placeReflection

Place reflection helps with placing lights and reflected objects by dragging over a target surface so that the light or object reflection occurs at the point of the cursor. By using modifier keys the object can be moved towards or away from the surface.

Quick zoom simplifies the default Maya 2D Zoom/Pan tool by letting the user drag a region with a mouse which instantly zooms and pans the view. You can easily toggle between the default and zoomed view and also move the view.

placeReflection & quickZoom are under the terms of the MIT License.

compatibility

Linux 64 bit
OS X
Windows 64 bit

Maya 2016.5, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

version

1.2.8
2021-04-09

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Even though the tool is Open Source we appreciate your support for continued development.

installation

All files of the toolset are combined as a module. This allows for an easy installation and keeps all necessary files in one location.

To install unzip the download and drag the provided dragDropInstaller.py in the main Maya window. Depending on the type of chosen installation all files will be created and placed automatically. Also a log file will be created documenting the installation.

If you need help during the installation see the included installation guide which can also be opened from the installer window.

After the installation restart Maya. The Modify menu in the main menu bar should now contain the menu items Place Reflection Tool and Quick Zoom Tool at the bottom.

Important Note

In some cases it’s possible that the script generating the menu items isn’t processed upon Maya startup. This leads to the menu items missing. In this case run the MEL command

brPlaceReflectionAddMenuItem

You can also use this command to create a shelf button.

command

When properly installed the Maya Modify menu has new menu items named Place Reflection Tool and Quick Zoom Tool. It also allows to open a standard option box to set the preferences for the place reflection tool.

Standalone
When using the script without the supplementary scripts the tool can be activated using the following commands with the current selection:

from placeReflection import placeReflectionTool
placeReflectionTool.create()

and

from quickZoom import quickZoomTool
quickZoomTool.create()

usage - place reflection

The tool has two modes:

  • Place Mode
    The default dragger context mode. LMB click and drag to place the selected object based on the surface the cursor is dragged over.
  • Move Mode
    Press and hold Ctrl or Shift while dragging. This moves the object towards/away from the reflection point. Ctrl gives a finer control whereas Shift performs the moving in a faster fashion.

usage - quick zoom

With the tool active drag a region over the area where the camera should 2D pan/zoom into. Use ctrl+LMB to toggle switch between the standard view and the pan/zoom view. With pan/zoom active shift+LMB drag with the mouse to pan the view.

Limitation
The tool currently does not draw a rectangular marquee which the user might expect. This is due to the current limitations of the maya python API. This might get addressed in future versions.