Around the Corner

How to write an Arnold Translator for MPxSurfaceShapes

If you are wondering why your fancy geometry created with MPxSurfaceShape is not working in renderers like Arnold, then this article is for you. Before rendering them, you'll need to create a translator or shader for your renderer. For Arnold, it can be handled using extensions. To make a 3rd-party plugin work with Arnold, you'll need to write translator extension for it.There are three SDKs you are going to refer to in your project. Arnold SDK, mtoa SDK and Maya... Read more →

How to create a Super sampling render override - a tutorial for MRenderTarget usage in MRenderOverride

Recently we were asked how to implement super sampling for a viewport render override. It requires you to create new render targets to replace the original ones. The MRT sample is very good at showing how to do it, however it is too complex to begin with. So we'll create a new one based on the simplest sample - viewOverrideSimple. The full code can be found on GitHub here. The original sample has three render operations: scene, HUD and present.... Read more →

Maya 2017 : New MPxSelectionContext APIs

In Maya 2017, there are 4 new API’s are exposed in MPxSelectionContext class namely setAllowPreSelectHilight(), setAllowSoftSelect(), setAllowSymmetry(), setAllowDoubleClickAction(). Please go through the following link for how to use the selection tool. https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-60FD5F79-AC1D-46DE-B66D-2FBE73E15A30-htm.html In UI method, you can enable/disable and use all the selection methods. However, it is possible to use the same functionalities using MEL and C++ API. MEL way to enable/disable Soft Selection: Soft modelling is an option that allows for reflection of basic manipulator actions such as move,... Read more →

Two quick API tips for Maya - image sample in devkit and registerCommand in Maya 2016.5

We have encountered two simple API changes recently, but they each can cause some confusion. Image Sample issues The first one is the image extension sample in Maya devkit. It is used for creating image extension for adding extra image format support in Maya. It is located in devkit/image folder. It appears above mentioned sample and its document haven't been updated for a while, and there are two small issues inside of it. Imf.lib is renamed to imfbase.lib now and... Read more →

Add your new context in UV Texture Editor

Well, it’s pretty easy to add a command into Maya, and I also believe most of our plugin developers know how to add a context/tool within Maya (Context is actually presented with the name “tool” in Maya), if you are not familiar with that, please refer the Command plug-ins section of help doc for the details. In general, contexts in Maya are modes which define how mouse interaction will be interpreted. A context can execute commands, modify the current selection,... Read more →

Maya 2017 devkit - Building Qt plug-ins instructions

For the Qt plug-ins, these are the recent changes made that are not reflected in the documentation but are important to know. Using the qmake executable and its qt.conf file from the devkit archive is recommended. The use of this qt.conf file uses MAYA_LOCATION and DEVKIT_LOCATION to locate the expected header/library files. Therefore, users must set both environment variables before building the samples. DEVKIT_LOCATION should point to the directory where the devkit include, mkspecs, cmake directories are located. After running... Read more →

An FBX SDK iOS quick tutorial

I recently had a question on the FBX iOS SDK and while I had to use it on a ReCap Photo project, I wanted to share my experience with you. The SDK is the one used to write the FBXReview application on iOS. The FBX development team is working on an Android version right now and should come in a future release. To minimize the efforts of writing our first iOS application using the FBX iOS SDK, we will reuse... Read more →

Applying the Maya Dark Color Scheme to WPF

Sorry it's been such a long time since we all wrote a blog...we will get better at updating!!! As you know I was travelling a lot in November/December for business reasons, but I also got asked to work on few important Cloud and mobile projects lately that took me away from the R&D aspect of my job. Anyway, it is back to normal now… till next time ;) Almost 2 years back, almost around this time of the year, I... Read more →

Maya Custom Manipulators

I. General Introduction A manipulator is a node that draws itself using 3D graphical elements that respond to user events. While it is possible to change a node’s attribute values using Channel Box, Graph Editor and etc., manipulators provides a more intuitive way of changing attribute values: Manipulators provide a series of visual controls that users can interactively move or adjust. The modification of these visual controls subsequently is translated by manipulators into value changes and then applied to the... Read more →