Andy J Latham - Image Plane Loader

Image Plane Loader automates the sometimes confusing process of importing reference footage to an image plane in Maya. It allows you to easily choose either a video or image sequence. If a video is selected, the video is converted to an image sequence for greater performance.

There is also an option for further improving performance with a "Fast Mode", which lowers the resolution and removes colour information, and also an option of choosing a free image plane instead of a fixed one.

If a camera is selected, the image plane will be attached to it. If not, a reference camera will be created, with the image plane attached to that instead.

1. For Maya 2025, download ImagePlaneLoader25.zip and extract it to:

C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\Maya\Scripts

2. Assign the following Python code to a shelf button:

import importlib
import ImagePlaneLoader25 as ipl
importlib.reload(ipl)
r = ipl.ImagePlaneLoader()

1. For Maya 2024 and earlier, download ImagePlaneLoader.zip and extract it to:

C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\Maya\Scripts

2. Assign the following Python code to a shelf button (Maya 2022-2024):

import importlib
import ImagePlaneLoader as ipl
importlib.reload(ipl)
r = ipl.ImagePlaneLoader()

Or use this code for earlier versions of Maya:

import ImagePlaneLoader as ipl
reload(ipl)
r = ipl.ImagePlaneLoader()