Technical difference between mel and plugin?

[svenip]

mel is just a script engine in maya. therefore a mel script always needs to be translated by the scriptengine. that's a speed issue. a plugin is written in C++ and then compiled into native code for maya. it doesn't need to be translated in runtime like mel so it's faster. some kind of problems you can't solve with mel. then you need to do a plugin.

so basicly mel is like html or java (translated in runtime to native code by a script runtime engine). plugins are already translated.

[Lunatique]

ahhh.... I see. Basically, your average Joe is limited to mel, unless Joe invested time in learning a bit of programming.

Man, it never ceases to amaze me how technically savvy some of you are. It boggles my mind. :eek:

[svenip]

Joe is not really limited. MEL is an excellent script language and you can do a whole lot of stuff with it. but you'll have advanteges if you programmed before.

plugin programming is a bit harder but can do everything.

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