Asset node is the node that we use to define our assets in the scene. Each asset has an asset node as its top node. It contains required attributes to hold any data which an asset would need. We can query the node to get information about the asset that could be a character, vehicle, prop, etc.

This node is to be used in order to create the hierarchy for the core structure of an asset which’s everything under “sAsset” node. It’s a unique node and we can easily query the structure.

This node allows you to blend three chains A, B and C respectively. While you can use this node to create IK/FK blending for your rigs you can also use the third chain as MOCAP chain as well. So you can work with keyframe data in IK or FK mode and if you need to use MOCAP data on top of it you can do so. This makes your rig extremely flexible and gives you unprecedented control over your animation work.

Feature of the node as follows;

Blend Chains
One of the “AB”, “AC” and “BA” options can used to blend between selected chains. Since this option (attribute) is animatable you can easily blend desired chains without changing another settings or connections.

Blending
Node blends rotation as well as stretch of the chains. Three available stretch types “Translate”, “Squash Stretch”, “Scale” can be used for stretch effect.

Unlimited Elements
There is no limit how many joint you can have in your chains. Rotation and stretch attributes are array attributes so you can connect unlimited joints.

Operation
Two type of operation is available in the node; “Blend” and “Switch”. These options are used to blend the desired chains or switch between desired chains respectively.

Individual Operations
You can blend whole chains at once or you can blend joints (transforms) individually. This gives you unprecedented control over your animation work. For instance; you can dynamically simulate half of the tail of a character while you animating the other half by using keyframe.

Enable Stretch
This option allows you to disable or enable stretch effect when needed. It’s another option to make your animation work a lot easier.

Show Hide Controls
This feature comes built in and allows you to create highly customizable setup for animators. This feature allows you to show or hide desired control objects (namely IK and FK controls or any control you may have for the three chains) based on the blending state of the node. You can use “Range” and “Show All Controls” attributes to have absolute control over your setup. While you are animating particular chain, controls of that chain will be shown while other chain’s controls will be hidden to make your workspace much cleaner and you can always show all controls at the same time for all chains anytime you like. Animators love it!

IK/FK Match
IK to FK and FK to IK match is available. Animators can match one chain onto the other without breaking the animation. This is one of the favorite features of the animators.

Foot node is a complete solution for rigging of a foot. It offers everything you can find on a reverse foot rig as well as many additional features like, auto roll, lean, side, etc.

You can use this node in order to create stretchy joint chain driven by an IK solver without creating any additional nodes or expressions. You can use “Enable” attribute to change the result of the stretch effect. This attribute allows you to adjust stretch level as needed during the rigging and animation process.

Base on rigging requirements you need, this node can be connected to sSquashStretch or sTranslateStretch node in order to get different type of stretch effects. The node also allows the rig to be scalable.

This node offers ultimate solution for asset based layering. It offers you asset level layering system and avoids hundreds of display layers in your scene.

We use layer node to create individual layers for meshes, controls, etc. It’s customizable and you can create as many layers as you need.

Line node allows you to draw OpenGL line among transforms. It has wide range of attributes that determines the way it looks in the scene.

We use the “Line” node to show where the chains (IK, FK, MOCAP, etc.) are, when they are actually hidden in the scene as well as for the eye rigs in the characters so animators can easily see where the eyes of the characters look at.

Since you can connect unlimited of transforms you can use the node for any purpose that fits your application.

We decided to extend our locator based on the requests we had from our customers. The “Locator’ is available for general purposes you can use it for any purpose you like.

It’s fully customizable locator so you can change type, size, segment, thickness and colors for all states like; selected, last selected, template, etc.

This node has been particularly developed in order to show and hide chain (IK, FK, MOCAP, etc.) controls as needed. With “State”, “Range” and ‘Show All Controls” attributes you can determine which controls will be shown or hidden on the chains. This node allows you to create a setup which allows you to hide unused controls in workspace and make your animators much happier. Additionally this node can be used for other purposes.

This node allows you to parent a transform dynamically to many objects widely known as “Space Switching”. This type of setup mainly used on IK chain controls (IK arm control, etc.) however with provided GUI you can create the setup on anything you want.

When it comes to animating the switching you can use the related attribute on the control object which would be created by the GUI.

Spline stretch node allows you to create stretchy joint chain driven by an IK spline solver without creating additional nodes or expressions.

Since the node has global scale calculation feature you are able to use “Scale” attribute to make your rig scalable. The node does all calculation to keep the NURBS curve in correct scale and prevents any distortion might be caused by scaling.

Base on rigging requirements you need, this node can be connected to “SquashStretch” or “TranslateStretch” node in order to get different type of stretch effects.

This node does all necessary volume calculations in order to achieve correct squash and stretch effect without creating additional nodes or expressions.

With offset and limitation attributes you have absolute control on stretch and squash effect. This node can be also used in conjunction with “IKStretch” node in order to get correct squash and stretch effect

Tension calculates the stress on the mesh polygons that defined by the use. Based on the stress of the mesh node produce contract and expand outputs which can be used to create high level deformations like wrinkles on the skin or on the garments. Node suits any approach whenever you need to get the deformation (stress) level of the mesh, for instance it can drive corrective shapes in the rigs.

This node has been used in order to create the hierarchy for the rig. It’s a unique node so we can easily query the structure.

In some cases you might need to avoid shearing in squash/stretch or scale type setups. This is exactly where sTranslateStretch node comes in. This node allows you to create squash and stretch effect by using translation of the object. This node can be also used in conjunction with “IKStretch” node just like sSquashStretch node.

sWrap is a deformer which allows you to deform geometries just like default wrap deformer comes with Autodesk Maya. Major different is that sWrap uses "point to point" based system and even the vertex orders are different in the geometries node calculates the deformation as expected in extremely fast manner thanks to its algorithm.

If the geometries are identical you can use "point to point" and if they are not you can use "ID does not matter" options. In both options sWrap works a lot faster than the wrap deformer which comes with Autodesk Maya.

This deformer is extremely useful when you need to separate geometries and drive them in order to export them into other packages like Side Effects Houdini. It allows you to export geometries without having slow scenes to deal with