Hotbox Designer

Python plug-in for CGI Softwares.
It provide simple tools to create visually a hotbox menus, simply manage them and use them in the main software.

Table of contents

• Credits
• Implementation
• Installation
  • Maya
  • Nuke
  • Houdini
  • Rumba
• Tutorials
• Code samples
  • Launch manager
  • Create custom widget
    • Basic widget
    • Advanced widget
• Tools
  • Designer
  • Manager
  • Reader

Credits

main coder: Lionel Brouyère, Herizo Ran contributor: Vincent Girès
tester: David Vincze, Vincent Girès

Implementation

Software	Implementation state	Application as string	Hotkey setter
Autodesk Maya	done	'maya'	available
Foundry Nuke	done	'nuke'	available
Autodesk 3dsMax	planned	undefined	Not available
SideFX Houdini	done	'houdini'	Not available
Rumba Animation	done	'rumba'	available

For each software who provide python and support PySide2/PyQt5, the implementation should be easy.

Installation

Autodesk Maya

place the "hotbox_designer" folder into the maya script folder

os	path
linux	~/< username >/maya
windows	\Users<username>\Documents\maya
mac os x	~/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya

Nuke

Place the "hotbox_designer" folder into ~/.nuke or make it available in PYTHONPATH
Add this script to menu.py or make it available in NUKE_PATH:

import nuke
import hotbox_designer
from hotbox_designer.applications import Nuke
from hotbox_designer.manager import HotboxManager

nuke_app = Nuke()
hotbox_manager = HotboxManager(nuke_app)

nuke_menu = nuke.menu('Nuke')
menu = nuke_menu.addMenu('Hotbox Designer')
menu.addCommand(
    name='Manager',
    command=hotbox_manager.show)
nuke_app.create_menus()

Hotkeys are saved in ~/.nuke/hotbox_hotkey.json.
To delete it, right now, the only way is to delete it in the file.

Important: A bug appear on some windows version. Nuke execute the init file before to create his guy, which fail the hotbox designer execution. This initialization has to be delayed later. Then read this page to find the actual solution found: #10

Houdini

soon

Rumba

Locate the "hotbox_designer" folder and make it available in RUMBA_USER_PLUGINS environment variable.
Add this script in a python file menu.py and make it available in RUMBA_USER_PLUGINS environment variable.

"""Hotbox Designer integration for Rumba."""

import rumbapy
from PySide2 import QtCore
from rumbapy.WidgetPlugins import register_ui, UIPluginOptions


class HotboxDesigner(QtCore.QObject):

    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super(HotboxDesigner, self).__init__(parent)
        from hotbox_designer.applications import Rumba
        rumba_app = Rumba()
        rumba_app.create_menus()


register_ui(HotboxDesigner, "Hotbox Designer", UIPluginOptions(
    auto_create=True))

Hotkeys are saved in ~/.rumba/hotbox_hotkey.json.

Tutorials

• My first hotbox
• Create a submenu

Code Samples

Launch manager

import hotbox_designer
hotbox_designer.launch_manager('maya') # or any other available application name as string

Create custom widget

• Basic widget

from hotbox_designer import load_json, HotboxWidget
# it can be integrated in a layout of an parent widget
widget = HotboxWidget()
# That can be changed interactively
hotbox_data = load_json(r"your exported hotbox as json filepath")
widget.set_hotbox_data(hotbox_data)

• Advanced widget

Example of an template explorer

from hotbox_designer import HotboxWidget, load_templates
from PySide2 import QtWidgets, QtCore

class HotboxTemplateNavigator(QtWidgets.QWidget):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(HotboxTemplateNavigator, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.templates = load_templates()
        items = [d['general']['name'] for d in self.templates]
        self.combo = QtWidgets.QComboBox()
        self.combo.addItems(items)
        self.combo.currentIndexChanged.connect(self.combo_index_changed)
        self.hotbox_widget = HotboxWidget()

        self.layout = QtWidgets.QVBoxLayout(self)
        self.layout.addWidget(self.combo)
        self.layout.addWidget(self.hotbox_widget)
        self.layout.addStretch(1)

    def combo_index_changed(self):
        index = self.combo.currentIndex()
        data = self.templates[index]
        self.hotbox_widget.set_hotbox_data(data)
        size = QtCore.QSize(data["general"]["width"], data["general"]["height"])
        self.hotbox_widget.setFixedSize(size)
        self.adjustSize()


hotbox_template_navigator = HotboxTemplateNavigator(None, QtCore.Qt.Window)
hotbox_template_navigator.show()

Tools

The application is separated in three parts:

• Designer

this is the hotbox design part. It look like a simple version of QtDesigner

• Manager

its a simple ui who let manage multiple hotboxes and save them

• Reader

this contains the final hotbox widget. That's what is called when you use your menu as final product.