Maximize Viewport Toggle in Maya just like in MAX or XSI

#1

I expect to achieve in Maya to have an overlook of “Four View” when I load my scene or model/object THEN decide which viewport I wanna maximize. Repeat this during modeling - this was my favorite workflow. Artist leaning back, taking a look of the creation from afar, in “Four View”, deciding, from which side is best to continue work then maximizing the chosen viewport by hovering the mouse - or Wacom Pen - over it - pressing the favorite hotkey -, so continuing with the modeling work.

AIM:
Create a CUSTOM HOTKEY for maximizing any viewport - like we have in MAX or XSI - without having to endure the Blasphemous Horrific Visage of the Hotbox Menu Thrice Cursed…

Four View = Strategic High Command Overlook to decide in which viewport I deign to descend while hovering the mouse cursor over any viewport and pressing My Most Delightful Favorite Shortcut WHICH IS NOT SPACE ((dispatched Time Assassin to disintegrate the poor human wretch inventing “The Maya Hotbox Abomination”)) - (((The Flying Spaghetti Monster Be Thrice Blessed ))) - and Voilá! I’m now in my intensely beloved maximized Ortho, Top, Front, Side, Back or Persp viewport! And Back Again…

To the horror of an XSI/MAX user:
Finding this ugly hotbox thingy in Maya - much despised -, finding that all maya users are repeating it as mantra and their scheme of thoughts forever revoling around this “hotbox”. Their minds enslaved by this Abomination from Outer Space. I loathe the Maya space quick command views…

Amazing XSI had this superb functionality, beloved 3dsMax too. But since Autodesk beheaded XSI on their chop-chop square and is now in the process of fervently gutting dear old 3dsMax too and since they are in the process of paying the best engineers to Steal any “Supreme 3rd Party 3D Modeling Software Feature” and assimilate it into Maya 2018 like The BORG… … Emperor forgive me … I didn’t have any choice left, but to check out What’s New in Maya 2018.1.2.3 on YT and become a horrified witness at how Autodesk Withers every tree, but leave only Maya alive. So I began a full transition from XSI into (((much despised and thrice cursed))) Maya, The Enemy Mine!! Remember, how people were fleeing to XSI 7.0 from Maya – at that time hailing XSI 7.0 being light-years ahead of Maya… that was then? How the corporate Psychopaths changed the direction of this Mass Migration now!

[b]Question to XSI and MAX users transiting to Maya 2018:

  • NOBODY??! NOBODY DID CREATE A CUSTOM MAXIMIZE VIEWPORT COMMAND WE HAD IN MAX OR XSI BUT FOR MAYA IN MEL or PY SCRIPT SO FAR!!! For Christs sake… …

[/b]I had to scour Maya MEL boards, forums, locally installed Help, online help, MEL Command Reference, flip through the bestseller Maya books for the keywords like toggle, maximize, setNamedPanelLayout, etc… maybe a query for PanelLayout??
- Can we Pretty Please With Cherries On Top get a simply MEL QUERY if the viewport is maximized or not please?

  • No? No? ----> assign MEL COMMAND: Begin To Weep;
    Nowhere… nothing… collapsing in despair… shaking head about the mindlessness of Maya software engineers…

I only found complex, arcane, obscure scripts with abbreviated switches for various toggle purposes (very hard to understand without beginning to learn scripting which as an artist JUST looking for a simple friggin’ toggle-command I don’t want to, thanks no thx), then I

** found more understandable simple scripts to load all existing modelPanels into an array then switch-select one and call it victory to have successfully switched to perspective from “Four View” and back … IT IS NOT A VICTORY!!. Its a shameful and weak defeat… :frowning: I also didn’t find a nice solution for a friggin’ simple maximize in PY … But in the meantime I watched “The Witch of Hotbox” Burn on a Big fire, deleting the space hotbox abomination from my mind and preferably out of All Existence…

SOLUTION:

Maya 2018

Ladies and Gentlemen! Please Allow me to present a clean & beautiful, fully functioning MAYA MEL SCRIPT, allowing you to simply do just that: MAX - XSI style Viewport Maximize feature!! You can put it onto a Hotkey, or on your shelf, etc…

How to Install: :-]

  1. Open Windows—Settings–Hotkey Editor
  2. Look at the Top Right Side
  3. Spot keyboard and look at the next TAB saying Runtime Command Editor click that
  4. NEW
  5. Write a fitting Name and Description
  6. Language MEL
  7. Write in the big empty box below saying: Enter your command/string(s) here
  8. these three lines below:

ShowHotbox;
HideHotbox;
hotBox -release;

  1. Click the button at the bottom right saying Save RunTime Command
  2. Look at the left of Hotkey Editor, Edit Hotkeys For select Custom Scripts
  3. See your just created Custom Script there
  4. Select it with LMB and it asks for your Favorite Hotkey for MAXIMIZE VIEWPORT TOGGLE

THANK YOU FOR NOBODY REALIZING THIS WORKS… its always good to research to Maximize learning and fight for what you want…

#2

Coming from xsi and i like the maya way much more… Ctrl + space and all is fine…

#3

man all this post; you are blowing hot air here.
Not using marking menus you are simply missing the whole point. It’s much faster and less clicky than max, having contextual tools right where your mouse is especially on big screens is just perfect. You don’t have to travel the hole screen.

now as oglu said you have ctrl+space for the full sreen,
and for switching views you don’t have to hit space hover your mouse on the other view and hit space again, you can simply quickly hit space and right click right/left/top etc to quickly switch the view in a matter of milliseconds

#4

Watching newcomers throw tantrums about their other software is the reason I keep visiting CGTalk. Solid gold, here!

What a strange thing to get worked up about, though. For me, Rhino starts in 4-pane view, and Maya doesn’t, but I never even thought about it once. It takes .03 seconds to switch so this just never seemed like a problem?

#5

I had used Lightwave, 3DsMax, Softimage, and Maya to finish payed gigs over the last two decades plus.

Though Softimage holds a very special place in my heart due to certain elegant design coherency I still hold Maya as my favorite application.

Hotbox isn’t quite as used as much as my own custom marking menus and of course the context sensitive marking menus based on selection.
Quite honestly the May9 workflow is even better than Maya out of the box and I do wish Maya would incorporate more of this kind of workflow natively but…
…may9 will do for now.

The whole hotbox itself is a smidge clunky compared to direct modeling marking menus (shift+click selection sensitive) or custom marking menus but still finds its way here and there into my daily routines.
Yet fully less clicky than Max, Lightwave, C4d etc.

#6

I watched the may9 youtube videos and it looks amazing!

Thanks for sharing! :slight_smile:

#7

what a odd thing to say… :slight_smile: