Tag Archives: tutorial

Maya.env Configuration of Variables Using userSetup.mel and userSetup.py

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maya2011_thumbuserSetup.mel, userSetup.py Tutorial Part 2: Theory and Practical Use

For the Advanced user:

     

Delving into what how userSetup files work can be tedious.  That’s why i’m posting how to configure Maya properly for those people who are perpetually scratching their heads, trying to figure out what way is better or why things aren’t working out like they planned.  Check out my previous post on userSetup and see if you are pondering things after reading all of that.  Of course, i’ve learned some things about the process too since then because my startup process is a lot more complicated than sourcing a couple of tools.  I’m setting up whole programming environments!  Learning Maya startup configuration has been a process of trial and error, searching and finding or sometimes not finding.  Here’s the beef.  Maya loads script paths in a specific order.  Once you learn that order, the daunting task of setting configurations for a whole studio is as simple as pie.  I work at a smaller studio, so the process of discovery falls on my shoulders and so I had to rise to the challenge.

     

Case Study: Finding the Solution to a Problem with userSetup.py

So where do you find the source code to decipher what’s really going on when Maya starts up?  After finding this relic of a thread online, It crystallized one piece of the puzzle.  I was having the hardest time figuring out why PYTHONPATH wasn’t working for all my scripts.  After all, I was pointing it to find my userSetup.py and also my Maya2011 python\libs\site-packages directory so I can have access to all my downloaded modules yet my PyQt modules were failing to import while my userSetup modules were sourcing just fine.

Here's the order of how Maya finds scripts for python taken from the post
linked above, which is directly from module: maya.app.startup.basic

Per-version prefs scripts dir (eg .../maya8.5/prefs/scripts)
Per-version scripts dir (eg .../maya8.5/scripts)
User application dir (eg .../maya/scripts)
Look for userSetup.py in the search path and execute it in the
"__main__" namespace
Set up sys.path to include Maya-specific user script directories.
Set up auto-load stubs for Maya commands implemented in libraries
which are not yet loaded
Run the user's userSetup.py if it exists
Register code to be run on exit

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Anatomy for Rigging and Modeling Webcast

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VitruviousAnatomy for rigging and modeling with Jeff Hesser was an event hosted online by Rigging Dojo just the other night. Improve your work and understanding of joint movement in the Human Body. A must see if you’re a TD, Animator, or Modeler.  Follow Rigging Dojo to find out about more events like this in the near future.

Vokle is a place for live webcasts and is very integrated with social media websites so it’s easy to share with your friends interesting events.  During this event Jeff had his rig that he created while at Rigging Dojo on the webcast showing people human motion and anatomy.  He has unbelievable depth of knowledge on what drives our bodies underneath the surface.  Seeing and learning anatomy like this is absolutely essential to creating believable animation and rigs that make creatures/characters move in a natural way.

Here are some links to what I think are major resources in learning anatomy traditionally and in a 3d atmosphere.

Books:

Web:

 

Maya: Realtime Viewport CGFX Shader Writing

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maya2011_thumbFresh tutorial on the web.  I just thought i’d stop by cgbootcamp after remembering that i’d bookmarked a Maya realtime shader tutorial on their Vimeo a while back.  I was surprised to see that they had just put up a brand new tutorial finishing up their series on writing a cgfx shader.

This site is great stuff indeed!  The shaders and videos are there free for the learning!  This inspires me to do spread knowledge of what i’m learning around all the more.  It’s fun to share and why not when you can make a little extra money in the process off of ads and donations.

I will be keeping an eye on these guys in the weeks to come and possibly doing my part to make sure they keep it up.  They make shader writing look sexy!  I’m gonna have to try this in my free time.