and follow through  by hand - this really speeds up your ability to create it anywhere.

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