eov animation tools v3.0.0
an animator's panel for Maya: key sliders, Shift Keys, motion trail, scene retime
// About
eov animation tools is a free panel for animators in Maya: one slim strip above the time slider holding the things you would otherwise open the Graph Editor, the Outliner and the File menu for, many times a day. Select keys, drag a slider - the curve changes; let go - the handle springs back to the centre and the keys keep their new shape.
It is the successor of EU Anim Curve Tools, rewritten from scratch: one open code base for Maya 2019-2026, no per-version compiling. The panel is meant as a home for an animator's tools, and this is its first release - more tools will move in.
Shift Keys - keys in time
The row of buttons right after Set moves things in time by a set number of frames: the selected keys, the motion without keys, whole curves or the whole scene. Next to them - insert or remove empty frames between keys, on the selection or in the whole scene. One click is one undo step, no dragging and no Graph Editor.
The blue slider - the shape of the curve
The slider springs back: drag and the keys change, let go and the handle returns to the centre. Modes: Connect to Neighbors, Ease In | Out, Pull | Push, Smooth | Rough, Noise | Wave, Simplify | Bake Keys, Gap Stitcher, Time Offsetter and its stagger along a chain of objects, and scale from the average, the default, a frame or a neighbour. With no keys selected it works on the current frame.
The yellow slider - the tweener
Blends the selected keys with a target: a stored version (Blend to Buffer), the default value, an ease, the neighbours, an undo step, the curve's own continuation. For three of the blends right goes to the target and left away from it, with overshoot; the others have a target on each side. The mode's code is written on the handle itself, and a right click changes the mode.
Trail - the motion path
The object's path frame by frame, right in the viewport: the past in one colour, the future in another, redrawn as soon as you edit keys. Draw it from a vertex, show only part of the range, add the rotation axes, draw it relative to another object. Temperature colours the line by speed, by how close the rotation is to gimbal lock, by jitter or by distance to the camera.
Sets and the selection counter
Sets is a slim panel of coloured buttons: one click selects all the controls of an arm, the legs or the fingers. The sets live in the scene and travel with the file. The button with a number shows how many objects are selected, and a click opens their list - drop extras from the selection with a click or a drag.
SM Tools - the scene and the camera
The next numbered version of the scene, a safety copy into a separate folder, a playblast next to the scene, camera tumble around whatever is under the cursor, the scene's folder in Explorer, its path to the clipboard, and the world up axis switched between Y and Z. Each one is a single click.
Speed Retime - retime the whole scene
One speed curve for the whole scene: slow motion on the hit, faster after it - and every character, prop and camera stays in sync. The viewport plays the new timing at once, and Bake Retime moves the keys where the preview showed them - in place or onto an animation layer. It comes with the lesson "Slowing down the avenue stunt": before and after videos and the city scene, about a thousand animated objects.
Hotkeys and settings
Every action can have a key of its own. The field tells you what Maya already does on that key and offers free ones in one click. Export the layout to a file and take it to another computer. A module you don't need is switched off as a whole: it leaves the panel, its keys go quiet, its code is not loaded.
What the panel does not do
It does not replace the Graph Editor: fine tangent work is still easier there. The interface is in English only. It runs in Maya 2019-2026 on Windows; Linux and macOS have not been tried. The only thing that goes online is Check for Updates - and all it does is open the program's page in your browser.
At a glance
- Autodesk Maya 2019-2026, Windows
- free, MIT license, open source
- install: drag one file into the Maya window, for every Maya version at once
- 23 MB archive, with the Speed Retime lesson and its scene
- English interface, manual and lesson in English and Russian
// Promo
// Specs
// Download & versions
Free for personal and commercial use. No registration, no limits, no ads. Every release stays available, so you can always go back to an older build.
First release.
eov animation tools is the successor of EU Anim Curve Tools, rewritten from scratch: one open code base for Maya 2019-2026, no per-version compiling. One slim panel above the time slider for the everyday work:
- Spring sliders. The blue slider reshapes the selected keys - connect, ease, pull/push, smooth, noise, time offset, scale; the yellow one is a tweener - blend to buffer, default, ease, neighbours, undo. One drag is one undo step.
- Shift Keys. Move keys, motion, whole curves or the whole scene by N frames, insert and remove empty frames - one click each.
- Trail. The motion path in the viewport, redrawn as you edit keys, coloured by speed or gimbal lock.
- Sets, counter, SM Tools. Coloured selection buttons, the list of what is selected, scene versions, a safety copy, playblasts, camera tumble, the Y/Z up axis.
- Speed Retime. One speed curve for the whole scene, baked into keys - with the lesson and its city scene.
- Your own hotkeys. For every action, with Maya's own key shown and free keys offered; modules you don't need are switched off.
Installs by dropping one file into Maya - once for every Maya 2019-2026, checked in 2019, 2022 and 2025. Manual and lesson in English and Russian. Free, MIT.