Pro Features¶
Edition: Pro v0.3.3
Texelator Pro builds on Core's surface-following texture workflow with two major additions: three-level masked texture families and an automatically generated animation UI. Build more detailed texture rigs, then give animators a visual way to choose expressions and adjust textures inside Maya.
Three-level texture layering¶
Pro supports three levels within a masked texture family:
MAIN — base texture
CHILD — detail clipped by the Main texture's alpha
NESTED — another detail clipped within the Child's mask scope
For example, use an eye silhouette as the Main texture, an iris as its Child, and a highlight as a Nested detail. Masks keep each detail inside the visible region of its owner while controls let you adjust its placement.
Three levels describes the hierarchy depth, not a limit of three images. You can add multiple children and secondary overlays to build a texture family. Core supports ordering main textures; this masked Child/Nested system is a Pro feature.
| Layer | How it works | Current UI action |
|---|---|---|
| MAIN | Base texture and placement settings for a part. | Created from the part after Create Control. |
| CHILD | Overlay restricted by its owner's alpha. Can have its own placement control and sequence. | + Child on a Main or Secondary row. |
| NESTED | One further masked level beneath a Child. Can have its own control and sequence. | + Child on a Child row. |
| SECONDARY | Overlay above its owner, sharing the owner's placement and sequence control. Its alpha is not multiplied by the owner's alpha. | + Secondary on a Main or Child row. |
Enable Control on a Child or Nested row to give it an independent placement control. Disable it to follow the owner while retaining its own image and sequence settings. Nested rows are the final level: they cannot add another Nested layer or Secondary overlay. A Secondary can have its own masked children.
The compact Step 3 editor groups MAIN, SECONDARY, CHILD, and NESTED cards in collapsible sections. Use Select... for an image, + Child or + Secondary to extend the family, and × to remove a row.
Order whole families or individual details¶
Layer Order (top first): shows the hierarchy. Moving a Main entry moves its complete family. Children, Nested details, and Secondaries move within their allowed owner ranges, keeping their masking relationships intact.
Automatic atlas and animation UI creation¶
Core lets animators choose a sequence frame through the Frame attribute on a slide control curve. Pro adds STEP 4: Create UI: it builds PNG atlases from your sequences and creates a movable, visual Face UI in the Maya scene. Animators can see the available expressions and move a frame picker over the displayed frames, instead of relying only on frame numbers in the Channel Box.
The generated UI includes sequence frame lists, picker controls, a shared material preview, and an outer border control for moving the UI as a group. This is useful for eye, mouth, and facial-expression rigs handed to an animator.
After Build Final, save the Maya scene and click Create UI. Pro reads the source frames, creates its own atlas PNGs beside the saved scene, and builds the UI and its sequence connections. A progress window reports the current stage while the build runs and closes when the operation finishes or fails.
Atlas generation requires numbered PNG sequences. Layers composited into one sequence list must have matching frame numbers and image dimensions. Projection-only setups can create the preview UI without sequence atlases. Projection previews use an approximate scale that may differ from the mesh.
Optional texture controls on the UI¶
The frame picker selects sequence images. For placement adjustments, Pro also offers a separate UI Texture Controller (Optional) panel.
After Create UI, click Create UI Texture Controllers to add controls in the preview area for UV or Projection textures. These drive texture translation, rotation, and scale from the UI, bringing frame selection and placement adjustments into the same workspace. Once created, use these UI controls for placement adjustments. Their Revert action removes the optional controller system and restores the original control connections.
This extra system is optional: creating the Face UI does not require it.
More flexibility during setup¶
- Normalize Controls optionally resets texture control curves after manual placement adjustments, ready for further work. It is available after Build Final and is not required before Create UI.
- Dock or float the Pro panel using Maya's native panel tab.
- Collapse steps and texture families, and scroll larger setups while keeping build actions accessible.
- Reopen saved setups through Edit Existing Setup, including their generated Face UI when present.
See the edition comparison to choose a workflow, or the interface reference for current controls and labels.