Session 4 Assignment

For Next time everyone needs to complete the following:


Write a single Maya script which:

-utilizes at least 3 loops
-animates objects over time

From this single script you must generate 4 different animations only by changing the variables.


Everyone should have the 4 animation files (.avi or .mov) and the script on a disk at the begining of class November 3

Session 3

Hi everyone

here are the files that I worked on during class last time

session2Files


And here is the file we'll be looking at tomorrow


session3Files


Also if any of you are having trouble installing it on your laptop bring them with you tomorrow.

Nick

Session 2

Hi everyone,

Tomorrow we'll be going through the script file that I gave out for the last session as well as looking at this:

//tower maker
//create and closed curve and select it
//input: height of the tower
// number of floors
// amount of twist



global proc makeTower(float $height, float $floors, float $twist)
{
int $increment = 100/$floors;
int $i;

string $sel[] = `ls -sl`;
string $top[] = `duplicate -rr $sel[0]`;
xform -cp $sel[0] $top[0];
move -r 0 $height 0 $top[0];
rotate -r 0 $twist 0 $top[0];
string $blendName[] = `blendShape -origin world -tc 0 $top[0] $sel[0]`;
setKeyframe -at $top -v 0 -t 0 $blendName[0];
setKeyframe -at $top -v 1 -t 100 $blendName[0];


string $snaps[] = `snapshot -increment $increment -constructionHistory 1 -startTime 1 -endTime 100 -update animCurve $sel[0]`;
setAttr ($snaps[1]+".update") 1;

string $floorCurves[] = `listRelatives $snaps[0]`;
for($curve in $floorCurves)
{
string $floorPlate[] = `planarSrf -ch 1 -d 3 -ko 0 -tol 0.01 -rn 0 -po 1 $curve`;
rename $floorPlate[0] ("floor_"+$i);
parent ("|floor_"+$i) $snaps[0];
$i++;
}

string $roof[] = `planarSrf -ch 1 -d 3 -ko 0 -tol 0.01 -rn 0 -po 1 $top[0]`;
rename $roof[0] "roof";
parent "|roof" $snaps[0];

select $top[0];
}

Session 1

Below are links to the example files we will be using in session 1 as well as a general reference and several useful links:

Session 1: Example Files + general reference



Books:

General Introduction to Maya

Another good overview book

MEL Scripting:

in order of usefulness:

Best for Starting out learning MEL

Also good for beginners

More Advanced, But a good reference

The second volume


Websites
This site is a wiki I began building last year that has several links / scripts

MEL wiki Innsbruck