Version 1.3 is finally available for download:
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/scripts-plugins/c/nightshade-uv-editor
Short description:
Nightshade UV Editor extends the default functionality of Maya’s native UV Texture Editor.
The UV set editor is combined into the UV texture editor -window for starters. It also comes with a much better UV manipulator (single field, movement, scale and rotate buttons) and several new tools/script.
Full list of features below.
New:
-Manual added
-Randomize shell functionality added. Randomizes shells on an individual shell basis!
-Snap shells (9 directions)
-Snap shells A to B (or vice versa)
-Layout U or V -strip
-Copy, Paste and Delete UV’s -buttons added
-UV Normalization: Buttons for Normalize UV’s, Normalize + Stretch, Normalize U or V only.
-Window size has been fully unlocked and can be made substantially smaller than before
-“Stack UV shells” now selects the whole shell stack after performing operation
-“Spread out shells” now works on any selection type - not just meshes.
-Improved rotate 90/180 - now always rotates around the pivot
-Improved flip - now always flips around the pivot
-Improved marking menu
-All buttons now have labels
-Localization removed: The editor should be in english regardless of what version you have
-UI improvements: Less buttons and more right click -functionality.
-The UI for calculate pixel distance has been vastly improved. Now shows U, V and total distance in px.
-Open/close button groups have been made more visually clear
-Active UV set is now always highlighted in the Integrated UV Set Editor
-Fixed a bug where the Nightshade UV Editor and the native UV set editor couldn’t be open at the same time
-The issue with “orient to edge” giving off wrong rotational calculations has been fixed.
-“Tear off faces” now works on a single face selection. Also selects the UV shell after operation.
-The default min and max values for “Match UV’s” has been lowered.
-The “keep comp. space” checkbox is now stored as an optionVar (Maya will remember your setting).
-Support for Maya 2010 and earlier has been DISCONTINUED.
Additionally you also get:
-Orient UV shells: Orients UV shells so that their bounding box is as small as possible. Almost always results in straight shells.
-Orient edge: Orient UV shell so that the selection runs horizontally or vertically. Great for custom orientation)
-Stack UV shells: Stack UV shells on top of each other.
-Match UV shells: Match UVs to their closest neighbors. Great to use in conjunction with “stack”
-Center UV shells: Places UV shells in the middle at 0.5u 0.5v
-Spread UV shells: Performs a UV shell layout that does not scale your shells or rotate them in a weird way.
-Rotate 90/180 degrees: Rotate shells CW or CCW 90/180 degrees.
-Tear off faces: Converts a face selection into a UV shell.
-Quick unfold: Buttons for quickly unfolding along U, V or in both directions with optimal unfold settings.
-Quick relax: Button for quickly relaxing a UV shell with optimal relax settings.
-Advanced UV manipulator: For quickly manipulating UV coords without having to type in new field values like a maniac all the time. In fact, you can do it entirely with just the mouse now - and even store manipulation values in variables for later use.
-Calculate UV utilization: Fast Python script by Guido Neumann that calculates how much space your UV shell scover (0->1 U and V).
-Measure pixel distance: Select two UVs and measure the distance in pixels between them. Excellent when you need to pack your shells tightly but want to avoid having to do a million snapshots.
-Powerful aligner: Aligns UV shells to the right, left, button, top or average U/V
-Push/Move UVs to average U or V: Maya has the tools for pushing UVs to the furthest right/left/bottom/top by default but it does not have the tool for pushing them to the average U or V. Now you have that option.
-Measure UV distance: Measure the U or V distance between two UVs.
-Retain component spacing checkbox: Now you no longer have to go into the Tool Settings window to toggle this.
-Copy, Paste and Delete UV’s -buttons
-Integrated UV Set Editor: All the functionality of the default UV Set Editor is integrated. Also comes witha snapshot button.
-Texel density control: For quickly scaling UV shells so that they have the same texel resolution.
-Cycle edge colors: Change color on selected edges by switching back and forth between Maya’s preset colors.
And it’s all free to use at home, or at work.
Download it here and tell me what you think of it: I’m still looking to improve the script:
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/scripts-plugins/c/nightshade-uv-editor