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Read the silhouette.
Layer clean outlines over your animation to compare poses, spot tangencies and make the action read.
Good OnionSkin · for Autodesk Maya
Every pose.
The whole motion.
See the before and after, right in your viewport. Shape clearer poses, cleaner arcs and more deliberate spacing.
Windows · Maya 2020, 2022–2026 · Viewport 2.0
A different perspective on motion
Product film · coming soon
Make the
in-between
visible.
Built for the way animators see.
Shape + OutlineSelected facesPinned posesCamera Space
Less scrubbing. More seeing.
One frame tells a story.
The others give it context.
Onion skinning puts neighboring poses in the same view. See the path of a hand, the spacing of a step and the silhouette of a turn without holding every frame in your head.
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Feel the spacing.
See where a pose came from and where it is going. Control the number of ghosts and the distance between them.
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Keep the pose that matters.
Pin a contact, an extreme or an anticipation. Hold that reference while you work through the rest of the shot.
Your viewport. Your judgement.
Focus on the motion.
Keep the controls close.
From a first bouncing ball to a detailed character performance, show only the information you need to make the next decision.
Get to know every control ↗A whole character. Or just a fingertip.
Create layers from complete meshes or selected polygon faces. Separate the motion you are studying from the rest of the shot.
Stay with the camera.
Use Camera Space for moving shots, or compare poses in world space. Update an outline’s camera when you change your view.
Make overlapping poses readable.
Give past and future their own colors. Adjust opacity, fade distant ghosts and use X-Ray to see through geometry.
Set it up for your workflow.
Choose defaults for new layers and a cache budget. Background warm-up prepares nearby frames while Maya is idle.
An instruction manual you can touch
Meet your new panel.
Click a button, checkbox or setting. Find out exactly what it does.
The interactive manual
Small panel.
Meet every control.
Select a panel, then click a highlighted control. Its explanation appears below. This is a guide to the real Maya interface, so you can explore without changing your scene.
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Outline
Compare silhouettes with an Outline layer. Width and Update Camera are available in this mode.
Click the panel or use the control list →
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Shape
Create a filled ghost layer from the selected polygon meshes or faces. Use it to compare volume, overlap and the position of a body part across frames.
Select just the hand or foot faces when you want to focus on one part of a performance.
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Shape
Compare filled surfaces with a Shape layer. The ghost, color and pin controls work just like Outline.
Click the panel or use the control list →
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Shape
Create a filled ghost layer from the selected polygon meshes or faces. Use it to compare volume, overlap and the position of a body part across frames.
Select just the hand or foot faces when you want to focus on one part of a performance.
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Cache
Control how nearby frames are prepared and stored.
Click the panel or use the control list →
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Background warm-up
Prepare nearby frame samples while Maya is idle. Playback also fills the cache as frames are visited.
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New layers
Set your starting point. These defaults apply to new layers only.
Click the panel or use the control list →
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Previous ghosts
Choose the initial previous-ghost count for layers you create next. Existing layers keep their settings.
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License
Check the current session or see the first-launch activation window below.
Click the panel or use the control list →
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License status
Check the activation status for this Maya session. On first launch, use the OnionSkin license key from your GoodSewed account.
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About
Version details, the people behind the tool and support diagnostics.
Click the panel or use the control list →
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Version
See the installed Good OnionSkin version and the Maya version of the current session.
Interface reference: Good OnionSkin 0.8.0. Screenshots show example settings. Availability of some controls depends on the selected layer.
From download to your first ghost
A few steps.
A new way to see.
- 01
Download & extract.
Get your installer from your account and extract the entire ZIP. Keep
Install_GoodOnionSkin.pybeside theGoodOnionSkinfolder. - 02
Drop it into Maya.
Select the shelf where you want the tool. Drag
Install_GoodOnionSkin.pyfrom the extracted folder into a Maya viewport, then click the new shelf button. - 03
Activate your license.
On first launch, use the OnionSkin key from My licenses. You can return to your license information through the panel’s Settings.
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Make your first layer.
Select an animated polygon mesh or a few faces and click Shape or Outline. Move along the timeline. Start with two previous ghosts, two next ghosts and Step 1.
Compatibility
Made for Maya on Windows.
Windows x64 · Autodesk Maya 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 · Viewport 2.0
Restart Maya after updating an already loaded version. Maya 2021, Maya 2027, macOS and Linux are not included in this release.
A little more context
Good questions.
Is this useful if I’m learning animation?+
Yes. Start with a bouncing ball or a simple walk. Seeing neighboring poses together makes spacing and arcs easier to inspect. You can begin with the default ghost settings and add more controls as you need them.
What’s the difference between Shape and Outline?+
Shape gives you filled ghost surfaces to compare volume and position. Outline emphasizes the silhouette. Both can work with full meshes or selected polygon faces, and each layer has its own display settings.
Can I keep a particular pose as a reference?+
Yes. Pin the frame on the selected layer. It stays available while you move through the shot. Click a pinned frame to jump to it, or right-click it to edit its settings.
Where do I get updates and help?+
Downloads and licenses live in your account. Product owners can contact support there. For a technical issue, Settings → About → Copy diagnostics collects useful information without including your license key.
Good OnionSkin for Maya
Find the flow.
Refine the frame.
Put the poses you need right where you work.
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Already have it? Open your account ↗License and download access through your GoodSewed account.
Created with an animator’s eye.
Co-created by Georgii “GoodSewed” Khoroshilov and Alexey Medvedev.