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Home > Blogs > My Oh Maya! > Maya Bonus Tools Resource Page (Update - 3DsImport plugin available)

Maya Bonus Tools Resource Page (Update - 3DsImport plugin available)

Posted by STLR, 5 days ago


 - Welcome to the Maya BonusTools Resource Page -


Here you will find links to installers, useful information, tutorials, demonstrations and updates related to Maya BonusTools.  This page will be continually updated with new information, so bookmark it and check back later for more updates.


- BonusTools 2014 Installation -


The 2014 version of BonusTools is now available for download.  Going forward we will be posting the installers on the new Autodesk Maya Apps Exchange ->  BonusTools 2014 Installers.  The Exchange is a portal hosted by Autodesk where you can get access to plugins that extend the functionality of various Autodesk products.  There are now both Maya and Max centric pages on the Exchange.

NOTE:  We have fixed the legacy issue with the BonusTools python scripts path.  You no longer need to set this up manually.  It is now done automatically, so all python based Bonus Tools should work imediately after installation.


- BonusTools 2014 Update -


We've had a few requests for the 3dsImport plugin which was not included in the 2014 version of BonusTools.  The compiled windows plugin has now been uploaded separately -> 3dsImport Plugin.  Unzip the file and put the 3dsImport.mll file in the plugins folder where BonusTools 2014 is installed.  See documentation for more details on installation location.


- Legacy BonusTools Installers -


BonusTools installers for older versions of Maya can still be found on the Area -> Legacy Maya BonusTools Installers  (Keep in mind that older versions will not contain all of the current toolset)

NOTE:  In older versions of BonusTools python based tools will not work after the initial installation (e.g. Flatten Components.)  Python scripts required an additional setup step for versions prior to 2014. See the BonusTools help docs for instructions on how to setup your Python search path. You only need to do this once and it should work from then on.

Fixes for the DrawSplit and DrawReduce tool are available for BonsuTools 2013.  This update addresses an issue that was preventing the tools from being listed in the menu for MacOS as well as an issue with the default options for the tools.  Put the contents of this zip file in the scripts folder of the BonusTools installation ->    BonusTools 2013 Update1.  These fixes are already integrated into the 2014 version.


- BonusTools Tips, Tricks and Tutorials -

What's New in ->  BonusTools 2014?


Modify

Create

Windows

Modeling

UV Editing

Animation

Rendering

 

80 Comments

Johnchen

Posted 18 March 2011 1:00 am

woohoo! thanks Steve.

Johnchen

Posted 18 March 2011 1:01 am

where to dl the new version?

STLR

Posted 18 March 2011 2:20 pm

vfxforge - sorry but it's not available quite yet... this is just a preview of what's to come. It will be available for dl soon after the release of Maya 2012.

s03241

Posted 18 March 2011 6:38 pm

Very good indeed!!
I look in subscription center every day for Maya 2012.
I suppose it will be available in beginning of April.

The only thing in Maya I miss, working with automotive visualization, is a fast, physical right, GPU renderer like iRay.

STLR

Posted 6 April 2011 9:51 pm

Smann - I could probably zip these up and post them separately at some point. Although you could just install it once, then find the scripts in the install location and copy/zip them up on your end for reuse as and when you need them.

F. Ross - I run Win7 64bit but never saw that problem. Although I believe that should be fixed. I hope so anyway

dreamlauros

Posted 12 April 2011 3:37 am

I just installed the bonus tools for maya 2011 x64 on W7. At first it told me I needed to run isscript.msi so I did a search, found it ran it then ran the bonus tools installer again and it worked.

NBreslow

Posted 12 April 2011 1:41 pm

+1 for a modular installation option. No worries though, feel lucky to get them at all. Great work and look forward to the 2012 release.

-NB

ianucci

Posted 19 April 2011 1:40 pm

Very welcome (if long overdue) update!

Johnchen

Posted 27 April 2011 10:49 am

Hi Steven, any work on 2012 bonus tools?

STLR

Posted 28 April 2011 5:25 pm

Hi all - yes BT 2012 should be posted very soon. Sorry for the delay. I will post a message here as soon as it's available. LT 2012 is also in the works but in the meantime LT 2011 should work fine in 2012.

STLR

Posted 29 April 2011 5:06 pm

sueds - thanks for the feedback on that, I'll look in that.

Idfour

Posted 11 May 2011 11:06 pm

Any word on Bonus Tools will be out?

IDFour

STLR

Posted 20 May 2011 8:44 pm

Hello all - BonusTools 2012 is finally available for download!

http://area.autodesk.com/bonus_tools

Sorry for the delay.

rachid

Posted 28 May 2011 4:42 am


each time I post a comment or say thanks..after one day the comment are gone, removed... who is responsible for that and why? sure the moderator but why? can you give one reason?

PixelDroid

Posted 31 May 2011 6:29 am

I installed, and the individual plugins show up in the plugin manager, but I don't have the Bonus Tools Menu - even when I autoload some of the plugins!
Any suggestions?

STLR

Posted 31 May 2011 3:10 pm

rachid - sorry about that, I have no idea what's going on there. I don't think anyone in particular (i.e. a moderator) would delete your posts, so there must be some sort of bug or something.

Pixel Droid - it sounds like you need to edit or create a userSetup file. See below...

If you have installed Bonus Tools but can not see the menu then you may need to update your userSetup file. See below...

Copy C:\Program Files\Autodesk\MayaBonusTools2012\scripts\userSetup.mel
Copy C:\Program Files\Autodesk\MayaBonusTools2012\python\userSetup.py

Paste both in C:\users\name\My Documents\maya12-x64\prefs\scripts

STLR

Posted 1 June 2011 8:35 pm

MR HOLLYWOOD and others...

Sorry for the frustration. Not sure why the setup has been difficult for some and not others. My only thought is that is has something to do with older versions of bonusTools being previously installed. We'll try to get to the bottom of it, but thanks your patience in the meantime.

The reality is that all the userSetup.mel file really contains that matters is a single line, which is a call to...

bonusToolsMenu;

The other stuff in there has been removed or commented out due various changes to the BT structure. So really, you can just create your own file called userSetup.mel that contains this one line and put it in your scripts folder and it should work fine.


PixelDroid

Posted 5 June 2011 4:06 am

STLR:
All I needed to do was put the line:
bonusToolsMenu;
in my userSetup.mel
I keep that file in a unique scripts directory so Maya doesn't copy all my scripts with each upgrade.
The reason the installer missed it in my case is that it probably didn't check to see where my userSetup.mel is located.
Thanks.

_wOLVERINe_

Posted 10 June 2011 1:36 am

How does someone actually join the BonusTools dev team ? These don't seem to be Autodesk only people..

wielek13

Posted 30 June 2011 1:20 pm

Hi!

I also had a problem with the BonusTools, after I installed GoZbrush. After installing this plug-in, menu BonusTools disappeared!

Following the recommendation I made it:

- from C: \ Program Files \ Autodesk \ MayaBonusTools2012 \ scripts \ userSetup.mel,
copied and then pasted userSetup.mel to C: \ users \ name \ My Documents \ maya12-x64 \ prefs \ scripts.

- from C: \ Program Files \ Autodesk \ MayaBonusTools2012 \ python \ userSetup.py,
copied and pasted userSetup.py to C: \ users \ name \ My Documents \ maya12-x64 \ prefs \ scripts, and then I started Maya 2012.

after starting, Bonus Tools menu, returned to his seat.
Thank you for your help STLR!
PS. I have Windows 7 x64 bit

vinceppp

Posted 15 July 2011 4:21 am

where is the tool to convert polygon edges to curve in maya 2012.
I hope its there.

STLR

Posted 16 July 2011 1:14 am

vinceppp - yes it is directly in Maya now in Modify->Convert->PolygonEdgesToCurve

Caypiranha

Posted 28 July 2011 12:05 pm

STLR... Sorry, but i am alos tortally frustated... bonus tools appeared one time.. then it was gone .. why doesn´t AUTODSK install it DIRECTLY in the software? ... nobody understands that. fIf the Productmanagement would work fine for Maya, a lot of tools could be changed to theire advantage, and other (e.g. out of the Bonustools palette) might be implemented directly... tzzzzzz ... I fell asleep - i everytime think of WHY WHY WHY... in my opionion it´s a worsse thing, that all 3D packeges are owned by 1 (!) company... no competitors in these segments at all! Good for autodesk - instead of fusing all theire power to the packeges, it seems a little profit is the only thing to go for... I just remember for e.g. "Viewport 2.0" - what joke to get Customers for the new viewport in 2011.. OMG! and finally in 2012 it got working.. damn.. why? tell you employer to release Software only, when the QUALITY it RIGHT...

sorry dude - but here is someone really fedup - an d my list of things like thin about Maya is looooong.... to long... if I only could I would change


but best regards - an User

STLR

Posted 28 July 2011 3:38 pm

Caypiranha - sorry for your frustrations. First of all... for the BT install issues... What version of Maya/BT are you using and on what platform? Did you try the useSetup.mel process suggested below?

As for BT not being part of Maya's install. We're actually considering that for future versions. But regardless BT will continue to be developed differently and independently from the regular Maya dev cycle. This is what makes BonusTools "Bonus" tools. But many many tools that began in BT have made there way into Maya proper. Tools like ConvertEdgesToCurves, MergeVertexTool, ExtrudeVertex, CutPoly, Poly Marking Menus... just to name a few, all started as BonusTools.

Regarding VP2. Completely rewriting the Maya viewport is a -huge- undertaking. There is no way it could be done in one pass. Therefore we are doing it incrementally over several releases. They will coexist for a while until everything is working and then VP2 will eventually become "the" viewport. Something that big with so many implications just takes time, especially with a product that is as complex as Maya.

As for AD development in general... I came over from Alias and I was skeptical at first. But I have seen a number of releases that have been quite aggressive. As I said... it's hard with some things (e.g. vp2, HIK, Sequencer) to get it perfect on the first try. But over the last few years I think we have had a pretty good track record of sticking with things and continuing to improve them. IMO our recent history on that front is much improved over our past history at Alias.

STLR

Posted 26 September 2011 10:57 am

stou - sorry for the late reply. The Draw Split Tool should be working. It was when I last tested it anyway. You might want to try resetting the options and starting fresh. It sounds like it might be specific to the multi-split option but not sure.

5thsun

Posted 9 November 2011 8:31 pm

s there anyway u can do a tutorial on the pose blend shape editor the documents give no help on how to use this tool. or can u provide the email yo the person who wrote it

STLR

Posted 29 November 2011 1:33 pm

5thsun - Thanks for the reminder on the PoseBlend tool. I realized that this tool is sorely lacking in documentation and more importantly in need of a face lift. I'm working on updating it now and will have a new version and a tutorial for it in a few weeks.

Alisa K - Unfortunately there is no way (currently) to do a mirror of a range of frames with this tool. It's a good idea though, so I will put it on my "to do" list in the meantime you might want to checkout Creative Crash to see if there might be a script that would do something similar... post your question on one of their forums. http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/home

emygorf

Posted 3 December 2011 8:19 am

Scene annotations is great.

One practical problem: "Save and Close" and "Save Without Closing" are right next to one another (not to mention "Delete Annotation" as well). If I am leaving long notes, I go to exit, it would help me as a user to put some space between those options because I have consistently lost work because they are right next to one another.

Solution: Remove the Drop-down menu and put buttons at the bottom or top of the interface or; use a reminder for Save without Closing or Delete Annotations: "Information is about to be lost... Are you sure" or something similar.

A great tool. I use it to save detailed notes in lectures as I go through Maya tutorials so that I can reference it later on.

Thank you.

STLR

Posted 5 December 2011 7:59 am

emygorf - thanks for the feedback. Yes you are right... I can see how this would be easy to do inadvertently. I think the easiest solution will be to add a dialogue box for confirmation (e.g. Are you sure you want to delete?) That should be easy enough to add, so I will do it for the next release.

area2

Posted 2 January 2012 9:56 pm

hi i had problem with bonus tool and think for wielek13 and the direction his bin given thanks allot

Hanks

Posted 26 January 2012 8:12 am

Can somebody help me? is not working for me
it was, but idk why is not showing the Bonus tools in the top
tryed unistall and install again, but doesnt work

STLR

Posted 28 January 2012 11:26 am

Hanks - check the docs... it is probably an issue with your userSetup.mel file. You may need to manually add the line...

bonusToolsMenu;

to that file if you have one already.

mihirmahapatra

Posted 5 February 2012 7:05 pm

I am having problem with making joints dynamic. I do not see any changes in the bone chains and I am not able to move the entire chain. Any body can help?
Thanks

STLR

Posted 7 February 2012 9:27 am

mihirmahapatra - make sure you're selecting the right things before you apply. For single chains you select the base and end joints that you want to effect. for multiple chains you only select the base joints in order.

penPen23

Posted 7 March 2012 7:28 pm

itd be great to get these bonus tools, but it seems the autodesk site isnt working, a few bytes a second until the download stalls and cancels.. the autodesk factor- never failed to dissapoint, not once in years! it blows me away, whenever i have to interact with an autodesk product or website

Miracular

Posted 31 March 2012 9:28 am

Could you please provide very specific instructions for installing Bonus Tools for Maya 2012 (student version) running on Mac Lion, including manually? I can't seem to get the installation to happen by any of the methods I've tried.

rmulawa

Posted 12 April 2012 1:29 am

okay I am going out of my mind I cannot figure out why I am not getting a bonus tools menu in maya!!!!!! All the plugins seem to be there in the plugin manager and the installation went fine! What is conflicting and how the bloody hell do I fix it?

ronviers

Posted 23 April 2012 4:34 am

bonus tools are working fine now

STLR

Posted 23 April 2012 8:50 am

ronviers - there will be a 2013 version of BT posted very soon with many new updates.

STLR

Posted 27 April 2012 7:37 am

virt87 - Mac installer link is at the bottom of this page...

http://area.autodesk.com/bonus_tools

NBreslow

Posted 7 May 2012 6:11 am

"ronviers - there will be a 2013 version of BT posted very soon with many new updates."

Cool - looking forward to it. Thanks for these,

-NB

Wolvawab

Posted 24 May 2012 5:40 pm

Thanks Steven! ^___^

rachid

Posted 27 May 2012 2:48 am

awesome Thanks

GeneralCody

Posted 27 May 2012 10:45 pm

Regarding the "Create Digital Number Node"
It says in the instructions:
"Note: This requires the PolyTools.mll plug-in to be loaded - see BonusTools section of the Plug-in Manager."

However, I can't find any PolyTools.mll or a BonusTool section in my Plug-In manager!
It is installed and the other tools work correctly I think. My Python path is also set...

What's up?

xixac

Posted 29 May 2012 3:23 am

Thanks again for posting these. Unfortunately the set of UV Tools seems to be completely broken. None of the HUD interface elements like buttons are visible. This is on a Mac w/ Maya 2013. Python path is OK and no other issues so far.

Emmanuel31

Posted 29 May 2012 11:01 am

hello stlr
thanks you for the new tools like symmetry
hope to see maya begin again the first one

timd1971

Posted 31 May 2012 2:27 pm

What the hell is up with the Andy Warwhore role playing getup?

zoorroo4

Posted 6 June 2012 10:19 am

None of the HUD buttons are showing for me..

STLR

Posted 7 June 2012 7:45 pm

*** HUD BUTTONS ***

The disappearance of the HUD buttons for various tools is a known (and unfortunate) issue. It is actually a bug in Maya 2013 and unrelated to BT. It is logged and should be fixed in an upcoming Service Pack.

*** HUD BUTTONS ***

STLR

Posted 7 June 2012 7:48 pm

timd1971 - hahaha... well timd1971, going by your profile pic you are not one to judge when it comes to role playing

STLR

Posted 12 July 2012 1:22 pm

*** SP1 fixes the HUD button bug that was affecting a number of BonusTools. ***

You can download it here...

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=19834912&linkID=9242259

dangerweenie

Posted 10 October 2012 5:56 pm

anyone know where download bonus tools for 2012?

Perla

Posted 6 December 2012 6:07 am

I downloaded Maya Bonus Tools 2013 and in the plugin manager selected all the ones I wanted yet i still don't see a drop down menu to select the tools.The same thing happened to me with 2011 Bonus Tools. What am i doing wrong ? And can anyone prvide me with some assistance ? I would greatly appreciate some help.

Regards
Patrick

MikeRhone

Posted 6 December 2012 6:22 am

Bonus Tools for 2012 64-bit can be found here: http://area.autodesk.com/downloads/plugins/bonus_tools_for_maya_2012_win64

soothsayer22

Posted 26 December 2012 5:31 am

Hmmm how do I get theses to show up in Maya??

soothsayer22

Posted 26 December 2012 5:33 am

Subtract my previous comment...I am a DA!

xixac

Posted 1 March 2013 7:55 pm

Thanks for updating DrawSplit and DrawReduce tools for us lowly Mac users ; )

ninchen

Posted 11 March 2013 10:50 am

download SP1 and SP2 but the HUD buttons are still invisible :/

STLR

Posted 11 March 2013 4:07 pm

@xixac - glad I could help. sorry for the oversight

@ninchen - not sure what is going on there as I have tested in both and it works fine on my end. Can you double check by going to Help->AboutMaya and look at the version printed at the top?

ninchen

Posted 11 March 2013 5:21 pm

autodesk maya 2013 x64
cut id: 201202220241-825136
hope that was the right

STLR

Posted 11 March 2013 5:43 pm

@ninchen - it looks like the service pack may not have actually been installed. This looks like it's just the original install of Maya 2013. Did you definitely uninstall the original and reinstall SP2? BTW - SP2 is a super-set of SP1. You only need the latest service pack not both.

ninchen

Posted 11 March 2013 6:22 pm

aaaah ok I thought Id only override the original and not uninstall it. i try this and ty for your help

rnj1223

Posted 4 April 2013 3:01 pm

How do you permanently delete the Scene Annotation window?
I created some Scene Annotations for multiple Maya-2013 files, and been getting complaints on how it pops up every time they launch the files. I tried the "Delete Scene Annotation" and then saving the file. However it still comes up the next time the file is opened. I really don't want the Scene Annotation attached to the Maya file anymore. Can you help?

STLR

Posted 5 April 2013 5:06 pm

@rnj1223 - That's odd. When you use "Delete Scene Annotation" and save then it really should get rid of it so that it won't open the next time. You might have run into a bug although honestly I've never seen that happen. I guess for some reason you are getting multiple scene annotation nodes. Try this

ls "bt_SceneAnnotation*";

If it prints more than 2 nodes then that is the problem. You can delete them and save your file and that should fix it. If not let me know.

delete "bt_SceneAnnotation*";

rnj1223

Posted 8 April 2013 1:40 pm

First, Thank you for your help.
Below is from the script editor of one of the Maya-2013.5 files that I created the bt_SceneAnnotation window in.
I tryed the ls "bt_SceneAnnotation*"; and delete "bt_SceneAnnotation*"; as shown below.
======================================================
// Warning: Could not find an appropriate startup camera: side. A substitute will be used. //
Creating node bt_SceneAnnotation.
Adding notes attribute to node.
Creating scriptNode for opening Scene Annotation window.
ls "bt_SceneAnnotation*";
// Result: bt_SceneAnnotation bt_SceneAnnotationScript //
delete "bt_SceneAnnotation*";
file -save;
// Result: C:/Users/xxxxxx/xxxxxxxx/IN WORK FOLDER/Maya - Object Scene/XXXScene.mb //
====================================================
After saving the file and closing it down, I reopened that same file. As you can see below in the copy from the script editor, it is still creating the bt_SceneAnnotation.
=====================================================
// Warning: Could not find an appropriate startup camera: side. A substitute will be used. //
Creating node bt_SceneAnnotation.
Adding notes attribute to node.
Creating scriptNode for opening Scene Annotation window.

STLR

Posted 8 April 2013 7:16 pm

@rnj1223 - Weird. No idea what is going on here. Is there a way that you can posted the problematic file so I can take a look at it?

yes_id

Posted 9 April 2013 1:50 am

where is fti_exporter?
I need it to create icons for new shaders!

rnj1223

Posted 9 April 2013 12:55 pm

bt_SceneAnnotation will not delete:
I never posted a file before, how do you go about doing that?

tinanewtonart5

Posted 14 April 2013 11:24 pm

I have to say I have done everything in this forum and all other ones on the issue "Auto UV Unwrap controls are not displaying in HUD window." I have copied the mel and python files to the scripts folder in the my Docs> Maya> 2013x64> scripts folder. I installed the service pack 1 & 2 after uninstalling maya each time. I have attempted to see if any other HUD plugins were conflicting. I even reset maya to defaults and reinstalled bonus tools. I am quite upset by this dilemma. Since my instructor wants us to use it to UV map our projects that are due in 3DAYS!!!!!!!!

STLR

Posted 17 April 2013 6:22 pm

@tinanewtonart5 - I'm sorry but I have only seen this happen in the initial 2013 release due to a bug, but that bug was fixed in the first SP. Assuming you have uninstalled 2013 and then installed SP1 or SP2 then the HUD buttons should work fine. I wish I had an answer for you otherwise. The only thing that I can think to recommend is to try it on a different machine which I understand may or may not be an option.

Emmanuel31

Posted 8 May 2013 10:00 am

all work fine but i don't see 3ds import , did you forget it ? i really need it , i have somme 3ds scene to import and i cant.

STLR

Posted 8 May 2013 1:11 pm

@manel - it was actually retired due to stability issues. Have you tried using the fbx standalone coverter to converts your 3ds files to fbx which can then be imported directly.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=16126812

Dark_Rayden

Posted 8 May 2013 8:17 pm

Could someone link the BonusTools 2014 as a regular download link? It just won't download on the apps exchange page (says shortly "loading" and vanishes without a download).
It's pretty annoying not to get it ...

Emmanuel31

Posted last week

hello stl
fbx isn't available with vue xstream export, and i only have 2 option for export : obj or 3ds (when you work with maya ), and 3ds on maya 2013 work very well , never have problem , ans it keep groups and layer , obj no, 3ds export on vue is a very flexible option for export (decimation master,baking light and maps etc....so all for game resolution) and for me it was a very good and quick workflow befor exporting for unity.i built halt of scene in maya (props, arch etc...) landscape in vue, and rebuild all in low in maya by 3ds export from vue ,and final export on unity.
fbx -dae is only available for import in vue not in export option.
Please , give us 3ds import option , in 2013 it was working very well, never have bugs or unstable result.

STLR

Posted last week

@Manel - I'm looking into the feasibility of posting the 3dsImport plugin separately. In the meantime the standalone fbx converter should be able to convert your 3ds files into fbx, which can then be opened directly in Maya. If you have a chance, try that workaround out let me know if it works.

icanhazsegway

Posted last week

The Adjust Clipping Plane (in Bonus Tools>Display) just saved me a ton of headaches!

I am new to Bonus Tools -- never heard of them before today. Great tools and tips. I'll be here more often.

STLR

Posted 5 days ago

NOTE: The 3dsImport plugin has now been posted above.

Emmanuel31

Posted 5 days ago

Hello STRL

my apologies , I forgot to tell you that I'm working on mac

so i'm waiting the bundle file , hope you make it
thanks

swanny2070

Posted 3 hours ago

Since Autodesk owns both Maya and 3DS, WHY can't you just add natively .3ds files to import in Maya? Every single time I use a new version, I need to scour the Area or Autodesk site looking for the damn .3ds import plugin. It totally sucks. I can't believe this hasn't come up in a developer meeting or something. I believe you should be able to import/export files between Max, Maya, Softimage, etc.

Cory Mogk

Posted 2 hours ago

@swanny2070 as Steven said, we've been putting our effort into FBX over 3DS and that is our recommended format for interop. If you're going between Softimage, 3ds Max and Maya, we recommend the "Send To" workflows.

If FBX is not working, please let us know where

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