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 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!

Artstation finally enabled release of the free products, so I am moving Lookdev kit to the Artstation store. Price stays the same as always - FREE :)

You can find it here -> DOWNLOAD LINK

This is a great move from Artstation because I can add free products to the Artstation store. Also, if you find this product useful you can leave me a small tip before the download.

Cheers!

You can find it here -> DOWNLOAD LINK

link to the original post on Artstation -> LINK

Here is another update to the Lookdev kit. It is a small one, but it fixes the problem with converting environment map to .tx. Also there is a new HDR in the HDR slot 01 and a Focus plane to control focus and depth of field. Here are more details about this update:

DOWNLOAD LINK

RELEASE NOTES:

19.02.2019. Update 02:

- Added Focus Plane to control Arnold Depth of Field Focus Distance (aiFocusDistance)

- Depth of Field control attributes on the Focus plane

- added new HDR on HDR slot 01

- fixed problem with converting environment map to .tx. Thanks to Arnold Dev team! This was a major problem in previous version.

Focus plane for camera focus control

New HDR from hdrihaven.com

DOWNLOAD LINK

Please let me know if you have any issues with this version. 

Also, I am open to suggestions on how to further improve the tool. 

You can find more info about Lookdev kit on the Original blog post or in the readme file inside the downloaded zip.

Here is the new update for Lookdev kit. I know it took a while but I was pretty busy. Here are new updates:

DOWNLOAD LINK

RELEASE NOTES:

04.01.2019. Update 01:

- HDR selection slider - SUPER special thanks to Aleksandar Kocic for some coding magic that made the pivot snap to the HDR numbers. 

- removed albedo AOV that was left behind.

- I added some colors to the scene elements.

- scene is a bit more organised.

- loc_object_rotation_01 was left outside of the group because of parent constraint.

- global transform control for the entire Lookdev scene (move, rotate, scale).

HDR selection:

Global control:

KNOWN ISSUES:

01. HDR version slider knows to be a bit buggy, if the snapping stops, just deselect it and select it again.

02. I had to remove the .tx file and had to load original multi - layered .exr for Skydome. Due to the OIIO update in Arnold I couldn't load multi - layered .tx file. I didn't have any problems because of using .exr, I hope it will work for you. I asked Arnold devs about this and I hope solution is coming in the future.

WARNING: 

Do not create .tx for lookdev_hdri_2k_01.exr, it will probably not work in newer versions of Arnold. 

Please let me know if you have any issues with this version. 

Also, I am open to suggestions on how to further improve the tool. 

DOWNLOAD LINK

Cheers!

You can find more info about Lookdev kit on the Original blog post or in the readme file inside the downloaded zip.