The following guide contains the minimum number of steps required to install SHAPES and the accompanying plug-ins.
For a more detailed explanation of the available options please see the Install Guide which is included with the download.
Topics
Installation
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.
The SHAPES installation consists of four plug-ins:
- SHAPESTools
Open Source plug-ins:
- SHAPES Brush
- Ramp Weights (node)
- Weights Server (node)
- Weight Driver (node)
Quick Install Guide
1. Installer
To install unzip the download and drag the provided dragDropInstaller.py in the main Maya window.
2. Simple Install
During the simple installation the installer copies all the necessary files to a default location of your Maya user preferences.
If you need help during the installation see the included installation guide which can also be opened from the installer window.
Also a log file will be created documenting the installation. The file can be found in the same folder where the installation script is located.
3. Restart Maya
After the installation restart Maya.
4. Start SHAPES
The SHAPES menu item can be found in the main Maya menu.
Enter License
If you purchased a commercial, educational or private license you need to enter your license details to use SHAPES. The license key is mailed to your email address which has been used for the purchase. If you haven’t received your license key yet please contact us.
Please also check your spam folder in case the email containing your license key has been filtered.
Troubleshooting
Even though the installation process is mostly automated and should perform without any errors it’s always possible that due to specific setups and non-standard systems Maya fails to find the installed files.
When Maya has been restarted after the installation and the SHAPES menu item does not appear it’s possible that the files have been copied to a location unknown to Maya.
In this case please verify the following steps:
- Go to Windows > Settings/Preferences > Plug-in Manager and check if the plug-ins are listed. Note the path of the files. If the plug-ins are present the files can be found and something else went wrong.
- During the installation, before the files are copied, the installer informs about the installation path. If for example the user name doesn’t appear to be correct the files end up in the wrong location. In this case please try installing with a user defined path.
- The installer creates a log file which is located in the same location where the installer is located. The log file is a plain text file which can be opened in any text editor. Open the file and check the paths of the installed files.
If the issue cannot be resolved and SHAPES continues to fail to load when starting Maya please contact us and provide as much information as possible about the problem. The more details you share with us the better we might be able to help.