Here you can download free Maya tools. These tools are not supported in any way. They are provided AS IS and without warrenty of any kind. None of these tools may be commercially distributed or resold.

We have reduced the number of tools publicly available for download to the most popular ones. This makes it easier for us to maintain the code and keep the functionality up to date. Most of these tools were created around 1998 and meanwhile some of the functionality found its way into Maya's standard set of tools. We updated most of the tools to respond to changes and additions made to Maya.

Internally and when developing software for our clients we use more advanced techniques, because Maya's standard tools often come with limitations that are difficult so solve. Writing software from scratch using the API allows for maximum flexibility and performance. Most of the time this is a better approach than building complex setups to ship around a problem. To learn more about our high-end software development visit the portfolio or Dirk's blog.

Scripts

Libraries
	Public Lightstorm3D Library These are shared, public library files required for the following scripts to work properly. When downloading a new script always make sure you have the latest library version installed.	V1.000	29-Oct-2009 NEW
Modeling
	Connect Poly Shape Extensive polygon modeling toolset including smooth preview, triangulation, mirror & stitch, and shells. CPS comes with extra tools such as a customizable, floating shelf and a compact UI that makes hidden display, selection and modeling options easily accessible.	V4.030	12-Sep-2004
	Create Tube Convert any selected nurbs curve to an optionally capped nurbs tube.	V2.000	30-Oct-2009 UPDATE
	Create Wire Create nurbs tubes/spheres or paint effect strokes at polygon edges and nurbs isoparms to create a solid wireframe.	V2.000	30-Oct-2009 UPDATE
	Pivot Toolbox 16 pivot related tools such as copy pivot, average pivot to objects, object replacement, rotational alignment and many more.	V1.320	29-Dec-2002
	Create Spiral Create a spiral along a fixed axis or nurbs curve with full construction history.	V3.000	29-Oct-2009 UPDATE
Animation
	Create Chain Create chain from up to 2 different link objects along a nurbs path. The resulting chain will be animatable using a fully automated joint setup.	V2.000	31-Oct-2009 UPDATE
	Randomize Channel Randomize attribute values over time. This effect can be layered on top of existing animation.	V2.000	02-Nov-2009 UPDATE
Deformation
	Randomize Points Randomize translation along local or world space axes by sampling a volumetric noise. Using this tool you can either modify the position of objects or deform them.	V2.000	04-Nov-2009 UPDATE

Setup

After extracting the archive you will usually find the following types of files. Optionally the archive may also contain a HTML documentation or plain text docs.

You may want to install the tools locally on your machine or in a shared network path so everyone can access them. If you are not sure where to put scripts and icons you can use the following commands within Maya to query the pathes:

internalVar -usd; // return script folder
internalVar -ubd; // return icon folder

Using the "maya.env" you can specify a new location for these files. Usually, the path to the environment file should look something like this:
"c:\Documents and Settings\yourUserName\My Documents\maya\2010\maya.env" (Windows)

Set a custom icon path:
XBMLANGPATH = "C:/yourIconFolder"

Set a custom script path:
MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH = "C:/yourScriptFolder"

Set a custom plug-in path:
MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH = "C:/yourPluginFolder/32bit/"

We do not recommend to copy any files to Maya's installation folder structure. Once you found a proper place for the files copy them into the appropriate folder. Restart Maya or execute "rehash" in the command line to refresh Maya's script cache.

Run Scripts 

To execute a script type its name in Maya's command line or script editor and press enter. Please note that MEL and Python functions are case sensitive.

You may want to add often used tools to Maya's shelf. To do so just highlight the command and drag it with the middle mouse button to the shelf. A new icon will appear. Some scripts like CPS will come with a setup function ("cpsSetup") that will automatically perform an optional shelf setup.

Load Plugins 

To load plugins use Maya's plug-in manager (Window > Settings/Preferences > Plug-in Manager). Make sure to enable the autoload option so you do not have to load the plugin manually each time you start Maya. Optionally you may also load the plugin during initialization of Maya, by placing the appropriate command in the " user.mel" file.

loadPlugin -qt pluginName

Plugins have to be compiled for each new major version update of Maya and for the specific OS you run Maya on which includes different 32 and 64 bit compiles. Usually, we do not share source code but we provide binary files for the OS the tool has been developed and tested on.