🧊Animate Anything Maya Plugin Manual

Welcome to the Animate Anything Maya plugin, a tool designed to simplify and automate the rigging and animation process in Maya.

This plugin leverages cloud-based AI technology to generate rigs and animations for a wide variety of objects, including bipedal characters, animals, and more.

Requirements

• Maya (version 2022 or newer).

• Active internet connection for cloud-based processing.

Features

• Automatic Rigging: Automatically create rigs for various types of objects, streamlining the animation preparation process.

• Animation Generation: Generate animations for bipedal characters, animals, and more, using AI algorithms.

• Model Segmentation: Automatically detect parts of a model such as a car and create separate models for body, wheels, etc.

Installation Guide

• Downloading and installation:

  • Download the plugin either from Autodesk App Store or navigate to your profile page on the Anything World website, where you will find the option to download the Maya plugin.

  • For Windows, double-click on the MSI file and follow the instructions. If it's your first time installing the plugin, you may see a Windows SmartScreen message where you need to click "More Info" to see the "Install" button.

  • For MacOS, double-click on the PKG file and follow the instructions. For first time setup, you will receive a message stating "AnimateAnything-macos.pkg" cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer. You can bypass this by opening Mac's System Preference and navigate to the Security and Privacy view. When selecting the general tab in this view you will see a message stating " AnimateAnything-macos.pkg was blocked", simply unlock the general settings by selecting the key icon in the bottom right of the view, provide you credentials, then select the open anyway option next to the notification.

    
  • For Linux, extract the .sh into your home directory and execute the .sh from a terminal window. We do recommend installing it as SuperUser if you want the App to be available to all users - otherwise, the App will be installed for the running user.

• Launching the plugin:

  • Restart Maya if needed.

  • Select AnimateAnything shelf and click on the icon.

  
• Uninstallation:

  • Windows: To uninstall this plug-in, simply rerun the installer by downloading it again from Autodesk App Store, and select the 'Uninstall' button, or you can uninstall it from 'Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features' (Windows 7/8.1/10/11) or Add/Remove Programs. The panel on the Plug-ins tab will not be removed until Maya is restarted.

  • OSX: To uninstall this plug-in, simply delete the module directory from your system. The panel on the Plug-ins tab will not be removed until Maya is restarted.

Usage Instructions

1. Logging in:

   • Create an Anything World account here.

   • Use either login and password or API key from your profile page.

2. Selecting a model:

   • Select a model you wish to process in the outliner.

   • Check if the model selected is the parent of all wanted other model parts (if they exist).

   • Please select only one model as multiselection is not supported.

3. Model setup:

   • Choose the name of your model. This name will be used when showing the model in your processed models collection.

   • Specify the model type. To learn the best way to specify the type, open the help window by clicking a question sign next to the model type field.

   • The model must be in one of the already available categories and satisfy certain constraints. To see them, open constraints window by clicking on the "model processing constraints" text or see this webpage.

   • You can see even more info on preparing a suitable model with screenshots and videos over here.

   • The symmetricity of the model needs to be specified accurately, with minimal asymmetries being tolerated as symmetric. It's important to note that massive asymmetries have poorer support.

4. Uploading for processing:

   • Click on the Upload button to send your model to the cloud for AI processing.

   • A status text below will indicate the processing status.

5. Importing and downloading:

   • It can take up to 10 minutes to process your model. We’ll notify you once your model is ready or if we come across any errors.

   • Once processing is complete, the animated or segmented models will be automatically imported into your Maya scene.

   • Depending on the model type selected during the selection, your model will follow one of three workflows:

     • Animation Workflow: You will receive a rigged humanoid or animal with different animations. Only the first animation will be visible. To see others simply unhide the corresponding model by pressing Shift + H.

     • Parts Workflow: You will receive a car or bike model split into different parts: wheels, body, etc.

     • Static Workflow: The model will become available in your Anything World profile.

   • You can read a detailed explanation of different workflows on the quickstart page.

   • All processed models are also uploaded to your Anything World profile and become visible in processed models webpage where you can see and download their animations or part meshes. You will also be able to view and import your models in our Unreal and Unity plugins.

Troubleshooting

• Animation speed issues: Animated models may have animations that play too fast. To fix this, go to Windows -> Settings/Preferences -> Preferences -> Time Slider -> Playback, and change Playback speed from "Play every frame" to "<current fps> x 1".

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License, which allows you to freely use, modify, and distribute the software. You are required to include the original license notice in any substantial portions of the software. For more details, please refer to the MIT License.

Contact Information

For questions, suggestions, or support, join our discord or reach out to us via email at [e-mail]. We are eager to hear from the community and welcome feedback to improve the Animate Anything Maya plugin.