BGCache 0.9.0b6

BGCache 0.9.0 beta 6. Live playback for heavy Maya shots, while you keep animating. Maya 2024 or later.

New

• Go back to an earlier version: if a new version misbehaves, Help > Check for updates now lists Go back to an earlier version, with each version you can return to: the copies kept on your computer (every update keeps the one it replaced) and older releases here on GitHub. The version you leave is kept, so you can come back.
• Installing is one obvious step: unzip, then drag DRAG_ME_INTO_MAYA.py into a Maya viewport and choose Install. It's the only file to touch (it used to be called install_bgcache.py).

Also in here, from beta 5: more footage formats in continuity (AVI, MKV, MXF, WebM...; EXR and DPX through ffmpeg). And from beta 4: the Full edition with Set up continuity, focus range playback, and Help > Report a problem > Send.

Download

Which one? Simple if you just want your own shot playing in real time with drawing. Full adds continuity: the shots around yours playing with it. Full does everything Simple does, and continuity stays off until you set it up, so if you're unsure, take Full. Help > About in the player says which one you have.

Click a file to download it (they're also under Assets at the bottom of this page).

Your system	Simple (cache, player, drawing)	Full (+ continuity)
Windows	bgcache-0.9.0b6-windows-simple.zip	bgcache-0.9.0b6-windows-full.zip
macOS (Apple Silicon; the least tested so far)	bgcache-0.9.0b6-macos-simple.zip	bgcache-0.9.0b6-macos-full.zip
Linux	bgcache-0.9.0b6-linux-simple.zip	bgcache-0.9.0b6-linux-full.zip

Install or update

• Already have BGCache: in the player, Help > Check for updates offers the newest of your edition. To move from Simple to Full, drag in the Full zip's installer.
• New: unzip the file for your system, drag DRAG_ME_INTO_MAYA.py into a Maya viewport and choose Install, then click the bgcache shelf button.

Full list of changes: CHANGELOG. User guide: bgcache/README.md.

Beta: problems to Help > Report a problem > Send, or Issues. If BGCache saves you time, you can say thanks at ko-fi.com/marekkochout.

BGCache 0.9.0b5

BGCache 0.9.0 beta 5. Live playback for heavy Maya shots, while you keep animating. Maya 2024 or later.

New

• More footage formats in continuity (Full edition): movies in anything ffmpeg plays (AVI, MKV, MXF, WebM, MPEG, WMV... as well as MOV and MP4), and image sequences in EXR, DPX, TGA, BMP and more as well as JPEG, PNG and TIFF. EXR and DPX frames are read through ffmpeg, with the usual sRGB look for EXR.

Everything from 0.9.0 beta 4 is in here too: the Full edition with Set up continuity, focus range playback, and Help > Report a problem > Send.

Download

Which one? Simple if you just want your own shot playing in real time with drawing. Full adds continuity: the shots around yours playing with it. Full does everything Simple does, and continuity stays off until you set it up, so if you're unsure, take Full. Help > About in the player says which one you have.

Click a file to download it (they're also under Assets at the bottom of this page).

Your system	Simple (cache, player, drawing)	Full (+ continuity)
Windows	bgcache-0.9.0b5-windows-simple.zip	bgcache-0.9.0b5-windows-full.zip
macOS (Apple Silicon; the least tested so far)	bgcache-0.9.0b5-macos-simple.zip	bgcache-0.9.0b5-macos-full.zip
Linux	bgcache-0.9.0b5-linux-simple.zip	bgcache-0.9.0b5-linux-full.zip

Install or update

• Already have BGCache: in the player, Help > Check for updates offers the newest of your edition. To move from Simple to Full, drag in the Full zip's installer.
• New: unzip the file for your system, drag install_bgcache.py into a Maya viewport and choose Install, then click the bgcache shelf button.

Full list of changes: CHANGELOG. User guide: bgcache/README.md.

Beta: problems to Help > Report a problem > Send, or Issues. If BGCache saves you time, you can say thanks at ko-fi.com/marekkochout.

BGCache 0.9.0b4

BGCache 0.9.0 beta 4: the Full edition. Live playback for heavy Maya shots, while you keep animating, now with continuity: the shots around yours play as one reel with your live shot. Maya 2024 or later.

New: Set up continuity

In the Full edition's player, click Continuity (or bgcache > Set up continuity...) and show it one movie of your shot. BGCache works out where your film keeps its footage and finds every other shot's newest version. Footage all over the place? Point it at the folders and it searches them for files named after your shots.

• Version folders or versions in file names (v004, _004, take3, dates); MOV, MP4 and image sequences.
• Shots read from file names, so footage doesn't need to live in shot folders.
• Drop in an edit (EDL, Final Cut / Premiere XML, FCPXML) and shots follow the cut.
• A table of every shot and department before you save. Choose any missing file by hand.
• Teams: shared drawings and one setup for everyone, in the project folder. Each computer says once where that folder is.
• Movies need ffmpeg. If it isn't there, Download it for me fetches a fixed, checked build into ~/.bgcache/ffmpeg (only when you click).

Nothing is saved until you press Save. Pipeline TDs can still write the settings by hand (PIPELINE_SETUP.md).

Also new

• Focus range plays too: with a focus set, Play plays and loops only those frames. The handles have tabs, so they're easy to grab at the window's edges.
• Drawings stay on when your shot shows a department's movie instead of Live.
• Help > Report a problem > Send: your report comes straight to me (only when you click; you see what's in it first, and Hide names keeps scene and user names out).

Download

Which one? Simple if you just want your own shot playing in real time with drawing. Full adds continuity: the shots around yours playing with it. Full does everything Simple does, and continuity stays off until you set it up, so if you're unsure, take Full. Help > About in the player says which one you have.

Your system	Simple (cache, player, drawing)	Full (+ continuity)
Windows	bgcache-0.9.0b4-windows-simple.zip	bgcache-0.9.0b4-windows-full.zip
macOS (Apple Silicon; the least tested so far)	bgcache-0.9.0b4-macos-simple.zip	bgcache-0.9.0b4-macos-full.zip
Linux	bgcache-0.9.0b4-linux-simple.zip	bgcache-0.9.0b4-linux-full.zip

Install or update

• Already have 0.9.0b2 or b3: in the player, Help > Check for updates offers the newest of your edition. To move from Simple to Full, drag in the Full zip's installer.
• New: unzip the file for your system, drag install_bgcache.py into a Maya viewport and choose Install, then click the bgcache shelf button.

Full list of changes: CHANGELOG. User guide: bgcache/README.md.

Beta: problems to Help > Report a problem > Send, or Issues. If BGCache saves you time, you can say thanks at ko-fi.com/marekkochout.

BGCache 0.9.0b2

BGCache 0.9.0 beta 2. Live playback for heavy Maya shots, while you keep animating. Simple edition (cache, player, drawing), Maya 2024 or later.

New

• Updates only when you ask. In the player, Help > Check for updates looks for a newer BGCache and shows the answer right in the Help menu: the latest version and yours, What's new, and Update to ... and restart, which installs it in the same Maya and keeps your old copy. Nothing checks or installs by itself, and BGCache only goes online on that click.
• Fixed: the player could fail as its window opened.

Download

Your system	File
Windows	bgcache-0.9.0b2-windows-simple.zip
macOS (Apple Silicon; the least tested so far)	bgcache-0.9.0b2-macos-simple.zip
Linux	bgcache-0.9.0b2-linux-simple.zip

Install

1. Unzip the file for your system.
2. Drag install_bgcache.py into a Maya viewport and choose Install. No restart needed.
3. Click the new bgcache shelf button: the player opens. Pick a camera and it starts caching.

From this version on, you can update from the player with Help > Check for updates. Dragging in a new version's installer still works too.

Full list of changes: CHANGELOG. User guide: bgcache/README.md.

Beta: please report anything odd in Issues, with your Maya version, system and the logs from ~/.bgcache/logs/<newest folder>/.