This update has some new features that I made since the last update. 

You can download it from FROM HERE

BLURRED HDRI will use blurred version of HDR image in the skydome. This is useful if you want to have blurred background in your turntables without using DoF. Or, your HDRI is looking "busy" and you want to blur out details a bit. When you do a refresh HDRs command, you will need to be a bit patient, it will take a bit longer because script needs to create blurred versions of HDR images. Also it will scale any HDR image to 4k resolution. On Ryzen 9 7950x this takes less than 1 minute, but on Ryzen 5 2600X it can take up to 5 mins. It depends on the CPU power in your PC, good thing is, you will have to do this only when you install LDV kit, or change/add HDR files.

BATCH RENDERING UPDATES 

First one is that I am no longer exporting ass file sequence and than rendering it with kick.exe. Now, I export one maya scene and than use maya render.exe to render it. This was one of the things that will enable use of lookdev kit with different render engines in the future. 

Second one is that now you can choose camera which you want to use with batch rendering, this is useful if you have multiple cameras, and/or don't want to use default lookdev kit camera 

Third one is that there is a Custom Range for batch rendering, where you can define frame range you want to render.

From this version I will test LDV kit only on Maya 2025. As always, if something doesn't work well, or you have a bug, just contact me and let me know.

More info on DOCUMENTATION PAGE

You can download it from FROM HERE

Here is another update for the Lookdev Kit. This time just small bug fixes. There was an incompatibility issue with newer Arnold versions, this update should sort it out.

You can download it from FROM HERE

There is some problem with AS marketplace link for Lookdev Kit Download. Until that is solved you can download it from my Google Drive:

LINK TO GOOGLE DRIVE FOLDER

Cheers!

Well, this took a while... I just didn't have time to convert it to python 3... 

But now it WORKS with Maya versions that require python 3. I tested it on Maya 2023, but it should work on Maya 2022 and newer. For all users that are on the earlier Maya versions I left old version that works on python 2 in the same folder. There is explanation how to use old version in lookdev_kit_install.txt

You can download it from MY STORE FOR FREE

Expect bugs, but I hope it works fine :)

I had a lot of work lately and I couldn't find time to publish new update. But here it is :)

You can download it from MY STORE FOR FREE 

02. September 2020 - Lookdev kit 2.3

- SHADER GENERATOR (SHD GEN) - Added new feature called Shader Generator - You just have to type in shader name, choose texture/shader channels that you want to use and click create. It will generate a shader with added aiColorCorrect, aiRange, aiClamp and aiColorToFloat nodes. You just have to connect your textures and start your lookdev process. 

- Checker texture scale set to 3 so that checker tiles are a bit smaller in the viewport.

- Color Management (CM) and OCIO - LDV kit now supports use of ACES config in the CM preferences. If you use ACES config it will automatically detect it and switch IDT on skydome to the proper color space. It expects linear images because most of the HDRs from internet are linear. 

I'm still trying to figure out how to handle multiple files with different color spaces. In the end I will probably create a ACES converter...

- fixed Refresh HDRs command - there was a bug on recent Maya/Arnold versions that made .tx creation to crash. It is fixed now.

Shader Generator Ui

Shader Generator node output

Just delete the old version and copy new in the same place. 

Don't forget to check DOCUMENTATION PAGE for more details about Lookdev Kit functionality.

If you have any errors and bugs feels free to contact me.

Cheers!

This update is not much about new features, mostly improving and fixing existing functions

You can download it from MY STORE FOR FREE

RELEASE NOTES:
27. May 2020 - Lookdev Kit 2.2.3

- Improved Auto - Framing function. I've written new Auto Framing function that calculate object size much better than previous one. Also it is much faster and optimized. Still, in some cases you will have to adjust framing slightly.

- Auto - Framing now moves camera depending on the asset size (in previous version camera was scaled)

- If your asset is moved away from scene center in X or Y (left, right, up or down) direction Auto-framing will move camera to match X or Y position of your asset.

- If parts of the asset are in the -Y space the Shadow plane will move down so that parts of the asset are no longer under the shadow plane. 

- Auto Focus function - when creating Lookdev scene with asset selected Lookdev kit will run Auto - Framing and also Auto - Focusing - it will move focus plane so it matches your asset position. You can still tweak the focus plane after initial setup. (It sitll doesn't work well if asset is moved in Z axis, but I'm working on it)

- Multi-threading when doing HDR conversion to .tx and .jpg. New function for Refresh HDRs command. It will check how many cores you have and run enough processes to saturate your entire CPU. It will save 1 thread so your PC doesn't slow down completely. 

- OCIO config check - if you use OCIO config in color management it will load HDRs as Utility - Raw. If you don't use OCIO config it will load them as standard Maya Raw. 

- Focus Plane text is now loaded from separate Maya scene. I had some reports of this text generation crashes Lookdev kit.

- Added Shutdown checkbox to Batch rendering UI. If you check it your PC will shutdown after rendering

- Macbeth chart and spheres also update X and Y position based on your asset

- Added button that will open Lookdev kit documentation web page (bottom right question mark - ?)

Auto-Framing OLD behavior

Auto-Framing NEW behavior

Auto-Focus will try to focus on your asset based on the asset size
  

Special thanks to Arvid Schneider - arvidschneider.com - for testing and reporting a lot of stuff in this release.

Don't forget to check DOCUMENTATION PAGE for more details about Lookdev Kit functionality.

Have fun using it and please report any bugs :)

Cheers!

I've worked hard on bringing you guys another update for Lookdev Kit. Fixed a couple of things and added new features. 

You can download it from MY STORE FOR FREE

Let's start with new features video:

RELEASE NOTES:
06. May 2020 - Lookdev Kit 2.1

- When you load lookdev kit it will set ldv camera as main view camera

- Turntable Start Frame dropdown - you can choose what is your timeline start frame. Choose either 1 or 1001 as your Starting frame

- Auto asset framing - if you have your asset selected while clicking on Load LDV kit it will automatically adapt to your aset size  and frame it correctly. You can always adjust the framing

- Skydome is now visible in viewport

- Skydome HDR resolution was default 1000, now it is 2048

- Skydome rotation Offset didn't worked in turntable mode, it was resetting on frame change

- Turntable Object rotation Offset didn't worked in turntable mode, it was resetting on frame change

- Set Turntable now adds Object rotation Offset slider value when making turntable

- UI Turntable Object rotation Offset didn't get right value after the UI launch

- Fixed SubD On asset selections - it didn't worked well in previous release

- Shadow Catcher plane is much larger now, you won't have shadows with sharp cuts in some lighting conditions

- Lookdevkit UI now launches on the right side of the main viewport, not in the center

- Turntable created one additional frame, now it creates correct number of frames

- Because I've added more features in the new release, if you have a scene with Lookdev kit 2.0 already loaded, script will automatically remove it upon running

- Added Batch renderer. You can now render your turntables on multiple HDRs with few clicks. More about this in DOCUMENTATION

- I created a Lookdev Kit documentation page where you can find all information about functionality of the tool

- A bunch of smaller fixes that created bugs

- New DOCUMENTATION PAGE

KNOWN BUGS:

If you run Del tx/jpg or Refresh HDRs commands after they finish Lookdev kit should start again, but sometimes it bugs out and it just turns off. I tried everything to fix this and couldn't find the reason for it. There are two possibilities:

First - I suck at coding and I created accidental bug that I cannot detect.

Second - Maya cmds UI is buggy and should be burned

Either way, I plan to re-write new UI with pySide, so there will be no random bugs. 

If this bug happens to you please just start Lookdev Kit again. 

You can download it from MY STORE FOR FREE

Have fun using it please report any bugs :)

Cheers!

Here it is!

I finally managed to prepare everything for release. This is my first ever Python project and I used it to learn some scripting. There are a lot of beginner mistakes in code, but I hope those will be rewritten in time. You can also expect bugs and crashes, I gave my best to minimize them :) 

Considering this, I'm pretty proud of this. Handling 1400+ lines of code for the first time python coder was challenging.  

The tool should be functional and fun. I hope I managed to speedup some of lookdev challenges in your daily tasks. 

You can download it from my ArtStation Marketplace. It is a Free tool, so consider leaving a small tip if you can:

DOWNLOAD LINK

LINK TO PORTFOLIO PROJECT

Here is a features preview that I recorded 10 days ago. UI changed a bit, but all main features are still there.

Also, I created this cheat sheet just to quickly explain all the stuff in one image:

Click on the picture to zoom in

INSTALLATION:

You can find a lookdev_kit_install.txt file in the 7zip archive when you download Lookdev Kit 2.0 from ArtStation Marketplace where you can find all of the steps necessary to run the tool. But, I will explain them here again .

- copy entire lookdev_kit folder from .zip to your MyDocuments Maya scripts folder. It is usually here:

C:\Users\<user_name>\Documents\maya\scripts

- from folder lookdev_kit\shelf copy the shelf_dk_mtoa_lookdev.mel and paste it here:

Documents\maya\<maya_version>\prefs\shelves

- run Maya and you will have a shelf with LDV kit button

OR

If you don't want my shelf you can create button by yourself:

- open script editor and in PYTHON tab paste following code:

from lookdev_kit import ldv_kit

reload(ldv_kit)

ldv_kit.buildUI()

You can always select that code in script editor and middle-click-drag it to your shelf to create a button, so you can call it when needed.

After you run it, you will have to click on Refresh HDRs button

Bearded man sculpture model not included. Downloaded from www.myminifactory.com

HDR images and controls:

The HDR images stayed more or less the same as in the first version. I don't like some of them, so in the near future I will probably change some of them. Of course, new version of Lookdev Kit allows you use your own HDR images. You can just paste them in the HDR folder (lookdev_kit\sourceimages\hdr) and run Refresh HDRs command from Ui. There is also a button in Ui to open the folder that contains all HDRs.

HDR images taken from hdrihaven.com

PHOTOGRAPHIC CONTROLS:

Because I'm a big fan of photography, I've included "photographic" controls for the camera that is included in the scene. You can change Focal length, Aperture and Sensor Size. 

Focal length changes camera focal length. 

Because Arnold camera settings doesn't show camera aperture in f-stops, but with number that represents camera aperture diameter in world units, I have created a script that allows you to choose aperture settings in f-stops. In the background it will recalculate the Arnold camera aperture diameter depending on the chosen f-stop setting in the Ui. It considers chosen Focal length and chosen f-stop in the calculation. 

I've also included sensor size settings if you want to simulate different sensor sizes. 3 sensor types are included - Full Frame, APS-C (1.5x crop) and Micro 4/3 (2x crop). This setting will change your field of view on the camera, because sensor size influences focal length of your lens. 

If you turn on DoF checkbox Focal Plane will show in the viewport and Depth of Field will be turned on. All the settings that I mentioned will influence DoF thickness and Focus plane will change size depending on the settings chosen.

FILE MANAGEMENT:

In the Lookdev Kit 2.0 you can use your own HDR images. I've added this feature because a lot of people use different HDRs. So more flexibility :) 

Refresh HDRs - Deletes old and generates new HDR preview images for Ui and .tx files for all .hdr and .exr files in the HDR Folder.

Del Tx/jpg - Deletes generated HDR preview images for Ui and .tx files

Open HDR folder - Opens a folder that contains HDRs used in Lookdev kit. You can delete the included HDRs, paste your HDR files here or use both in the same time. When you paste additional files press the Refresh HDRs button.

TURNTABLE:

You can select your objects, choose turntable length in frames and click Setup Turntable button. It will create a Lookdev scene and create all of the constraints and animations that are necessary. First half of the timeline is reserved for object rotation,and second part for Skydome rotation. 

If you want to change the length of the turntable just select your objects again, choose different length and click Setup Turntable button again. Obj. Rot. Offset allows you to manually rotate your object, without influencing already present animation.

SubD Settings:

SubD settings are used to turn on or off render time catclark subdivision. Also there is slider for choosing how many subD iterations you want. You have to select object to control SubD settings.

MtoA Constants:

Create mtoa_constant_ attributes. Just select object, type name in the text field, choose data type and click create. After that use aiUserData nodes to read created attributes.

KNOWN BUGs:

When you run a Refresh HDRs command and the process has finished, the Ui of the Lookdev kit should restart itself, but sometimes it does not... I'm still fixing this. Same thing happens when you run Del tx/jpg command. If this happens just click on the LDV_kit button in your shelf again. It will generate the Ui again. 

Also, if something bugs out, or crashes, try running script again, or restart Maya. 

In the end, Lookdev kit 2.0 is FREE tool, so use it as is. I will try to minimize bugs and crashes. 

If you have any advices, ideas or anything else feel free to contact me.

I made it in my free time and that's why it took a while to finish. Consider leaving small tip when you download it.

DOWNLOAD LINK

Cheers!

I finally managed to write a semi - stable version that has new features and works better than first version. I started learning Python on this project, so it is not 100% bulletproof. There are still chances of some bugs, crashes or unexpected behaviours. 

And now, here is a preview of what you can expect when I release it (probably next week). There is a possibility that I will remove, change or improve some features. 

It will stay free, as the last version was. I hope you like it and that you will find it useful. 

Due to my current lack of coding knowledge, first release will be Windows only. It will eventually come to Linux also. It is still a Arnold/Maya only tool, but I plan to include more render engines in the future.

Cheers!

It took me a while to start with it, but I started to learn Python. First thing on the list - Lookdev Kit 2.0. I will try to fix all problems and things that I didn't liked on the first version. I already did the UI and some basic functionality, but there is still work to be done.

There will be more tools and utilities available on release, at least I hope so. Everything is still WIP but here is a small preview

Also all stuff except skydome textures is generated on the fly, there is no longer need to reference the scene or anything similar. 

This is about 750 lines of code and it is growing steadily. I will probably publish it as soon as I cover all functions that are needed. 

Cheers!