Alias|Wavefront announced the release of its fourth Bonus Tools Pack, now available for use with Maya 5. The Bonus Tools Pack, formerly known as the Bonus Games Pack, combines a consolidated tool set that contains games tools, unsupported plug-ins and development kit tools.
Upon installation, the Bonus Pack adds a new pull down menu to the standard Maya 5 user interface, giving users access to a variety of new tools that facilitate routine tasks including polygonal modeling, texture mapping and animation. These new tools consist of scripts, supplemental user interface features and plug-ins. New additions include: automated foot setup, paint geometry tool, test render node and a vertex normal manipulator tool.
These tools, developed by Alias staff, are currently standalone plug-ins. Several tools from the earlier iteration of the Bonus Game Pack are now included with Maya 5 software, including: extrude vertex, texture editor toolbar, blend channels and copy UV between UV sets.
The Bonus Tools Pack contains more than 60 features in the form of plug-ins, scripts and UI enhancements. The tools are unsupported and users are encouraged to submit suggestions for their improvement. All scripts and plug-ins can also function as sample code for developers who wish to make their own custom tools. The tools are free to Maya users.
