Check Out What’s New in UV Toolkit 1.3

Erik Lehmann’s UV Toolkit adds some workflow enhancements and features.

More often than not, you are taking chances when using small developer third-party tools. While some are incredibly useful, most small developers are not ready for the cycles of having a product, such as updates, fixes, and support. Erik Lehmann seems to be one of the exceptions because we’ve seen quite a few updates to his Maya tools. The latest, an update to his UV Toolkit for Maya, adds workflow enhancements and features. “I really wanted to further improve the workflow speed,” Lehmann says. “To achieve this I introduced Modifier keys (like ALT, CTRL, SHIFT). This way you can quickly access multiple functions with the addition of a key press.”

New features:

  • updated and improved interface
  • New introduced Modifier keys (ALT, CTRL, SHIFT) for a much faster workflow
  • New Straighten UV’s and UV Shells
  • New Align UV Shells: Horizontal, vertical or match positions
  • New Flip UV’s: All selected, each Shell individually or all back-facing shells automatically
  • New Orient UV Shells: To closest U / V axis, orient to X / Y / Z axis
  • Added UV Direction Shader
  • Added Set Layout map size
  • Added Stack UV Shells
  • Added direct link to the Online Documentation
  • code optimization & rewrites
  • bug fixes

UV Toolkit simplifies and automates a lot of the aspects in the UV unfolding and layout process in Maya. New to version 1.3 is the ability to use modifier keys when you left mouse button click. You can now use alt, control, or shift to get access to contextual elements. UV Toolkit owners of a previous version can upgrade with a 40% discount. Visit the page for UV Toolkit here for more info. Erik Lehmann is a Senior Build TD at DNEG.