save dual screen layout

[maxx10]

arghhh... not only you've got a spankin' new dual G5 ... but now 2 monitors as well... :thumbsup:
so now you'll finish your plush monkey anim faster? :D
...oh, and I don't know the answer... cheers

[mimo8]

wow maxx10 ... how do you know all this ... not only that you have this frightening avatar, now you also seem to look inside my bankaccount ... :argh: ... this is getting scarry ... are you the guy standing over there on the other side of the road staring up to my window ...

[maxx10]

Yeah... that was me... lurking in the shadows... next time you check the bankaccount could you do it more in favor of the window? coz I couldn't read your pincode very well... :p kiddings aside I just remember that you posted when you got the g5... maya button mouse problems if I recall correctly... anyho I'm sorry having hijacked your thread...

[morimitsu]

got myself a second monitor ... what a pleasure, specialy for animation.
but everytime I restart maya I have to arrange the windows on the second monitor.
is there a way to save those boxes in place ... the save current layout function doesnt do the trick

good question, I d'like to know it too...
any help, please?

[erics1one]

The only methods I've heard mentioned is MEL scripting.

But if there is another method, I'd definitely be interested as well.

[mimo8]

maxx ... always open to that kind of hijacks ... specially as it seems that everyone is waiting for the "savedualscreenlayout.mel" to come

hijack on max, hijack on!

[Rudity]

Settings Preferences
UI elements
Panel Configurations:

There are two checkboxes here: When saving - Save Panel Layouts with File
When Opening - Restore Saved Layouts from File

With the first check box on, when you save a file, a node will be created called
uiConfigurationScriptNode
This node contains the windows you had opened, and will open the windows when you open the scene next time if the second check box is turned on.

Now, i dont know if this will help in your case because you said everytime you open maya your windows arent where they used to be.
Whenever I open my outliner, even in a new scene, it goes onto my second monitor.
Actually never thought of how it did that untill now. Gotta be in your preferences somewhere.

[mimo8]

yes you are right ... with this settings on it should do the trick ... but they are on here, but it doesnt do it :(

I give up and continue pushing the menus manualy

[maxx10]

maxx ... always open to that kind of hijacks ... specially as it seems that everyone is waiting for the "savedualscreenlayout.mel" to come

hijack on max, hijack on!

glad to hear it :thumbsup: some people don't appreciate it much


BTW - does it happen when you open a saved scene too?
I mean, if you have a scene with the windows open and positioned on the 2 monitors, save it and when you reopen does it keep the layout or it stacks all the windows on the primary screen?

[mimo8]

no ... just reopening the scene works fine. but when I restart maya it cramps all the windows into the primary monitor ... however :hmm:

[AndreasMartin]

well, I tried to find a solution for this problem... but couldn't find a satisfying one :sad:

So lets se what I found out:
file -> Save Prefrences
saves the position of the open windows to prefs/windowPrefs.mel
the only thing that has to be done now is to load on maya startup the mel commands that initialize the wanted windows.

In my example I tried it with the mel command for the hypershade window:
HypershadeWindow;

The problem is that I couldn't figure out how to run this command when maya starts.
the prefs/userPrefs.mel will be overwritten whenever Maya is closed with the actual settings, so this solution didn't worked for me.

If anyone knows how to run separate scripts while maya starts it should be easy to put all the mel commands for the wanted windows in this script.

[mimo8]

cool that so many people are interested to solve that case

[Iconoklast]

Creative, put the commands in the userSetup.mel. That file gets source everytime maya starts.

[AndreasMartin]

put the commands in the userSetup.mel. That file gets source everytime maya starts. it seems that the userPrefs.mel will be overwritten with the actual user settings each time I close maya ....
so any other solution or do i missed a checkbox in the user preferences setup menu?

[Iconoklast]

I said userSetup, not userPrefs :). If you don't currently have a userSetup.mel in your scripts dir, you can make one, and it will automatically source on startup.

[mimo8]

that really seems to do the trick.
I hit "save prefernces" and then added this line to the usersetup.mel
source "/Users/mimo/Library/Preferences/Alias/maya/6.0/prefs/windowPrefs.mel";
and also after a maya restart the windows arrange on the second screen now.

not too enthusiastic till I havent restarted my comp and tested on different scenes, that have different layouts with them, but it looks very promissing and is supereasy to set

thnx Iconoklast and all the rest

[AndreasMartin]

Iconoklast you are right,
thx!

mimo8 nice to hear that it worked.

[Nicodemia]

hey guys,
ive just followed this thread and am stuck on where to get my userSetup.mel file from. I cant find it in the prefs file and dont know how to make it. Plaese help.

I also need to know where to enter the line:

source "/Users/(my name)/Library/Preferences/Alias/maya/6.0/prefs/windowPrefs.mel";

should it be at the end of the rest of the code? Or the beginning? :eek:

[AndreasMartin]

Create the userSetup.mel in your scripts folder and place the wanted mel line in what ever line you want. Each mel source code line will be executed at startup.

[Nicodemia]

Ok. Do i create the userSetup.mel file using a blank document or is there a way of creating it in maya? I have no idea how to make it. Im sure this is basic stuff but im a complete beginner. Sorry about my inexperience. :banghead:

[Iconoklast]

Just create a regular text document, but make sure you rename it to userSetup.mel (make sure the only extension on the file is .mel).

[Nicodemia]

sorry guys im being such a pain.

Its remembering the positions of the windows in relation to the screen now but when i restart its putting them on my primary screen instead of the secondary one. In short, when i restart all the windows come up, but all on the one screen instead of across both.

Agh. its so annoying!

[mimo8]

same with me,
first I thought it does the trick, but it just opens all the windows in one screen.
still hoping someone knows a solution

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