Vectorify - Maya Plugin
FreeMaya
Creator
Maya animation tool
Cool Lines - Maya Plugin
Cool Lines is a free Maya plugin by Victor Schenck for drawing stylised lines in Maya. Paint lines straight onto a mesh with Maya's Paint Effects brushes or generate them from mesh edges, set scale, resolution and taper from a dockable panel that follows scene changes live, then bake every line into one group for export. Works with Maya 2023 and newer.
- 1.0.5, early release
- Version
- 270
- Downloads
- 5 Feb 2026
- Last updated
- 5 Feb 2026
- Released
- Works with
- Maya 2023 and newer
- Licence
- Free
- File size
- 7.5 MB
- Python
- 3.8 or newer
Maya 2023+
Instant download Vetted creator
What it does
Three things that slow down stylised lines in Maya
The problem
Lines have to be drawn onto every mesh
Paint them directly onto a target mesh with Maya's own Paint Effects brushes, or let Cool Lines generate them from the mesh edges automatically.
The problem
Tweaking lines one at a time
Scale, resolution and taper sit in one dockable panel that updates as the scene changes, and a default preview shader goes onto every line at once.
The problem
Loose lines at export time
Lines stay editable after they are drawn, and when the shot is ready the whole set bakes into a single group for export.
Inside the tool
Inside Cool Lines
Everything lives in one dockable panel in the Maya UI. Draw or generate the lines, adjust them while they stay editable, preview them with a shared shader, then bake. Version 1.0.5 is an early release and still in active development, built by Victor Schenck with contributions from Clement Daures.
PAINT
Paint on a mesh
Paints lines directly on a target mesh using Maya Paint Effects tools.
EDGES
Lines from edges
Generates lines from mesh edges automatically.
SHADER
Preview shader
Assigns a default preview shader to all lines at once.
CONTROLS
Scale, resolution and taper
Controlled from the panel, with lines still editable after drawing.
PANEL
Dockable interface
Docks in the Maya UI and updates live on scene changes.
BAKE
Bake for export
Bakes all lines into a single group for final scene export.
Getting set up
Installed in two steps and a restart
- 1
Check your Maya and Python
Maya 2023 or 2024 (PySide2), or Maya 2025 and newer (PySide6), with Python 3.8 or newer.
- 2
Drag in the installer
Drag installer.py into the Maya viewport.
- 3
Restart Maya
Restart Maya and the Cool Lines panel is ready to dock.
Will it run for you
Compatibility
- Maya
- 2023 and newer
- Qt bindings
- PySide2 on 2023 and 2024, PySide6 on 2025+
- Python
- 3.8 or newer
- Install
- Drag installer.py into the viewport
- Version
- 1.0.5, early release in development
What animators say
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Vetted
Every plugin on Animworks is checked by our team before it goes live.
Supported
Questions and bug reports go straight to Victor Schenck, or email support@anim.works.
Yours to keep
It lands in your downloads the moment you check out, and stays there.
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