Animation Tool Kit v1.1.1

Animation Tool Kit v1.1.1

Animation Tool Kit (ATK) v1.1.1 is now available.

This release updates a single tool: Onion Skin v2.2.0, a major
rebuild with scene-safe cleanup, accurate ghost alignment in shot
cameras, timeline markers, and a smoother workflow-driven interface.
All other bundled tools are unchanged from the previous release.

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Release information

• Version: 1.1.1
• Package: Animation_Tool_Kit_v1_1_1.zip
• Type: Production release
• Platform: Autodesk Maya (Python-based toolset)
• Install method: Drag-and-drop install_atk_toolbar.mel into Maya

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Onion Skin v2.2.0

Fixes

• Ghosts now appear in shot cameras. Ghost planes were placed 1000
  units from the camera, where surrounding set geometry (walls,
  cycloramas) occluded them. Planes now sit just past the camera's near
  clip plane and draw as an alpha-blended overlay at any scene scale.
• Ghost size matches the live character. Planes are pinned "To Size"
  to the exact resolution-gate rectangle computed from the camera's film
  fit, aperture, and overscan — a 1:1 match with the captured playblast.
  A new Re-Align Planes button re-applies this after camera changes.
• No more orphaned image planes. Every ghost is tagged in the scene;
  Delete All performs a full scene sweep, and leftover ghosts from a
  previous session are adopted back into the layer list on launch.
• Crash-safe capture. Viewport background, image format, isolate
  mode, playhead, and selection are always restored, even if a capture
  fails partway through.
• "Include Current Frame" is respected — parking the playhead on a
  keyframe no longer forces a current-frame capture.
• Fixed the "Include Hierarchy" checkbox being ignored on Maya 2025+
  (PySide6), broken outline-mode toon wiring, and cleanup deleting
  user-created pfxToon nodes.

New features

• Timeline markers: every ghosted frame is marked on the time slider
  with a color-coded strip (blue = before, green = current, red = after)
  named "Onion Skin fN" — distinct from your own bookmarks. Toggle them
  with Show Timeline Markers or remove them with Delete Markers;
  both choices persist with the scene.
• Background Geo: include chosen set/prop geometry in isolated ghost
  captures for spatial context, with a viewport Hide/Show toggle.
• Flip Ghosts: Prev/Next buttons cycle the visible ghost planes one
  at a time for pose flipping.
• Session memory: the target rig, background geo, and all capture
  toggles are saved with the scene and restored when the window reopens.

Interface

• Guided Step 1 → 2 → 3 workflow with auto-detected viewport,
  color-coded status messages, and per-frame capture progress.
• Keyframe presets renamed to ±1 Key … ±5 Keys for clarity.
• Compact window with a vertical scroll bar; the menu and status bars
  stay pinned.
• Frame Navigation relocated beside the ghost controls, relabeled
  1 Frame / 1 Key, and key jumps now follow the target rig's
  keyframes instead of requiring a selection.

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Installation

1. Download Animation_Tool_Kit_v1_1_1.zip from the release assets.
2. Extract the archive.
3. In Maya, drag and drop install_atk_toolbar.mel into the viewport.
4. Confirm install when prompted.
5. Launch the toolbar from the new ATK shelf button.

Upgrading: reinstalling refreshes the bundled scripts. The Onion Skin
module is now onion_skin_2_2_0; if you use an old standalone shelf
button, re-run install_onion_skin.mel from the tool's folder to
update it.

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Notes

• Onion Skin's timeline markers use Maya's timeSliderBookmark plugin
  (bundled with Maya 2020+); it is loaded automatically when needed.
• Onion Skin supports both PySide2 and PySide6 (Maya 2020–2026).

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Credits

Onion Skin is based on the original OnionSkin MEL tool (v0.8.3, 2007)
by Syed Ali Ahsan.

For licensing details, see:

• ATK_LICENSE.md
• THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md