SHAPES Installation Guide

Contents

  1. Overview
    1. Installation for editing
    2. Installation for rendering
  2. Installation
    1. General Installation
    2. Custom Install
    3. Create Module File
    4. Manual Installation
  3. Licensing
    1. License Activation
    2. Environment Variable
  4. Uninstall
  5. Troubleshooting
    1. Install Error
    2. No Plug-in Available
    3. Contact

1.Overview

SHAPES installs as a multi-version module. All supported versions of Maya will be served from the same installation. Version independent plug-ins and scripts are usually located on the top level folder of the user preferences in a default installation of Maya, whereas version specific plug-ins and scripts are located within the respective subfolder of each Maya version.

The SHAPES installation consists of four plug-ins:

Because the Open Source plug-ins are also available as individual downloads they will be installed as separate modules even though they are part of the SHAPES installation.

1.1Installation for editing

SHAPES only needs to be installed on the computer where blend shape setups are being authored and edited.
An installation is not required to play-back or render the scene files which contain blend shape setups created with SHAPES.

1.2Installation for rendering

For play-back and rendering an installation of the Open Source nodes is required if these are being used in the scene files.

2.Installation

This drag and drop installer copies all extracted files from the downloaded archive to the specified location of the Maya preferences.

2.1General Installation

  1. Extract the files from the downloaded archive.
    Make sure that the downloaded archive is extracted before installing.
  2. Drag and drop the file dragDropInstaller.py from the folder of the extracted files into the main Maya window.
    The installer cannot perform correctly when directly dragged out of the archive into the Maya window.
  3. The installation window displays the End User License Agreement (EULA). Confirm the EULA to continue.
    The installation will be cancelled when the EULA is declined.
  4. The installer displays the options to define the installation paths. If you don't have specific requirements you can leave the paths unchanged.
    By default the files will install to the modules folder at the top level of the user preferences.
    In case of an existing installation this previous path will be used.
  5. Press the Install button to perform the installation.
    At the bottom of the window the installation progress is shown.
    The progress is also saved to the installation log file where the installer is located.
  6. When finished, restart Maya.
    The installed files can only be found by Maya upon restart.
    If you choose to restarted later the installed files cannot be used until Maya gets restarted.
  7. The SHAPES menu can be found in the main Maya menu.

2.2Custom Install

In case user defined paths are required for the installation you can set these directly from the installation window.

Install Path

This is the path where the module files will be copied to.

The default path is the modules folder on the top level of the Maya user preferences but any folder location can be chosen.

The default Maya preferences don't contain a modules folder at the top level of the user preferences even though it's in the default module search paths of Maya.

Module Path

This is the path where the module files (.mod) will be created in. These module files contain the path where the actual files of the installation can be found.

This path needs to be a registered Maya modules path. If a path is chosen which is not included in the Maya module path locations (defined by the MAYA_MODULE_PATH environment variable) the modules are not found and the tools won’t be available.

The registered Maya modules paths can be found by querying the MAYA_MODULE_PATH environment variable.
Use the following MEL command in Maya to get a list of all known paths.
getenv MAYA_MODULE_PATH

2.3Create Module File

Creating only module files is only meant for user defined installations. No files are being copied during the process and no files are created in a location where they can be found by Maya.

The module files contain the path defined by the Install Path field in the installer window.

The module files for all plug-ins are created in the same folder where the installer is located.

Press Create .mod files only at the bottom of the installer window to create the files.

2.4Manual Installation

In environments where the drag and drop installer is not applicable a manual installation is necessary.
The procedure requires to copy the modules to the expected location and create a module file which directs Maya to the module contents.

Step 1: Copy Modules

  1. The module folders, which contain all necessary files, are found in the modules folder of the extracted archive.
    PATH_TO_EXTRACTED_FILES/SHAPES/modules
  2. Copy the contained folders of the modules folder to any location of your choice.

Step 2: Create Module File

In order for Maya to find the files copied in Step 1: Copy Modules a module file needs to be created which tells Maya where the contents of the plug-in are located.
This module file has the file extension .mod and should be placed in one of the module path locations Maya processes upon startup.

The registered Maya modules paths can be found by querying the MAYA_MODULE_PATH environment variable.
Use the following MEL command in Maya to get a list of all known paths.
getenv MAYA_MODULE_PATH
  1. Find the template module file PATH_TO_EXTRACTED_FILES/SHAPES/resources/module_template.mod.
  2. Rename the file to the match the name of the module.
    The SHAPES installation includes four modules. For each module a module file needs to exist. The modules are rampWeights, SHAPES, SHAPESBrush, weightDriver.
  3. Open the file in a text editor of your choice.
    The module file contains definitions for each supported version of Maya. You can safely remove any definitions which don't match your installed version/s of Maya, though this is not required.
  4. Replace MODULE_NAME with the name of the module you are currently creating.
    rampWeights, SHAPES, SHAPESBrush, weightDriver.
  5. Replace PATH_TO_MODULE_CONTENT with the path you copied the contents of the modules to in Step 1: Copy Modules.
    It is important that the path ends with the folder which matches the name of the module. Example:
    /USERNAME/Documents/maya/modules/SHAPES
  6. Repeat the above steps 3 and 4 for each installed version of Maya.
  7. Save the file to one of the Maya module paths which are stored in the MAYA_MODULE_PATH environment variable.
  8. Repeat all steps for all included plug-ins.
    rampWeights, SHAPES, SHAPESBrush, weightDriver.

After starting Maya the SHAPES menu can be found in the main Maya menu.

In case the SHAPES menu doesn't appear when running Maya please check the locations of the module files as well as the module contents.
If a plug-in installed through a module is not available the issue is usually path related.
Review all above steps to copy, modify and create files and check again by restarting Maya.

In case you need further assistance please contact us by emailing to shapes@braverabbit.com.

3.Licensing

SHAPES needs to be licensed for commercial or educational usage.

Without a license key SHAPES is running in evaluation mode and displays an evaluation confirmation window every time a new mesh is loaded.

The evaluation version of SHAPES is meant to be used for evaluation only. It is not meant to be used over a longer period of time, for commercial, educational or other projects. Any usage of SHAPES beyond evaluation purposes is breaking the license agreement and harming software development.
Thanks for your consideration.

3.1License Activation

Perform the following steps to enter your licensing data:

  1. From the Maya main menu select SHAPES > Enter License...
  2. Enter your personal licensing data you have received via email.
    If you haven’t already received your licensing data please check your spam folder or contact us by emailing to shapes@braverabbit.com.
  3. After entering the license key the window will close and the script editor informs about the successful registration.
    4. If you have trouble with licensing your copy of SHAPES please contact us through the above mentioned email address.

3.2Environment Variable

Licensing is also possible by setting a Maya environment variable.

Perform the following steps to set up the Maya environment variable for the licensing:

  1. Open the Maya.env file.

    2. The file is located at the root folder of your version specific user preferences folder (depending on your platform):

    • Windows: C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\maya\2024
    • macOS: /Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/2024
    • Linux: /home/USERNAME/maya/2024

  2. Add the following line to your environment variables:
    SHAPES_LICENSE_ID="enter_license_code_here"
  3. Save the file.
  4. Open Maya.
  5. Check if the license can be read by going to Maya main menu > SHAPES > Enter License...

4.Uninstall

To uninstall simply run the installer again and choose Uninstall at the bottom of the installer window.

5.Troubleshooting

In case you experience issues during the installation please take a look at the log file which has been generated and is located in the same folder as the installer.

The installation log is a text file which contains all relevant information about the installation process.

Do not set the SHAPESTools plug-in to auto-load in the Maya Plug-in Manager.
If auto-load is enabled you won't get past the licensing box when you haven't received your license yet.
SHAPES is loading on-demand which means that the menu items are available even when the plug-ins are unloaded and they will automatically load once they are required.

5.1Install Error

It's possible that the installation fails because of file permissions, existing files or folders or similar reasons.
In this case try to uninstall the existing installation first and then install again.

  1. Run the installer by dragging the file dragDropInstaller.py from the folder of the extracted files into the main Maya window.
  2. Confirm the EULA. (if shown)
  3. Choose Uninstall at the bottom of the installer window.
  4. Again, drag the installer into the main Maya window.
  5. Perform the installation.

5.2No Plug-in Available

If the SHAPES menu item doesn’t show in the main Maya menu it’s usually related to a wrong path setup.

Please always check:

  • That the name of your user folder is correct. The default installation path is the modules folder on the top level of the user maya preferences.
    Find your Maya user preferences:

    The basic installation path is your Maya user preferences modules directory located at (depending on your platform):

    • Windows: C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\maya\modules
    • macOS: /Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/modules
    • Linux: /home/USERNAME/maya/modules

    The default Maya preferences don't contain a modules folder

  • That the module files (.mod) are placed in one of the module path locations of the MAYA_MODULE_PATH environment variable.
    If the path is not known to Maya the modules cannot be found.
  • That no files from a previous installation are conflicting with the new installation.
    Even though the installer tries to find any previously installed files there is no guarantee that all obsolete files have been removed.
    Open the Plug-in Manager from Maya Menu > Windows > Settings/Preferences > Plug-in Manager and check for any SHAPES related plug-ins. The path of each plug-in shows the location of the files.
    Manually remove those files and try to install again.

5.3Contact

If the issue persists and SHAPES doesn’t install properly or doesn’t show up in Maya please contact us with the installation log and details about the issue by emailing to shapes@braverabbit.com.

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