Animation Tool Kit

Release Notes — Animation Tool Bar v1.1.3

# Animation Tool Kit v1.1.3

Animation Tool Kit v1.1.3 introduces the **Blue Pencil Flipbook Manager**, improves ATK toolbar placement and docking behaviour, adds new toolbar branding, and resolves several issues involving viewport thumbnail capture, floating windows, frame navigation, and Maya hotkeys.

## Highlights

- Added the Blue Pencil Flipbook Manager to the ATK toolbar.
- Added automatic horizontal and vertical toolbar orientation.
- Fixed toolbar icons overlapping when docked to Maya’s side panels.
- Added reliable dock-to-dock orientation switching.
- Added an ATK website button beside the Settings gear.
- Added a dedicated Go To Frame button to Blue Pencil thumbnail cards.
- Rebuilt Blue Pencil viewport thumbnail capture.
- Prevented floating windows and tooltips from appearing in thumbnails.
- Rebuilt the Blue Pencil Maya hotkey system.
- Updated the ATK installer and tool documentation.

---

## Blue Pencil Flipbook Manager Added to ATK

The complete **Blue Pencil Flipbook Manager** is now available directly from the ATK toolbar.

The tool is located in the **Viewport Tools** group and uses the new `Blue_Pencil.png` icon.

The toolbar launches the manager through its official package entry point:

```python
import blue_pencil_flipbook.launch as bp

bp.show()
```

The ATK installer now deploys:

- The complete `blue_pencil_flipbook` Python package.
- The Blue Pencil toolbar icon.
- The required supporting files.
- Updated tool registration and documentation.

This replaces the earlier placeholder integration that expected the manager to be a single Python file.

---

## Improved Toolbar Placement and Docking

The toolbar’s docking system has been updated so its orientation automatically matches its position within Maya.

### Automatic Orientation

The toolbar now displays:

- **Vertically** when docked on the left or right side of Maya.
- **Horizontally** when docked above the timeline or below the shelf.

This applies regardless of how the toolbar is moved.

Supported docking methods now include:

- Selecting a dock position from the Settings window.
- Dragging the toolbar using its grip.
- Dragging a floating toolbar into Maya’s native dock zones.
- Dragging a docked toolbar tab directly from one dock area to another.

### Side-Docking Fix

Previously, dragging a horizontal toolbar into Maya’s left or right dock area could leave it in horizontal mode. Maya would then compress the toolbar, causing icons to overlap.

The toolbar now determines its orientation from the dock control’s actual position within the Maya main window.

When the toolbar lands in a side region, it automatically rebuilds itself vertically with:

- Vertically aligned tool buttons.
- A rotated Tween slider.
- Centred icons.
- Correct scrollbar orientation.
- Proper content sizing.

### Dock-to-Dock Movement Fix

Dragging the toolbar directly from a side dock to a top dock did not previously trigger an orientation update because Maya did not temporarily mark the toolbar as floating.

A new dock geometry watcher now monitors the Maya workspace control for movement and resizing.

This allows the toolbar to detect direct dock-to-dock changes, including:

- Left to top.
- Right to top.
- Top to left.
- Bottom to right.
- Any other supported dock-area transition.

The toolbar automatically corrects its orientation after Maya’s dock layout settles.

### Saved Dock Position

The toolbar now updates its saved dock-position preference whenever it is moved.

The toolbar’s next-launch position and the position shown in Settings remain synchronized whether the toolbar was moved through:

- The Settings window.
- The grip-drag system.
- Maya’s native docking zones.
- A dock-to-dock tab drag.

---

## New ATK Website Button

A new ATK logo button has been added immediately beside the Settings gear.

Clicking the logo opens:

[https://shepstone.ca/](https://shepstone.ca/)

The button supports both toolbar layouts:

- Positioned to the right of the gear in horizontal mode.
- Positioned beneath the gear in vertical mode.

Additional improvements include:

- Updated `ATK_Bar_Logo.png` artwork with a white outline.
- Increased logo display size.
- Reduced unnecessary button padding.
- Pointing-hand cursor feedback.
- `Visit shepstone.ca` tooltip.
- Correct toolbar sizing with both fixed buttons.
- Installer support for copying the logo into Maya’s icon directory.
- A generated fallback icon if the image cannot be found.

---

## Dedicated Go To Frame Button

Every Blue Pencil thumbnail card now includes a dedicated **Go To Frame** button.

The button jumps Maya’s current timeline position directly to the frame associated with the selected drawing.

Thumbnail interactions now include:

- **Click thumbnail:** Open the large review window.
- **Go To Frame:** Jump directly to the drawing’s timeline frame.
- **Refresh:** Recapture the thumbnail.
- **Right-click:** Open the complete frame-action menu.

The right-click menu continues to provide access to:

- Go To Frame.
- Mark drawing type.
- Duplicate frame.
- Delete frame.
- Regenerate thumbnail.

---

## Rebuilt Viewport Thumbnail Capture

The Blue Pencil thumbnail capture system has been redesigned to handle differences between Maya Viewport 2.0, graphics drivers, and Maya’s offscreen rendering systems.

Earlier capture methods could produce thumbnails containing:

- Blue Pencil strokes without the geometry.
- Black or unlit characters.
- Missing viewport backgrounds.
- Overlay-only render passes.
- Incorrect viewport lighting.

The new system uses a self-validating capture chain.

### Capture Methods

The manager attempts the following capture methods:

1. Maya interactive viewport refresh capture.
2. `M3dView.readColorBuffer`.
3. Maya playblast fallback.
4. Direct capture of the visible viewport widget.

Each result is inspected before it is accepted.

Images that are mostly black or contain only the Blue Pencil overlay are automatically rejected, and the next capture method is attempted.

The first valid result is used for the thumbnail.

A successful capture can include:

- Shaded geometry.
- Viewport lighting.
- Rig controls.
- Blue Pencil drawings.
- Viewport ornaments.
- Maya’s visible background.
- The current viewport framing and aspect ratio.

---

## Floating Window Capture Fix

Direct viewport screen capture could previously include floating ATK or Blue Pencil windows in the generated thumbnail.

The capture process now:

- Temporarily hides the Blue Pencil Manager.
- Temporarily hides the preview window.
- Hides transient tooltips and dropdowns.
- Processes pending Qt events.
- Allows Windows time to repaint the exposed viewport.
- Waits for the desktop compositor before reading pixels.
- Checks whether another visible window still overlaps the viewport.
- Rejects the screen-capture method if the viewport remains obstructed.
- Restores normal tool windows after capture.

Transient tooltips are not reopened after capture, preventing detached tooltip windows from appearing unexpectedly.

Existing thumbnails created with an earlier version must be refreshed or regenerated to receive the corrected image.

---

## Isolated Drawing Capture

Isolated drawing capture remains available for creating drawing-only thumbnails.

When isolation is enabled:

- Scene geometry is temporarily hidden from the selected panel.
- The Blue Pencil overlay remains visible.
- The viewport is captured.
- The background can be converted to white.
- The original panel display settings are restored afterward.

When isolation is disabled, the manager captures the complete visible viewport without intentionally modifying its display settings.

---

## Maya Hotkey System Rebuilt

The Blue Pencil custom hotkey system has been rewritten using the same implementation pattern as the working ATK Transform Reset tool.

### Writable Hotkey Sets

Maya’s built-in `Maya_Default` hotkey set is locked and cannot accept custom assignments.

The Blue Pencil hotkey editor now:

- Detects whether the active hotkey set is writable.
- Allows an existing custom hotkey set to be selected.
- Can create a new custom set based on `Maya_Default`.
- Activates the selected set before applying bindings.

### Maya Runtime Commands

Blue Pencil actions now use Maya’s complete hotkey command structure:

1. Runtime command.
2. Name command.
3. Hotkey assignment.

The commands are available in Maya’s Hotkey Editor under:

**Custom Scripts → Blue Pencil Flipbook**

Existing runtime commands can be safely updated when hotkeys are reapplied.

### Hotkey Persistence

Hotkey preferences are now saved with:

```python
cmds.savePrefs(hotkeys=True)
```

Assignments therefore persist after Maya is restarted.

### Conflict Handling and Editing

The updated hotkey interface includes:

- Existing shortcut conflict detection.
- Confirmation before overwriting another command.
- Proper modifier handling.
- `QKeySequenceEdit` shortcut capture.
- Per-command Clear controls.
- Restore Defaults.
- Remove All.
- Support for updating previously created runtime commands.

The update also corrects an issue where uppercase key values could unintentionally be interpreted as Shift-modified shortcuts.

---

## Installer and Documentation Updates

The ATK installer now includes support for:

- The complete Blue Pencil Flipbook Manager package.
- `Blue_Pencil.png`.
- The updated `ATK_Bar_Logo.png`.
- Blue Pencil runtime dependencies.
- Correct package-based deployment.
- Updated ATK toolbar registration.
- Updated tool reference documentation.

Toolbar layout calculations were also updated to reserve space for both fixed toolbar controls:

- Settings gear.
- ATK website logo.

---

## Updating

Download the latest Animation Tool Kit release from:

[https://shepstone.ca/software/maya-tool-kit/](https://shepstone.ca/software/maya-tool-kit/)

After installing the update:

1. Restart Maya or reload the ATK toolbar.
2. Test the toolbar in the left, right, top, and bottom dock areas.
3. Open the Blue Pencil Flipbook Manager from Viewport Tools.
4. Refresh existing thumbnails to regenerate them using the updated capture system.
5. Open the Blue Pencil hotkey editor and apply shortcuts to a writable Maya hotkey set.

---

## Version

**Animation Tool Kit v1.1.3**