New Mudbox Plugin - MudKit (DynaSkin, DynaBool and Object Align)

[JabbaTheNut]

MudKit is a new plugin for Autodesk Mudbox that provides a collection of tools that are currently missing in Mudbox.

And, best of all...

MudKit is Free!

You can get MudKit at http://mudkit.io

This release of MudKit is Windows only, is compatible with Mudbox 2023-2024, and includes the following tools:

• DynaSkin - This tool quickly and dynamically regenerates a workable topology over the surface of your selected mesh.
• DynaBool - Using the DynaSkin feature, DynaBool provides a set of boolean operations that can increase your creative flexibility.
• Object Align - This toolset enables you to quickly align multiple selected objects to either a target object or the origin in X, Y, Z and XYZ space.

I am a 3D art and animation enthusiast who is interested in 3d animated short films. I am also an experienced programmer. I operate under my limited liability company: Iconic Motion Studios, LLC.

Among the 3D sculpting software on the market, I have always been partial to Autodesk Mudbox. I like the simplicity of its user interface, its comfortable workflow and its integration with Maya and 3ds Max. Mudbox, however, is missing some meaningful tools that many artists desire.

I developed MudKit to fill in some of the gaps that exist in Mudbox's current set of tools. As Autodesk incorporates some of the tools MudKit offers, I will adjust the toolkit accordingly. It is my sincere hope that Autodesk will do so. Until that happens...

Please Enjoy MudKit!

[sergimen2001 · Accepted solution]

Ohhh.... I was publishing the same here, I found that plugin yesterday late, at nigth.

The Dinaskin is similar to the Voxel remesher in Blender, works fine, but the better are the booleans, really clean!

The Align Tools perhaps need more options.

I guess the other thing that Mud needs urgently are better transform tools.

And FFD deformer would be very usefull.

You are the developer of this plugin?

Sergio Mengual
3D Artist-3D Generalist-3D Character Artist

https://www.artstation.com/artist/sergiomengual 

https://www.facebook.com/Sergio3D2D/ 

https://www.youtube.com/user/sergiomengual 

[JabbaTheNut]

Hi @sergimen2001 ,

Thank you for your comments and suggestions.  Also, thank you for your other post.  Yes, I am the developer.  It was cool for me to see MudKit being used by someone other than me 😊

I like your suggestions and will attempt to incorporate them.  I like the FFD deformer idea.  As well, I would like to improve the align tools.  What sort of align tool options do you have in mind?  Also, do you think there is a need for vertex level alignment tools?  What about snapping objects to selected faces?

When I rolled this out a few days ago, I did not yet include video tutorials.  I am hoping to produce some in the coming days.  I appreciate your exploration of the tool and sharing it with others.  Thank you.

I am sincerely interested in making this toolkit meaningful for Mudbox users.  I am also hoping that the Mudbox development team decides to make some of this functionality native to Mudbox.

One quick note:  The MudKit window can be docked on the left or right of the Mudbox user interface.

[absoluteKelvin]

Honestly super excited there is a new plugin for mudbox.  I played around with the tool and its quite nice.

I ran into a issue with Dynaskin where if the mesh is an open mesh. It throws me a warning even after I patched it.  Only way I can fix it is to save the file> close it and open it again and run DynaSkin again.

[JabbaTheNut]

Hi @absoluteKelvin,

Thank you.  I will take a look.

[JabbaTheNut]

Hi @absoluteKelvin,

I attempted to replicate the behavior you described, but was unsuccessful.  The steps I took are as follows (refer to attached image):

1.  Create the Mudbox basic head geometry.

2.  Convert the quad mesh to a tessellation mesh (Mesh >> Generate Tessellation Mesh).

3.  Select the border of the mesh opening (Use border select tool and click on border).

4.  Patch the mesh opening (Mesh >> Patch).

5.  Click the DynaSkin button (making sure the Basic Head was selected).

In this very specific use case, DynaSkin worked correctly.  Can you provide me with some guidance on how you patched your mesh?  This might help me to identify the cause of your error.

[absoluteKelvin]

I did mostly the same steps. With the addition of using the grab with tessellation on.

[absoluteKelvin]

adding a new subdiv level seems to have fixed it

[JabbaTheNut]

Hi @absoluteKelvin,

The code loops through all of the vertices of the object, checking for any breaks/holes (checking adjacency).  If it finds one, that error message pops up.  A very tiny hole would trigger the error message.  I will continue testing the process, using grab as you have mentioned.  I appreciate you reporting this.

[sergimen2001]

Hi Jabba:

I must to  do more use to Mudbox with your Mudkit,(excuse me, but, I have passed almost six months with no touching Mudbox, because I finaly considered it a lost cause...).

But, in the short use I did on it,  I consider:

Align tool: Is fine in the basic usage. But a Quick Aling, as the one in Meshmixer would be very thankfull, and the rigth complement to your booleans, due the actual transforms tools in Mud, are realy awfull. 

Quick Align: Click on one face area of the A object, and click on one face area of the B object. So, the B object will be translated automaticaly to the point clicked over the surface of the A object. Next, you can do fine adjustementes with the standard transform Tools in Mud.

The other thing that would be great for Mud, is some tool for create parametric primitives others than only Sfere and Cube: Cones, tubes, toruses, a lathe option like the one in 3DCoat would be great. Or a FFD Cube too.

Regards:
Sergio Mengual
3D Artist-3D Generalist-3D Character Artist

https://www.artstation.com/artist/sergiomengual 

https://www.facebook.com/Sergio3D2D/ 

https://www.youtube.com/user/sergiomengual 

[absoluteKelvin]

no problem glad to assist in any way. I believe it might be something to do with dynamic tessellation throwing the code off.

[12422021674112]

Superb plugin ❤️

There's only one more feature that needed, which would make me come back to Mudbox fully and that is...

"Mask Extract" feature. It's very useful for creating cloth and armor, without jumping back and forth between mudbox and maya (it's also a stable feature in most sculpting apps) .