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Animation Tool Kit (ATK) is a dockable toolbar for Autodesk Maya that brings a curated collection of animation, rigging, viewport, and pipeline tools into one customizable workspace.
ATK is designed to reduce menu hunting and keep frequently used Maya tools available from a single compact toolbar.
The toolbar can be:
- Docked above the Time Slider
- Docked below the Shelf
- Docked vertically on the left or right side of the viewport
- Detached and used as a floating toolbar
- Automatically reoriented when moved between horizontal and vertical dock areas
- Customized to show only the tools you need
The dotted grip on the toolbar can be dragged to detach and reposition it.
- Go to the latest ATK release.
- Download the release ZIP file.
- Extract the complete package to a folder on your computer.
- Keep these items together in the extracted folder:
install_atk_toolbar.melatk_toolbar/animation tool kit scripts/
- Open Autodesk Maya.
- Drag
install_atk_toolbar.melfrom File Explorer or Finder into the Maya viewport. - Wait for the installation confirmation.
- Click the new ATK shelf button to open the toolbar.
ATK installs into the current user's Maya scripts, icons, and preference directories.
Choose where the toolbar opens:
- Above the Time Slider
- Below the Shelf
- Left of the viewport
- Right of the viewport
The toolbar changes between horizontal and vertical layouts based on its dock position.
The Settings window includes:
- Small, medium, or large icons
- Optional tooltips
- Optional category separators
- Left, centre, or right icon alignment
- Individual tool visibility controls
ATK can display additional animation controls directly on the toolbar:
- Inline Inbetweener slider
- Frame stepper controls
From the Settings window, you can:
- Show or hide individual tools
- View installed tool versions
- Reload scripts without restarting Maya
- Apply layout changes immediately
Right-click a tool button to access options such as:
- Open Tool
- Close or Hide Tool Window
- Help / About This Tool
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Inbetweener | Blends poses between keyframes using multiple easing modes. |
| Add / Remove Frames | Inserts or removes frames while rippling later keys. |
| Tangent Tools | Provides Graph Editor tangent and interpolation controls. |
| TweenMachine | Creates in-between poses from selected keys or controls. |
| Noise Generator | Adds procedural noise, easing, and scale effects to animation curves. |
| Xform Copy Paste | Copies and pastes world-space transforms between objects. |
| Bookmarks | Creates and navigates timeline bookmarks. |
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Micro Manipulator | Provides precise transform controls with micro-speed scrubbing. |
| Temp Pivot | Creates temporary, non-destructive rotation pivots. |
| Onion Skin | Displays multi-frame ghosting for motion reference. |
| Blue Pencil Flipbook Manager | Organizes Blue Pencil drawing frames and flipbook playback. |
| AnimSnap | Snaps one object to another using world-space transforms. |
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Wire Shape Tool | Builds curve-based rig control shapes. |
| Reset Tool | Resets translate, rotate, and scale values on selected objects. |
| Selection Set | Creates, stores, and recalls named selection sets. |
| Character Snapshot | Captures rig snapshots for mirroring and related workflows. |
| Mirror Controls | Mirrors, swaps, or flips controls across left and right sides. |
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| SavePlus | Provides intelligent scene versioning and backup tools. |
| Studio Library | Manages reusable animation clips and poses in a visual library. |
| Playblast Creator | Creates preview playblasts using masks and presets. |
| User Directory Check | Verifies important Maya user directories and path setup. |
For additional technical details, see the Toolbar Tool Reference.
- Click the ATK shelf button to open the toolbar.
- Click any tool icon to launch that tool.
- Hover over an icon to view its tooltip.
- Right-click an icon for tool-specific options.
- Click the gear icon to open ATK Settings.
- Drag the dotted grip to detach or reposition the toolbar.
- Confirm that the entire release package was extracted before installation.
- Confirm that the installer and both required folders were kept together.
- Restart Maya and check the current shelf.
- Run the installer again from the extracted folder.
- Open ATK Settings and confirm that the tool is enabled.
- Use Reload Scripts in the Settings window.
- Run User Directory Check to verify the Maya script and icon paths.
- Check Maya's Script Editor for an error message.
The installer continues when an optional tool file or icon cannot be found. Re-extract the release package and reinstall ATK to restore missing files.
Open ATK Settings → Workspace, choose a dock position, and apply the change. You can also drag the toolbar grip and drop the toolbar into another Maya dock area.
Use the GitHub Issues page to report bugs or request improvements.
Include:
- Maya version
- Operating system
- ATK release version
- Tool name
- Steps needed to reproduce the problem
- Any Script Editor error or traceback
- Screenshots when helpful
Download the newest version from:
Review previous updates on the repository's Releases page.
Original ATK source code is released under the MIT License.
Some included tools, libraries, scripts, and assets have their own licenses. Their original notices and terms remain in effect. See Third-Party Notices for details.
Animation Tool Kit — a focused Maya workspace for animation, rigging, viewport, and production tools.