http://www.digital-opaque.net/maya/nermArmChain.zip
This is a script I made to setup arm chains. Right now you can only setup one left and one right arm (no support for multy-limbed characters or multy-character scenes).
The workflow was based on some tutorial I found on the crane-toad website (or something like that), however I not only use a shoulder setup but also a forearm setup.
This will be part if a little character toolbox I am developing. I hope you find it useful 
my favorite tool with Maya is the Pelt Mapping tool from highend3d.com. I bet everyone has that one though… but still it is my favorite tool.
Personally, i dont think that pelt mapping is that great. It’ll only make it harder for you to texture the model, unless your using a 3d painting software package.
i just found out you can middle click any camera in the outliner and drag it onto any wiewport to see through chosen camera in designated viewport.
Cool
yes, click-drag is very cool, there is a toggle script on highend3D, that also has an animated shelf button for this.
not a secret, but often forgotten: you can save and load Attribute Presets in every nodes AE. very useful for camera positions and as a replace for Trax poses (just save a preset for the character clips node)
Code:[left]{
int $v;
int $state =selectPref -query -clickDrag;if($state==0)
$v = 1;
else
$v = 0;selectPref -clickDrag $v;
}[/left]Thats the script I use to toggle drag select. You can improve it by adding a print statement after early $v=? entry. This will remind you after using the script what the current setting of drag-select is.
Doesn’t seem to work for me.:sad:
that script should work ok… anyway here’s a shorter version of supersteeve’s script 
selectPref -clickDrag (!selectPref -q -clickDrag);
write it down in the commandline and drag it to a shelf.
PS about clickDrag… just saw a tutorial in maya’s docs and wow, you can use click drag in conjuction with the softselection deformer to sculpt objects with one click, really great feature it’s burried somewhere, but here’s the direct link, in case you’re interested:thumbsup::
http://localhost:4449/Maya7.0/en_US/Deformers/example2modelingwithouthistory.html
Oh yes, they are working thanks…i was expecting it to update the click drag select check box in preferences.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3329/1874/1600/pretendo_gun.0.jpgIt’s the best secret weapon ever… dont tell nobody about it though… ode to Duck Hunt
p.s I’m not cool enough to have any real Maya secrets yet 
This is a mel script that will read your mind and create the model for you automatically.
Believe it or not, it works! :eek:
JK 
The real script:
You can use this one for indirect binding. Say you have a bunch of influences that you plan to use as wraps, and you don’t want to add them one by one to your skin. Select the skin and shift-select your deformers and run the script:
/*
nemCgmSkin.mel
Created: march 6 2006
Author: Sergio Ar377stides Rosa (nemirc)
[email="opaque@digital-opaque.net"]opaque@digital-opaque.net[/email]
Description:
This script adds any given number of influences to a selected "skin", using a Wrap Deformer. This can be used to add a muscle system to your character or any other kind of influence. The script will automatically create a Wrap Deformer node on your skin and then it will add all the influences to it.
To use:
Select the skin, shift select all your influence objects.
Dependents:
None
Disclaimer:
This script was created by Sergio Ar377stides Rosa and can be FREELY distributed.
*/
// Change the mouse cursor to be the hourglass, letting users know Maya is thinking.
waitCursor -state 1;
// Get the selected list of objects, with their full DAG path names.
string $nemMuscleSystem[] = `ls -sl -long -fl`;
select -r $nemMuscleSystem[0];
select -tgl $nemMuscleSystem[1];
doWrapArgList "3" { "1","0","0.1","1" };
// This variable represents what 'index' in the array we're working on durring the loop.
int $i = 2;
// This variable represents the total number of deformers in our system.
//int $z = size($nemMuscleSystem[])-2;
// For every index in the $nemMuscleSystem, execute this block of code:
for ($i; $i<(size($nemMuscleSystem)); $i ++)
{
select -r $nemMuscleSystem[0];
select -tgl $nemMuscleSystem[$i];
AddWrapInfluence;
}
// Clear selection
select -cl;
// Data reporting
print ( "Skin attached
" );
// Turn mouse back into the regular arrow pointer, letting the user know we're done.
waitCursor -state 0;
ifa menuitem has an option square,than you dont need to locate your mouse pointer to this square to open up menu’s option window.
just shift click the menuitem.it opens up its option window instead of executing its operation.
Everyone needs to use lattices more. It’s a daily source of vitamin C, will speed up your workflow and has been know to resist disease. A ‘complaint’ with lattices is that when you create them, they dont always line up how you want them too on your model. So in case you dont know this one…
To reposition a lattice:
If you want to reposition a lattice, create a lattice as you normally would. In the outliner, select the lattice and the baseLattice node right next to it. (ffd1Lattice and ffd1Base for example). With these TWO nodes selected, you can translate, rotate, scale your lattice into whatever position you want. It will not affect your model. When you are done, deselect the base and edit the lattice as usual.
Voila!
Why don’t you just duplicate your perspective-camera? If selecting it in the outliner and hitting Ctrl-d is too complicated, there would be a very small script for doing these two steps automatically.
Pelting tools by sunit.I use it all the time to lay out my uv’s to avoid too many seams.Check it out at http://www.sunitparekh.com
Hi everyone,
I am new to CGTalk and an avid maya user. My current version is maya 7.0 unlimited, and i wanted to comment on the topic starter “your favorite tool”. My favorite tools are the ocean shader+fluid effects together to create real time ocean scenes. I just think fluids in maya period are aw inspiring. They give limitless ability and endless application effectivity.
Here are a couple of examples, one is a banner intro i did for a client through my design company, the other is a clip view of a clip i did a few months ago.
(i know everybody uses .mov files but i have maya for windows and the only multi-frame option is avi. i havn’t found a good converter yet that will convert well without bugs.)
These are links to the banner, one is a .wmv file, the other is a .swf file.
http://www.revdesigns.net/postfiles/oc_support_vid.html
http://www.revdesigns.net/postfiles/ocean_ffsupport.html
This is the ocean clip veiw in raw .avi format.
http://www.revdesigns.net/postfiles/lost_at_sea.html
And these are just some old liquid logo’s i was playing with when i first got maya 7.
http://www.revdesigns.net/postfiles/liquid_logo.html
http://www.revdesigns.net/postfiles/liquidlogo.html
