Maya: Transfer Mesh UVs After Rigging

This is slightly off-topic than the usual scripting posts, but I found this really useful and wanted to share.

It's a technique on how to transfer UVs from one mesh to another while maintaining deformer history on your object. It worked for what I was doing and I imagine I'll be using it again in the future.

http://animbiz.blogspot.com/2010/02/transferring-uvs-after-rigging.html

I'm currently working on a bullet proof transfer script, I'll let the world know when it works. :)

Maxscript: Check If Auto Key Is Turned On

Need to query if auto key is turned on or off using maxscript? Use the animButtonState command. It returns true or false, so using this info you can check it's current state and then setup a toggle for it, or use it make sure Max is in the correct mode before running a script.

Simple, yet extremely useful!

MEL To Maxscript To MEL

For whatever reason, I am a huge fan of using MEL to export a Maxscript file and vice versa. There is a strange feeling of satisfaction, something along the lines of getting away with a crime or not letting the man bring you down. Grab your code by the balls. That is all. :)

MEL/PyMEL: Get Top Most Parent Of An Object

Here is a function I use often that will give you the top-most parent of any object. I use it when I want to perform a function on an entire heirarchy but don't want to worry about needing to select the top most object. I can just grab any of them, hit a button and it grabs the top (using the function here) and then selects or grabs the entire hierarchy. I'm kind of OCD about saving every possible second.

Mel Version:

// **********************************************************
// Return Top Parent Of Any Node
global proc string jgReturnTopParent (string $obj) {

string $a[] = {} ;
string $b ;
$a = `listRelatives -p $obj` ;
while(size($a) > 0) {
    $b = $a[0] ;
    $a = `listRelatives -p $a[0]` ;
}
return $b ;

}

PyMel Version:

##################################################
## Return Top Parent Of Any Node
def jgReturnTopParent(obj):

 # Imports
 import pymel.core as pm

 # Get First Parent
 varA = pm.listRelatives(obj,p=True)

 # Loop All Parents
 while(len(varA) > 0):

    varB = varA[0]
    varA = pm.listRelatives(varA[0],p=True)

 return varB

Update: Thanks to Scott Englert for pointing out in the comments that MEL and PyMel both have built in functions for this already.

MEL command that comes with Maya:
rootOf($obj);

PyMEL method of dag nodes:
obj.root()

Cheers Scott!

Get Maya Version With MEL

Today I had to figure out how to get the current Maya version with MEL. I assumed it would be in some sort of environment variable but it turns out it had it's own command. I spent a good fifteen minutes trying to track this down so I hope this blog post can save somebody out there at least some of that time.

The command is getApplicationVersionAsFloat.

float $mayaVersion = `getApplicationVersionAsFloat` ;

Using White Space To Your Advantage

A really helpful hint when scripting is to know how to leverage white-space in your code. What this means is that certain languages will allow a lot of flexibility in the way your code is laid out that can make it much easier to read and edit. Take this example:

string $fileArray[] = {"C:/_Maya/temp/file_0001.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0002.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0003.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0004.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0005.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0006.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0007.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0008.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0009.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0010.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0011.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0012.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0013.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0014.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0015.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0016.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0017.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0018.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0019.ma","C:/_Maya/temp/file_0020.ma"} ;

The code above shows a string array containing twenty Maya Ascii files. It's straight forward, but a little difficult to read due to it all being condensed. If you need to make edits to one of the file names or add some into the list somewhere specific it can be a bit annoying finding the right spot. Let's use white space to help us with this.

string $fileArray[] = {
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0001.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0002.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0003.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0004.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0005.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0006.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0007.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0008.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0009.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0010.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0011.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0012.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0013.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0014.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0015.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0016.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0017.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0018.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0019.ma",
 "C:/_Maya/temp/file_0020.ma"
} ;

Cool huh? MEL and most languages will allow you to do this and many other things with white space in your code to really space it out evenly and neatly so it's easy for you and anyone else interacting with your scripts to use and read. Practice ways of using this trick to make your code more awesome!

Maya Scripting: "Should I Learn MEL Or Python?"

The question I get asked most often by people just getting into scripting in Maya is, "Should I learn MEL first or go right to Python?". It's a legitimate question and at this stage in the lives of both languages, it has merit. The reality is you need to learn both...but which one first? And why learn MEL when Python is there? Maya's embedded language has been around for ages and is notoriously weak and difficult to use in certain areas. As Python slithers it's way deeper and deeper into our pipelines, many believe MEL will be phased out completely in coming years. Seeings how it will inevitably become more and more prevalent in 3D applications and is not Maya-specific, isn't it only logical to not bother with Maya's aging language and go right to Python? All signs seem to point that way, but I don't agree with this philosophy and I'll explain why.

Python and Mel - Both Badass, (though one is insane)

My answer is almost always the same when people ask me this question: First, learn enough MEL for it to be useful and help you work, then start to learn Python along side it.

If you are new to programming and scripting, you are unlikely to learn enough Python quickly enough for it to be of any use to you. Python is definitely more powerful, gives you more control, and is really more fun to use in the end...BUT...it's more difficult. There are more rules, more things involved with getting it working properly and generally just more things you need to know in order to use and learn it. You'll need to learn the basics of installing libraries, having paths set up correctly, using environment variables, linking modules, and all sorts of steps just to get it doing what you want. Of course you can just go in there and start giving it Maya commands, but at that point you're not taking advantage of it's abilities and may as well use MEL. That brings me to my point.

With MEL, you can start doing things almost instantly even with little to no knowledge of how it works. Compared to some languages it's relatively easy to pick up and get going with and it exists in Maya already with great documentation. To get started, you can watch your Script Editor to see what certain commands are doing and how they work. Run a tool or do something in Maya and watch what kind of code it spits out in the Script Editor. Copy and paste that code and start changing things around to make your own little scripts and buttons. Learning the basics of variables, functions and syntax are all easy using the tutorials in the Maya documentation. All in all, within a couple of hours you can be writing small snippets of code that will actually be speeding up your work-flow. It's not to say you can't do the same with Python if you're a fast learner, but generally speaking you'll be up and running with MEL a lot quicker.

Once you're cruising with MEL and you're putting it good use...that is when I'd recommend diving into some Python and beginning to learn how it works. At the end of the day you can (and will) use both in various situations, but I'd never suggest to anyone to NOT learn how to script in MEL. Whether it be needing to clean up a co-workers code, make changes to a script, write a Maya GUI, or write a script in an older version of Maya that doesn't have Python...there are plenty of reasons you should not skip MEL.

All that being said, PyMEL combines the best of both and is my drug of choice at the moment. Learn them all so that you can make your own call on what's best. :)

To Script, or Not To Script

It seems to happen all of the time. One of those situations arise where you have a task to accomplish that you know will be simple as pie to script. There's a big smile on your face as you finish writing it, nod approvingly at it's beauty and let it run it's course. Relaxing back into your seat, you bask in the glory of having once again thwarted destinies vain attempts to make you work.

But, this was one of those not-so-rare occasions where the task at hand would have taken you only a few minutes longer, or in some cases less time to accomplish than writing the code to make it work. You were torn for a moment, "Should I just do it? I'll never have to do this ever again and scripting it will take just as long as doing it manually". To script, or not to script?

If you're reading this blog, you're most likely in the demographic that would answer that question easily. Script it! Even though this is a specific case and the actual code will most likely never get used again verbatim, you still gain a lot from scripting tasks like this. Here is why:

Within every task given us is a problem to solve. Some are easier than others, some are difficult, and some may not seem like problems at all. The fact is though that as simple or as direct as a task may seem there is always some level of problem solving involved with it and as it is with any other skill, practice and repetition always make you better. If you approach every task like a challenge and use it to level up in some way, it makes even the simplest script worth writing!

What can you do to make a simple, easy-to-write script more challenging? Some ideas:

• Write it in another language or application
  
• Use commands or functions you've never used before
• Make it more robust, so that is becomes useful in other situations
• Write it in as few lines of code as possible (don't count comments or white space lines)

All of these things will definitely make you better and are usually fun. As long as your skills are improving, you're getting more benefit from scripting a simple one-off task then if you were to just do it manually. Your gaining skills, experience, challenging yourself, and inevitably getting better so that you'll be more apt to tackle a difficult assignment when it comes knocking.

In our line of work, the ones who stop learning are the ones that are left behind. Always seek out new ways to improve your skill-set and keep getting better!