New step in BroDynamics and BroTools development

2021-03-11

Today I'm proud to announce the new step in BroDynamics and BroTools development. I've decided to put more time and work into this project, and start releasing more of the many scripts and tools that I've been developing over the years.

This brings a few major changes which I would like to cover in this post.

Subscriptions, License System and Trial\Demo periods

I will start with the big one - BroTools and BroDynamics will now be sold as subscriptions with monthly or annual payment.

I find this a necessary step - steady income is crucial to ensure any software's continued development. It ensures that software keeps receiving updates, bug fixes and new features, that all bug reports and feature requests are processed promptly and that it plain keeps working over the years. Some Maya updates require updating or rewriting parts of the plugin for them to keep working, like the passed PySide to PySide2 upgrade or the upcoming Python 2.x to 3.x update (Maya 2021 should be adopting Python 3.x).

Subscriptions also open BroDynamics and BroTools to more people, monthly pricing is a lot lower than what BroDynamics did cost previously, meaning that it's now a lot cheaper to start using it. Not to mention that it's now finally possible to offer Trial periods during which you will be able to try the whole BroTools pack out before deciding on your purchase!

If you've already bought BroDynamics 2.x - don't worry! Everyone who bought BroDynamics previously will receive extended trial period. It's going to be 1 year and 3 months for those who bought BroDynamics within the last year or before that, respectively. Just make sure to use the same email you used to purchase your BroDynamics 2.x from Gumroad while subscribing and use "Start Trial" button during activation process. If you have any questions or issues regarding your trial period feel free to contact me at [email protected] .

BroTools bundles

All tools will now be released as a single "BroTools Complete Bundle" pack, which will include previously released separately: BroDynamics, IKFK Switcher, Control Mesh Creator and more.

Some of the bigger tools like BroDynamics and Animation Toolbox will be available for subscription separately.

Versioning

With this also comes new versioning scheme. As all tools essentially share the same core and as I now plan to release updates more regurarly - versions of all tools will now be unified and follow calendar versioning scheme: YEAR.MONTH.DAY , for example 2021.1.3 means that it was released in year 2021 on 3rd of January.

Updater reworked from the ground up

Updater has finally been compeltely rewritten. It got smarter and instead of downloading zip archives with complete tools it will now work on individual files, properly syncing local files with latest version, only downloading files that need to be updated and removing any redundant files.

This is an important part that should allow everyone to get latest bug fixes and improvements in a timely manner.

What's new in BroTools and BroDynamics 2021?

For full changelog, please, visit: https://api.brotools.tech/changelog

New tutorials

I've also created a new YouTube channel dedicated to BroTools where I will be posting tutorials and other materials about BroTools and BroDynamics. It already has a few updated tutorials about BroTools installation, BroDynamics Quickstart, Point and Chain modes, and Animation Toolbox Basics tutorial.

BroDynamics 2.x support

BroDynamics 2.x will receive a few final updates with critical bug fixes and an updater that should help upgrade to the new version. After that if you already own BroDynamics 2.x you will be able to continue using it indefinitely, but there will be no further updates. There is a chance that it will continue working with new Maya versions, but there's no guarantee that it will.

BroDynamics 2.x users will be able to use extended Trial period of BroTools Complete Bundle. 1 year if you purchased BroDynamics within the last year, and 3 months if you purchased it before that.

To claim your extended trial simply download BroTools from the official website here ( https://brotools.tech/ ) and use "Start Trial" during activation, using the same email you used to purchase BroDynamics 2.x and you should receive your 365 days of trial license.

You can still reach out for help on our community Discord, where me or other member of the community will be able to answer your questions: https://discord.gg/7U2BpQQqTV