Tentacle

A Qt marking-menu launcher for DCC apps — less a fixed menu than a framework you extend: pair a UI panel with a same-named slot module and its widgets wire themselves, or point Tentacle at a slot library of your own.

Built on uitk.MarkingMenu, it ships ~60 Maya tool panels spanning the full pipeline (modeling, UV, materials, rigging, animation, rendering, …), a Blender integration whose slot library is still in progress, and a thin 3ds Max wrapper.

Demo

Install

Maya (2025+) — install into mayapy:

"C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2025/bin/mayapy.exe" -m pip install tentacletk

Blender (4.x+) — same package, into Blender's bundled Python:

"C:/Program Files/Blender Foundation/Blender 5.1/5.1/python/bin/python.exe" -m pip install tentacletk

Prefer a menu? Download and run the package manager for your DCC — mayapy-package-manager.bat / blenderpy-package-manager.bat — pick your DCC version, press 1, type tentacletk. Each is a self-sufficient single-file download.

Requires Python 3.9+ and a Qt binding (PySide2 or PySide6 — Maya ships its own; Blender's Qt-less Python gets PySide6 pip-installed automatically on first launch). The upstream toolkit packages pythontk, uitk (with the qtpy shim), mayatk, and blendertk are pulled in automatically.

Once running, updating is in-app: Settings → Update Package checks the whole toolkit against PyPI.

Launch

In Maya's userSetup.py:

from maya.utils import executeDeferred

def start_tentacle():
    from tentacle import TclMaya
    TclMaya(key_show="Z")

executeDeferred(start_tentacle)

key_show accepts bare keys ("Z", "Space") or Qt names ("Key_Z"); if omitted it defaults to F12.

In Blender, save this as tentacle_startup.py in your user startup folder (%APPDATA%\Blender Foundation\Blender\<version>\scripts\startup\):

import bpy

def _start_tentacle():
    from tentacle import tcl_blender
    tcl_blender.register()  # hosts Qt + wires the activation key

bpy.app.timers.register(_start_tentacle, first_interval=0.5)

The Blender activation key defaults to F12; override with the TENTACLE_KEY environment variable (e.g. Z).

Bindings

Defined in tcl_maya.py; chords are parsed by uitk.MarkingMenu (see uitk/docs/MARKING_MENU.md). The table below assumes key_show="Z" from the example — substitute your chosen key.

Chord	Opens
`Z`	`hud#startmenu`
`Z + LMB`	`cameras#startmenu`
`Z + MMB`	`editors#startmenu`
`Z + RMB`	`main#startmenu`
`Z + LMB + RMB`	`maya#startmenu`

Ctrl+Shift+R repeats the last command (configurable in Preferences).

The bare-key landing menu (hud#startmenu) is a live HUD: scene status, current selection and component info, and rule-based warning icons — each warning check is individually toggleable.

How it works

flowchart LR
    A[TclMaya] --> B[uitk.MarkingMenu]
    B --> C[uitk.Switchboard]
    C --> D[ui/*.ui]
    C --> E[slots/maya/*.py]

uitk.Switchboard pairs each .ui file with a slot module of the same basename, then connects each widget's objectName to a method of the same name on the slot class:

ui/materials.ui          ──pairs with──►   slots/maya/materials.py
  └─ widget objectName "b005"  ──calls──►    def b005(self): ...
  └─ widget objectName "b005"  ──setup──►    def b005_init(self, widget): ...  (optional)

That's the whole convention. Widget object names are arbitrary; whatever name a widget has, a method of that name on the slot class will fire when it's interacted with.

Submenu routing: a widget's accessibleName (e.g. "cameras#lower") names the submenu UI to open when the gesture lands on it.

Customization

TclMaya(
    key_show="F11",
    slot_source="my_studio/slots",   # use your own slot library
    log_level="DEBUG",
    bindings={                        # replace defaults entirely
        "Key_F11":               "main#startmenu",
        "Key_F11|RightButton":   "cameras#startmenu",
    },
)

User preferences (theme, repeat-last shortcut, etc.) live in the in-app Preferences panel.

Project layout

tentacle/
├── tcl_maya.py            TclMaya entry point + default bindings
├── tcl_max.py             TclMax  (wrapper, no slot library yet)
├── tcl_blender.py         TclBlender entry point — Qt host + keymap bridge + launcher + add-on
├── slots/
│   ├── _slots.py          Slots base — repeat-last-command shortcut
│   ├── maya/              ~60 SlotsMaya subclasses
│   └── blender/           SlotsBlender subclasses (Phase 3+)
└── ui/                    .ui definitions; maya_menus/ + blender_menus/ hold DCC submenus

Platform support

DCC	Status
Maya 2025+	Full — entry point, slot library, all menus wired.
Blender	Entry point + keymap activation live (`TclBlender`); slot port in progress.
3ds Max	Wrapper only (`TclMax`).

Development

git clone https://github.com/m3trik/tentacle
pip install -e ./tentacle
cd tentacle && python -m pytest test/

CI runs test_package.py, test_slot_integrity.py, test_ui_integrity.py, and module-specific suites — see .github/workflows/tests.yml.

API_REGISTRY.md — every public class/method, with file:line links.
CHANGELOG.md — notable changes.
CLAUDE.md — contributor conventions.
uitk/docs/MARKING_MENU.md — chord syntax, gesture mechanics.

License

LGPL v3.

Release files for tentacletk 0.13.45

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for tentacletk 0.13.45
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
tentacletk-0.13.45-py3-none-any.whl 537.4 kB Aug 7, 2026	Python 3	none	any	Details

Release files / tentacletk-0.13.45-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL	tentacletk-0.13.45-py3-none-any.whl
Size	537.4 kB
Tags	Python 3
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`d95c52856a5a47509e28819c7b73fe0d3dce1734eb1fe94753bdcfda442e5d15`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`a980497d9940d68ee38773439e3ce7f8bfdad4f4aaaac936119b7c218c293035`
Upload date	Aug 7, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.11.15`