mGear 5.2 Release!

Miquel · January 22, 2026, 2:37pm

We’re excited to announce mGear 5.2, bringing powerful new features to the open-source rigging framework for Autodesk Maya.
Highlights:
Blueprint Guides — Define standardized rig settings shared across multiple characters with per-component override support. Perfect for studio-wide pipeline standardization.
Custom Steps UI 2.0 — Complete overhaul with drag & drop, collapsible sections, custom step groups, JSON config I/O, and pre-built templates for common tasks.
Guide Explorer & Guide Tools — New intuitive interface for navigating and managing complex rig hierarchies.
xPlorer — A fresh alternative to Maya’s Outliner, inspired by Softimage XSI, Cinema 4D, and Blender.
Plus improvements to Eye Rigger, SDK Manager, RBF Manager, HumanIK Mapper, spring components, build performance, and comprehensive new documentation.
A huge thank you to all contributors who submitted PRs for this release — your work makes mGear better for everyone!

GitHub Download: https://github.com/mgear-dev/mgear/releases
Documentation: Welcome to mGear: Rigging Framework for Autodesk Maya — mGear: Rigging Framework 4.0.3 documentation
Full Release Log: Release Log — mGear: Rigging Framework 4.0.3 documentation

actoratwork · January 23, 2026, 10:50am

Amazing work as always!

i cannot find a way to download from the release page ! can someone give me an hint please!?
Thank you

Milio · January 23, 2026, 10:52am

https://github.com/mgear-dev/mgear/releases/download/5.2.1/mgear_5.2.1.zip

vikas.3dmad · January 26, 2026, 9:54pm

Hey Miquel,
I hope you’re doing well.
Today I downloaded mGear 5.2.1, and I’m running into an issue with the ‘Guide Update’ options.
Additionally, when I try to fetch any of the built-in mGear templates(e.g biped or quadruped), I get the error shown below.
Is there an option or workflow to update templates created with older mGear versions 5.1 so they work properly with 5.2.1?

Error: Target node arm_L0_eff_z_subtract has no attribute input2

Warning: Unrecognized node type ‘length’; preserving node information during this session.

Error: ‘Unknown’ object has no attribute ‘output’

# Traceback (most recent call last):

# File “”, line 3, in

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\shifter\io.py”, line 284, in import_sample_template

# import_guide_template(path)

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\shifter\io.py”, line 249, in import_guide_template

# import_partial_guide(filePath, conf=conf, **kwargs)

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\shifter\io.py”, line 213, in import_partial_guide

# partial_names, partial_idx = rig.guide.draw_guide(partial, initParent)

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\core\utils.py”, line 309, in wrap

# raise e

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\core\utils.py”, line 306, in wrap

# return func(*args, **kwargs)

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\shifter\guide.py”, line 1365, in draw_guide

# comp_guide.draw(parent)

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\shifter\component\guide.py”, line 538, in draw

# self.addObjects()

# File “C:\Users/user/Documents/maya/modules/scripts/mgear/shifter_classic_components\arm_2jnt_01\guide.py”, line 64, in addObjects

# self.addUpvLocator(self.elbow, self.wrist, self.eff)

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\shifter\component\guide.py”, line 1028, in addUpvLocator

# upv_visualizer.create_upv_system(

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\core\upv_visualizer.py”, line 392, in create_upv_system

# normalize_node, half_multiply_node, math_nodes = setup_cross_product_chain(

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\core\upv_visualizer.py”, line 255, in setup_cross_product_chain

# length_nodes = calculate_vector_lengths(vector_nodes)

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\core\upv_visualizer.py”, line 189, in calculate_vector_lengths

# sub_nodes[0].output >> length_node.inputX

# File “C:\Users\user\Documents\maya\modules\scripts\mgear\pymaya\node.py”, line 263, in getattribute

# return super(_Node, self).getattribute(name)

# AttributeError: ‘Unknown’ object has no attribute ‘output’

Thanks in advance!
Vikas

actoratwork · January 27, 2026, 8:49am

Hello

Thank you so much for this fantastic work you are doing with Mgear! I love it

i am also having issues updating the guide of a quadruped done with Mgear 4.2.9

It builds the updated guide just partially. I can share the maya file if necessary

Miquel · January 27, 2026, 1:21pm

I think it is related to the new upv visualizators. Can you export it using the old mGear and when you import with the new version of mGear should be fixed.
Other option is to duplicate the leg, delete old leg and change index. This should force Shifter to regenerate the leg correctly.

I will check a better solution in the next release

vikas.3dmad · January 27, 2026, 6:37pm

Hi Miquel,
Before posting this comment, I tried all the possible approaches, but none of them worked. I also tried adding the missing attributes, but that didn’t help either. The leg and arm modules are updating correctly; however, the issue seems to be with the foot setup. Some modules are not getting updated even after replacing them with new modules and running the guide update option, but it throws the same error and fails.I wanted to debug the issue and find the root cause myself, but I thought it might be quicker for you to identify the exact problem.
Thank you for the quick response and I’m looking forward to the next release.

Miquel · January 27, 2026, 11:36pm

Send me the guide. I will check it

EDIT: May I know your Maya version?

vikas.3dmad · January 28, 2026, 11:00pm

Hi Miquel,
I’ve tested this in Maya 2023 and 2024. I’m sharing the guide file for you to test. It’s the default guide that ships with mGear.Let me know if you find anything. Thank you.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_s_y3IY382LchcnWoSkXJZF-zCFn-Z0f/view?usp=drive_link

Miquel · January 28, 2026, 11:42pm

I have updated the guide from your Maya scene and everything is working as expected. Tried in Maya 2024 and 2026
Maybe is an issue with your enviroment installation
Can you try with fresh maya preferences?

vikas.3dmad · January 29, 2026, 12:42am

That’s strange. Thank you for checking it. I’ll get back to you tomorrow after testing it on my side.

howtizer · January 30, 2026, 3:10pm

In Maya 2023, the subtract node doesn’t exist, so it’s recognized as an unknown node and causes an error when running update guide. It only works in Maya 2024 and later. Does this mean Maya 2023 is no longer supported, or will this issue be fixed?

Miquel · January 30, 2026, 3:49pm

I will check that. Thanks for the feedback!

Milio · January 30, 2026, 4:21pm

As Miquel, I found no problems or errors updating the guide and building.

vikas.3dmad · February 2, 2026, 1:39pm

Hi Miquel and Milio,

I tested this in a clean Maya environment and it works as expected. In our production environment, it looks like something is being overridden due to multiple tools and environment settings. I’m not seeing any code-specific errors either.
When switching from mGear 4.9 to 5.1 in the same environment, I didn’t run into this issue. I’ll dig deeper as soon as I get some time and will keep you posted.
Thanks for your support.

Miquel · February 3, 2026, 9:16am

@vikas.3dmad Thanks for the info. If you find the source of the issue, please let us know.