Installation¶
Octo Vector Bridge is three tools in one licence — a Harmony import window, a Blender add-on, and a Maya module. Install only the ones you use; the installer detects which DCCs are present and lets you pick.
The installer¶
Run OVB-Installer.exe (Windows). It:
- Detects installed copies of Blender, Maya, and Harmony (and their versions).
- Shows a checkbox per target — Harmony is pre-checked (it's the destination), the others appear only if detected.
- Optionally takes your licence key (you can also activate later, in the app).
- Deploys each checked target to its native location and writes an uninstall manifest so removal is clean.
One activation covers the machine
OVB stores its licence in a shared, DCC-neutral folder, so activating in any DCC covers Blender, Maya, and Harmony on that computer — you don't activate three times.
What lands where¶
| Target | Shape | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Harmony | files into the NNNN-scripts folder |
…/Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Harmony Premium/NNNN-scripts/ |
| Blender | add-on / extension | your Blender version's extensions/ (4.2+) or scripts/addons/ |
| Maya | a .mod module |
~/Documents/maya/modules/ (version-agnostic) |
Harmony needs external Python 3.9¶
Harmony's variable-thickness pass runs through OMC, which needs an external Python 3.9 installed on your system. The installer detects it and warns if it's missing — it never blocks; you can install Python afterwards.
Why an external Python?
Harmony ships its own embedded Python, but the OMC thickness API is driven from a separate 3.9 interpreter. A mismatched interpreter is worse than a documented one — so OVB asks you to install a standard Python 3.9 and points to it.
Potrace is bundled¶
The Potrace tracing engine ships inside the Harmony package (bin/potrace), so bitmap → vector works out of the box — nothing extra to install. Potrace is GPL and travels by mere aggregation; OVB itself stays proprietary.
Opening the tools¶
- Harmony — run the Octo Vector Bridge script from the Scripts menu (or its toolbar button).
- Blender — enable the add-on, then open the Octo VB tab in the 3D-view sidebar (
N). - Maya — the module adds a shelf button, or run
import maya_bridge.launch as ovb; ovb.show().
The first launch starts a 14-day trial. See Licensing & Activation.