mayaMatchMoveSolver-v0.2.3

This is a bug fix release addressing one issue in v0.2.2 release.

Download the archive file for your operating system and Maya version, and follow the INSTALL.md instructions.

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Bug fixes

• #101; Fixed the Solver right-click menu tools; "Run Solve" and "Run Solve (Current Frame)".

Known issues

• New v0.2.x default values will not be used until a new Collection is created. Delete your previous Collection and create a new Collection using the Solver UI "File > New Collection" menu item.
• Solver engine can become slow with many attributes.
• The Maya viewport is refreshed during solving to force Maya to evaluate all nodes in the solve. This causes slower performance (e.g. 6 seconds verses 30 seconds), but ensures accurate solver results. The root cause is being investigated.
• The Solver does not find the absolute minimum and sometimes requires pressing "solve" multiple times to get a minimum error.

mayaMatchMoveSolver-v0.2.2

This is a bug fix release addressing issues in v0.2.1 and adding some helpful user features.

Download the archive file for your operating system and Maya version, and follow the INSTALL.md instructions.

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New

• #93; Allow users to press the Escape key (or press the "Solve" button again) to cancel a running solve.

Changes and Improvements

• #10 Smooth Keyframes tool
  • Tool now blends between selected and unselected keyframes.
  • Tool uses animCurve pre/post infinity and does not use first/last keyframe of curve.
• #94; Added "Solver UI > Tools > Force DG Update" checkbox (off by default), to speed up solves.

Bug fixes

• Fixed solver incorrectly returned success, when the solver may have failed.
• #60; Fixed incorrect calculation of average error (for debug information output).
• #99; Loaded Markers remove excess keyframes for the weight attribute (which is usually static).
• #98; Lock the Marker Shear attributes, so they cannot accidentally be changed.
• #97; Lock/Unlock the Marker weight attribute consistently with enable attribute.

Known issues

• New v0.2.x default values will not be used until a new Collection is created. Delete your previous Collection and create a new Collection using the Solver UI "File > New Collection" menu item.
• Solver engine can become slow with many attributes.
• The Maya viewport is refreshed during solving to force Maya to evaluate all nodes in the solve. This causes slower performance (e.g. 6 seconds verses 30 seconds), but ensures accurate solver results. The root cause is being investigated.
• The Solver does not find the absolute minimum and sometimes requires pressing "solve" multiple times to get a minimum error.

For Developers

• #79; The CMake script now automatically configures Sphinx documentation, Python module mmSolver.constant and C++ Plug-in version numbers, and project names (allows querying version number and build options for project).
• #60; Improved debug output generation and created a helper script to convert logs into graphs.
• #88; Added backwards compatibility support for Qt.py/1.1.0-b7 (and continues to work with Qt.py/1.1.0)
• Removed generated ui_*.py files from the git repo.

mayaMatchMoveSolver-v0.2.1

This is a bug fix release addressing a number of issues in v0.2.0. A small number of minor features were also added. See the below list.

Download the archive file for your operating system and Maya version, and follow the INSTALL.md instructions.

Note: (Changed in v0.2.1 compared to v0.2.0) The per-compiled archives include Qt.py 1.1.0. If you already have Qt.py installed, remove the previous version.

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New

• Added SynthEyes exporter script (see INSTALL.md for installation details); #46.
• Added Toggle Marker Lock State tool.
• Right-click menu for Solver UI shelf icon, allowing to run the solver without opening the Solver UI.

Changes

• Opening a UI that is already open will bring focus to the window.

Bug fixes and Improvements

• Fixed #78; Display of Solver Error value; The displayed solver error value was rounded to the nearest integer.
• Fixed #49; Solver UI opening multiple windows. Only one Solver UI window will be created.
• Fixed #60; Debug Logs being written into the home directory.
• Fixed #84; Maya selection being changed when the Solver UI receives focus.
• Fixed #90; Smooth Keyframes tool was incorrectly smoothing negative numbers.
• Fixed #85; Clashing node names created by Marker/Bundle Rename tool.
• Fixed #81; The weight and enable Marker attribute keyframes were not shown in the Timeline.
• Fixed #89; Marker Bundle node selection toggling is now more consistent when other objects are also selected.
• Fixed #82; Ray-Cast Markers tool, it would raycast behind the camera.
• Fixed a small problem reading malformed 3DEqualizer track .txt files.
• Improved #88; Better Qt integration for PyQt and PySide.
• Repeatedly clicking "Center 2D" tool will not try to reload mmSolver (performance bug).
• Lock Bundle transform "Shear" attributes to avoid strange values being added.

Known issues

• New v0.2.x default values will not be used until a new Collection is created. Delete your previous Collection and create a new Collection using the Solver UI "File > New Collection" menu item.
• Solver engine can become slow with many attributes.
• The Maya viewport is refreshed during solving to force Maya to evaluate all nodes in the solve. This causes slower performance (e.g. 6 seconds verses 30 seconds), but ensures accurate solver results. The root cause is being investigated.
• The Solver does not find the absolute minimum and sometimes requires pressing "solve" multiple times to get a minimum error.

For Developers

• Updated to Qt.py v1.1.0; for Qt.QtCompat.warpInstance usage; #88.
• Preferred Qt binding changed to PySide/PySide2 over PyQt.
• Started adding support for nicer printing of API classes (Marker and Bundle are currently added); #19.
• Changed an occurrence of "nullptr" to "NULL" for c++0x compatibility (for gcc 4.4.7 / CentOS 6.x).
• Progress made on #60; turn on debug mode with "MMSOLVER_DEBUG = 1" for solver testing.
• Configuration environment variable MMSOLVER_CONFIG_DIR added, but not currently used (added prematurely for #17).

mayaMatchMoveSolver-v0.2.0

This release uses a new solver algorithm, and adds many new tools and enhancements for working with mmSolver. We have included support for Maya 2018 on Linux and Windows. Maya 2019 support is provided, but is not well tested.

Download the archive file for your operating system and Maya version, and follow the INSTALL.md instructions.

Note: The per-compiled archives include Qt.py 0.6.9. If you already have Qt.py installed, remove the previous version.

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New

• CMinpack library is now used as the default optimisation solver.
• Ray-Cast Marker
• Smooth Keyframes
• Channel Sensitivity
• Rename Marker/Bundle
• Screen-Z Manipulator
• Toggle Bundle Lock State
• Average Marker
• Duplicate Marker
• Hotkey-able Python functions to start solves without opening the Solver UI.
• .... and many more.

Changes

• mmSolver shelf buttons now have right-click menus.
• Solve results are printed in the Solver UI after a solve has completed.
• "Refresh Viewport" is turned on by default, and is recommended to be turned on, especially for per-frame solves. "Refresh Viewport" now only shows the Markers, Bundles and Cameras that are being solved in the scene. This results in better solver stability
• Updated documentation for better install instructions.

Bug fixes and Improvements

• Center on Selected now centres correctly without needing the Render Globals to be changed.
• Adding and changing many Attributes has improved performance in the Solver UI.
• A number of Solver UI bugs.
• ... many other bug fixes (too many to list here).

Known issues

• New v0.2.0 default values will not be used until a new Collection is created. Delete your previous Collection and create a new Collection using the Solver UI "File > New Collection" menu item.
• Multiple Solver UI windows can be created - this is not intentional. Only one Solver UI window should exist at once. Make sure to close all except one Solver UI window.
• Solver engine can become slow with many attributes.
• The Solver does not find the absolute minimum and sometimes requires pressing "solve" multiple times to get a minimum.

Deprecated

• Aim at Camera tool has been replaced by Screen-Z Manipulator.

For Developers

• Loading the mmSolver shelf is optional. Once loading the mmSolver plug-in the shelf is automatically created.
• The build system (for developers) now uses simple BAT/Bash scripts to compile dependencies.
• Running CMake will compile UI files and build Sphinx documentation.
• Updated BUILD.md document with simple build instructions.
• Qt.py is included with mmSolver, for ease of installation. This can be disabled with the installed module (.mod) file.

mayaMatchMoveSolver-v0.1.1

This is a bug-fix version and is forwards compatible with release v0.1.1.

Bug fixes and improvements:

• Bug fix; "Unlink Markers" now correctly unlinks 1 selected marker.
• Bug fix; 3DEqualizer tools now correctly handle points outside camera FOV.
• Bug fix; When loading Markers from .uv files, skip over Markers with no 2D data.
• Bug fix; Make sure Markers are disabled after the 2D data is empty.
• Bug fix; Gracefully warn the user if something in the OS Clipboard would harm opening the Load Marker UI.
• Bug fix; Solver UI refreshes during solve, causing solves to be much slower.
• Bug fix: When opening the Solver UI for the first time in new scene, don't show the data node in the Attribute Editor.
• Bug fix: Rapidly left-clicking the Shelf Buttons will not slow down any more (as seen by clicking the Toggle Marker / Bundle tool).
• Print helpful messages during build to help users debug problems (if documentation are not built, tell the user when it errors).
• Updated BUILD.md document.
• Updated documentation for better install instructions.

Known issues:

• Maya does not update the DG network during solving causing badly solved attribute results and high error (deviation).
• Solver engine can become slow with many attributes.
• The "Center 2D on Selected" tool is not working as expected (it's not centering).
  • Workaround: Set the Maya Render Settings to the same resolution as your image plane resolution, and set the camera "Near Clipping Plane" attribute to 0.1.

Download the archive file for your operating system and Maya version, and follow the INSTALL.md instructions.

Note: Please be sure to download and install Qt.py 0.6.9 to use the GUI tools.

mayaMatchMoveSolver-v0.1.0

The first public release!

This initial version has features:

• Solver user interface
• Center 2D viewport tool.
• Load 2D markers from 3DEqualizer.
• Convert 3D transforms into 2D markers.
• mmSolver plug-in command.
• Python API for generating solver networks and executing solves.
• Supports Maya 2016, 2017 and 2018.
• Supports Linux and Windows.
• ... and more.

Download the archive file for your operating system and Maya version, and follow the INSTALL.md instructions.

Note: Please be sure to download and install Qt.py 0.6.9 to use the GUI tools.