Share your secret weapon...!

#421

(deleted) .

#422

Here is another tip.

If you ever want to open up a a Maya scene in an older version of Maya. Intead of edited the Ascii file like people have been doing for years…

In the options box for File–> Open, turn on “ignore version”. You will probably get a few errors, but it should work just like editing the Acsii file directly, and is much less work on your part.

#423

hey fantasizer, that is awesome! I was wondering, how does it work animation wise? I am in school, and I am doing a thesis character that has a robe type of set up, and I need to animate him, but wasn’t sure how to do so(because maya is not very friendly to those types of characters).

I am still learning and I have a long way to go, but I was wondering because your script could make life easier for thesis, if it looks good animated. :applause:

oh, and the stitching animations examples, do not work when I click on your link. It might be my computer, but just letting you know just in case :slight_smile:

#424

Hi, BICA,

Just goolge flv and you’ll find how to play them.

My original purpose was to make realistic clothes wrinkles for still images. But this tool is also suitable to make clothes for animation especially for hi-res ones. For low-res clothes or simple ones like robe (without sleeves), I think it would be easier to build them manually.

#425

Hi Jimmy, this is amazing devlopment. Great job man.

#426

yeah great stuff here:)

#427

I see no one really posts here:P

#428

is that your secret weapon? :slight_smile:
best of fortunes with the new maya forum.
I’ll check it out sometime soon. The URL is certainly easy to remember!

OK: I posted to the thread, so I’d better offer a Maya function.

I still use the sticky key “d” all the damn time, held down to temporarily move the pivot point of a transform node or a selection set… You can then hold a snap key,like X,c, or v as well, for pivot point-snapping. Release all keys and you are done. For things like temporarily aligning by vertex or edge/curve while adjusting a selection set, it can’t be beat.

Use instead of toggling on pivot control with the INS key.

try it now!
-w

#429

haha, yeah this has to be the best secret weapon yet

a good thing to use when mass modifying attributes is the attribute spreedsheet editor

#430

@fantasizer: Stunning work! :applause:

My “secret weapon” - actually not a big secret indeed and might sound a bit retarded - but Mesh > Combine tool…

It saved my life on a time and resource consuming architectural project. I was planing to use Vue for environment and final render (it is working fine with my 2gb PCs even on very heavy scenes). I modeled all the buildings on Maya and after texturing I Combined all the meshes possible. Less object count in Vue scene consumed less memory. Vue has a weld option on it’s own but I prefer Maya’s mesh combine.

here is the scene - not the most amazing thing in the world but at least I was able to finish it. http://keremgogus.com/webgallery/gallerydesign/pages/amparo3d.html

#431

Do you guys know what key puts the cursor in the MEL window at the bottom of the Maya scene? I remember reading this in a thread about Maya’s key shortcuts.

#432

hello everyone…

i am new in maya so i just want to know on how to reduce the file size of object build in maya…
it is important to keep the detailing of the object in the same time reducing file size

i have tried-
a) less segmentation(depend on the detailed of the polygon)
b) delete the unseen polygon(reducing the face)
c) convert to quad

but i need more guidence when modeling a object in maya in terms of reducing file

#433

welcome to the forums and maya

you should start a new thread, that question is off topic…

i don’t quite understand why you are trying to reduce the file size… by file size, i assume you mean the actual file that you save to your harddrive and not the poly count
if so then i don’t understand why you would care about that :shrug:
if you’re asking different ways to reduce polygons and keep details then that’s a different story…

#434

yes that ignore version addition is awesome. i don’t know when they added that but man i’ve been editing ascii’s for years.

the one tool that i use quite a bit is the scale keys tool w/ the pivot (yes, basic, i know). soooo critical for frame rate conversions.

also basic math in the channel box (±*/ = #.###).

#435

Slide Edge Tool helps to move edges around tha face but doesn`t alter the geometry. (just on polygons).

#436

sorry if someone already post this :slight_smile:
i find it quite easy to select edge , vertex and face , UV with these hot key :

a) Shift + double LMB click select edge loop , whole continuous surface group or whole vertex group.
b) Shift + single LMB click on one edge/face then double LMB click on another edge to select continuous edge .
c) select one vertext , edge or face then do shift + > or < . grow or shrink your selection.
d) Ctrl F9,10,11,12 to convert selection to vertex,edge,face or UV.

also the soft selection and reflect option in tool attribute in maya 2009 is great :smiley: !!
it save me all the time to cut the model in half again to do some tweaking.
hope this would help :wink:

#437

Please help me install this, i think its so compilcated for an install. so i put the JC folder in my scripts dir. and then the Maya Env in my Maya 2009 dir. Then what?

#438

Im getting this error.

Error: name ‘jc’ is not defined

#439

You should have forgotten copying userSetup.py to your scripts directory. It’s outside the jc folder.

#440

Hello, thanks for the reply. But the userSetup is already in the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2009\scripts folder. And i didnt have a previous copy of that file. so i dont think i need to change anything. What about the other files nCache2BIN and testMenu, do they also go in the scripts folder?

Thank you very much. I cant wait to use your program