Selected Courses on Digital Art-UOWM

open maya- open maya window- primitives-code
(mention vrml)

*from wiki which is a great open source library …unfrtntly maya isnt

mel

• Discoverability of MEL is better since the built-in command echo server was created with MEL in mind.
• A lot of legacy code and inner working of Maya is in MEL form. This provides many insights into undocumented inner workings of Maya.

Applications of MEL

• Data I/O
• Motion capture data import
• Proprietary game data export
• Scene meta-data for production tracking
• Geometry creation/modification
• Custom primitives
• Third-party renderer specific data type (e.g., RenderMan sub-divisional surfaces)
• Modeling tools not offered in the base package
• Animation tools
• Muscle simulators
• Rigging/setup controls
• Crowd AI behavior
• Lighting /rendering tools
• Automatic creation of common complex shader setups
• Pre- and post-render effects
• Making calls to third-party renderers
• Dynamics
• Custom particle behavior
• Simulated object emergent flocking and swarming
• Genetic algorithms
• Cloth simulation
• File and folder scene setup and maintenance
• User interface customization
• Custom character controls
• Removal of invalid Maya commands
• Custom UIs

[edit]Example

// animated duplicates/instances script
proc animatedDuplication (int $rangeStart, int $rangeEnd, int $numOfDuplicates, int $duplicateOrInstance)
{
    int $range_start = $rangeStart;
    int $range_end = $rangeEnd;
    int $num_of_duplicates = $numOfDuplicates;
    int $step_size = ($range_end - $range_start) / $num_of_duplicates;
    int $i = 0;
    int $temp;

    currentTime $range_start;     // set to range start

    string $selectedObjects[];    // to store selected objects
    $selectedObjects = `ls -sl`;  // store selected objects
    select $selectedObjects;

    while ($i <= $num_of_duplicates)
    {
        $temp = $range_start + ($step_size * $i);
        currentTime ($temp);
        // seleced the objects to duplicate or instance
        select $selectedObjects;
        if($duplicateOrInstance == 0)
        {
            duplicate;
        }
        else
        {
            instance;
        }
        $i++;
    }
}

 // Usage example:
 //  duplicate the current selection 5 times -- 
 //  evenly distributed between frame 1 and 240
 animatedDuplication(1, 240, 5, 0);

Maya Links

WarpCat, 26 July 2012 (created 1 July 2007)

• tags:
• wiki

Quality links you should know about, having to do with Maya, and mel:

---

‘Official’:

• Autodesk’s site. (So long Alias…)
• Maya Documentation: Online, for multiple versions.
• Current release notes
• Autodesk Subscription – Need to log in here first
  • Autodesk Maya e-Learning – Can find podcasts buried in here.
  • Ask Autodesk forums.

These sites appear to be down, or lost to the Autodesk takeover.

• Autodesk Support & Service (need to log in here first to access the next two items)
  • The Maya Annex
  • Maya Podcasts (in the Annex)

• Maya’s ‘Bonus Tools‘
• Maya Station blog. (I *think* this can be considered official)
• Autodesk Area Maya Forum
• Autodesk Area Maya Python Forum
• Autodesk Area Maya SDK Forum

---

‘Unofficial’:

• Creative Crash‘s Maya forums.
• CG Society‘s (CGTalk) Maya forums.
• Maya Wiki over at tokeru.com. And they have a pile more links.
• Brian Ewerts mel page (great stuff!). I leared a lot from this page when I was just getting started with mel.
• python_inside_maya Google Group.
• List of Script Editor Replacements.
• ::SOuP : SOuP is a collection of nodes for Maya that are based on the principles of building a flexible, non-destructive procedural pipeline.

---

‘Books’

• Scripting\Programming:
  • Maya Python for Games and Film (Amazon), Homepage (with code examples)
    • As of this authoring, the more current book for authoring Python code in Maya. Gives a good overview of Python itself, how it integrates in Maya, Object Oriented Programming, touches on PyMel, authoring UI’s with Qt, how data works in Maya, & designing scripted plugins via the API. While it doesn’t get as in-depth into the API stuff as ‘Complete Maya Programming’, this is all written in Python (compared to the former which is all c++), which makes it far more approachable. Definitely the book to get.
  • Complete Maya Programming
    • I’ve read this, recommended.
  • Complete Maya Programming Volume 2
  • MEL Scripting for Maya Animators
    • I’ve read this, recommended.
  • Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists
    • I’ve read this, recommended. It focuses on the Processing programming language (wrapper around Java), but it has direct application to mel, and is a great overview to the world of programming and scripting.
• Rigging
• Inspired 3D Advanced Rigging and Deformations
• Inspired 3D Character Setup

http://artixel.wordpress.com/category/mel/