WB_Make – a whiteboxing Utility for Maya 2012 and above

A python script for quick production of “Whitebox” assets can be found at highend3D as well as This site..

The Tool’s features:

• Create primitives more quickly for 1st pass art assets
  • Choose from several primitives such as cube,cylinder,rectangular bin, cup, shelf/table, and tool (features basic rigging and skin-weighting)
  • set the scale and dimensions without worrying about conversion
  • allows for simultaneous export to Unreal and Maya project folders as .FBX and .MA respectively.
  • batch-process from a .CSV table, allowing a quick start for asset development and level/scene design.

A history on this script: one of my Courses at Shawnee State University was on getting oriented with Unreal Engine 4. The first assignment was to take an image of a maze and build a map based on it – a simple task that took only a few hours. The following one was more demanding:

Recreate the floor of the building the class was held. With every physical item within.

While being provided with a map of this area as well was not an issue, creating a complete inventory of it was, as it meant writing the dimensions of each item, converting them to metric, then exporting each item separately and refining them later. Creating a primitive to the proper size and shape for each item took minutes each with this process. Too long, in my opinion.

Thus, the following summer, I studied Maya’s python library, and developed the titular tool for the next time I would have to undergo such a task. Where I would originally have to spend minutes on each object, I could import a spreadsheet of measurements and be done within seconds, allowing more time to the following passes of artistic development.