Game Animator Releases KeyFlow for Free: 25+ Maya Tools and a Shot Review App

Animator Sebastian Jaksan has released KeyFlow, a free toolkit. It includes more than 25 tools that speed up everyday character animation work in Maya. Alongside the toolkit comes KeyFlow Studio, a standalone app for viewing and discussing shots. It compares versions in A/B mode, lets you draw corrections directly on the frame, and supports collaborative sessions. The license permits commercial use.

The release may appeal to small teams and freelancers: commercial review systems such as Cinesync or Autodesk RV exist, while KeyFlow Studio offers a lightweight free alternative.

Tools built by a working animator

Jaksan has worked as an animator at the VFX and animation studio Platige Image and at game developer Flying Wild Hog. He says the toolkit includes tools he needed himself in his daily work. The code was written by his brother, programmer Łukasz Jaksan. On LinkedIn, the author said the utilities were created together with his brothers, and that he is now giving them away for free.

Each KeyFlow utility handles a fairly narrow task. According to Jaksan, using them together adds up to significant time savings. The toolkit is designed for everyday tasks at every stage, from blocking to polish.

What KeyFlow can do in Maya

The tools cover an animator's typical operations:

• tweening, i.e. creating in-between poses between keys;
• copying and pasting animation between characters and between scenes;
• a pose library;
• working with transforms;
• baking animation.

According to the author, all the tools work with any standard Maya rig. The official website lists utilities including pose mirroring (Mirror), working in relative space (RelativeSpace), selection sets (SelSet), a playblast tool (PlayblastTool), and fast data transfer between Maya sessions. The toolbar is docked above the timeline.

KeyFlow Studio: a lightweight alternative to paid review software

The second component is a standalone application and does not require Maya. KeyFlow Studio is described as a lightweight alternative to commercial review systems. The app offers a standard feature set:

• A/B comparison of two shot versions;
• text comments and drawing over the frame;
• real-time collaborative sessions over a local network or the internet;
• reference handling: videos can be trimmed and retimed to match the shot, then sent directly to Maya or Blender.

The project website calls Studio a review tool for artists of any discipline, not just Maya users. The two components are designed to work together, but each can be used on its own.

The app opens video in MP4 (H.264 and H.265), MOV, AVI, MKV, and WebM formats, as well as PNG, JPG, EXR, and TIFF image sequences.

Where to download it and what the limitations are

The main limitation is the platform. The KeyFlow toolkit works with Maya 2021 and newer, and only on Windows 10 and later. KeyFlow Studio is also available only for Windows 10+. For now, the tools are not an option for Linux and macOS users. Both applications are free, and you can support development with a donation.

What this means for animators

Maya animators have long shared their own scripts and utilities, and many workflows rely on toolkits written by working artists. KeyFlow continues this tradition while also shipping with review software. Studios usually buy this kind of software, and it is often expensive for independent creators and small teams.

KeyFlow Studio is likely to get the most attention: review with on-frame drawing and live sessions is exactly what people working remotely with a client or supervisor need. Large studios will probably stick with their own systems, where review is tied to task tracking. For freelancers, students, and small game teams, the free app may be a good fit. The tools could spread beyond Windows-based studios if versions for other operating systems appear. It is too early to say how long the project will be maintained.

Which part of KeyFlow would be more useful to you?

• The Maya tools
• KeyFlow Studio