When I first heard that Maya 2009 would finally come with animation layer support, I thought there finally is a really good feature that many animators crave in their animation software. I recently been working on some simple tools working with animation but adding additional options for using layers. So far I am sort of let down by how the layers were implimented and how much of a headache it is to do common things with it. Just adding a couple layers to a single option creates this nasty web in the hypergraph which is hard to properly trace and sort the connections. The scripting functions for animation layers are weak and equally confusing. For example, you must select objects to add to the layer rather than in the command, pass along a list of object names. Copying and pasting keys from one object to another via copyKeys and pasteKeys comannds do not have options for specifying a layer. You must select the layer first before each operation, but there are still some catches. Personally, I would have completely changed how the layers work in Maya, but since like most new things Autodesk introduce are far from polished, I have to find work arounds to get the results I want.
I know this seems like a rant, and in a way it is. Maya is probably one of the best public animation software packages and it makes me wonder why they released this feature with limited support. I won’t hold my breathe for any complete rewrites, but I’m hoping maybe someone will write their own layering plugin and share it. This makes me seem I dislike Autodesk which is far from the truth, but this one of bigger things they added to the software in the animation side and it was kind of a let down.
I’ll try to post some of the information and tips soon for anyone else who is running into the same questions and confusion as I was as I haven’t found any resources online yet.
Anyone else want to share their thoughts, please leave a comment or contact me.
May
I was trying to think of a scripting related topic that would be useful to talk about and thought I should show my support toward PyMel. Maya’s python integration in my opinion falls short of what it should be. They blended syntax of object oriented programming with the procedural style of MEL. Which, for me, does not make any sense since there is no real advantage in using python except the ability to create and use other python modules. But luckily someone already decided to step up and develop a python package that is a lot closer to what Maya’s python should have been. Its name, of course is PyMel. Best of all its free and open source so you can download it and enjoy it for no cost.
I use to be a die hard MEL fan since I was working with it for so long, and when Maya added python support I didn’t see too big of an advantage but when I made the switch and was shown PyMel, I no longer use Maya’s native modules and instead I use PyMel’s. Sure there are still a few bugs and has not released an official ‘version 1′, but its already made my code easier and cleaner. It has also improved my knowledge of python by breaking down the code and understanding how it all works.
My thanks to everyone involved with developing it. I encourage anyone who is using Maya’s python to stop and give this a try and see what it can offer you and make your life easier.
May
Right now at ImageMovers Digital, everyone is working hard to get the the finish line of our first feature film, A Christmas Carol that is coming out in November. Disney has a great marketing team and is doing all sorts of interesting ways to spread the word about this film. Disney actually bought a train and is going to tour around the U.S. to show a preview of the film (in steroscopic 3D of course) and will be pulling several cars full of interesting things about the film.
So if you are in the area when the train arrives, stop by the train station and take a look. Unfortunately, I didn’t really work on this on film as I started on the next animation we are working on, but I have seen some really amazing work and very proud of our studio.
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/christmascaroltraintour/
May
Description: This is an advanced eye rig with lots of useful controls that may be handy with working with the eyes during animation. Some of the key features of this rig are:
- Two types of eye controls, Joystick and a “Look At” controller with blending between the two
- A “convergence” control to make the eyes cross inward
- Dynamic parent switching on the “Look At” controller
- Custom scripts that go along with this rig for instant, no blending, switching between the controls and also a instant switching with no blending for changing the parent on the “Look At” control.
The biggest thing about this rig is how easy it is to control where the eyes are looking and having the control to move them in however feel most comfortable.
Hello, and welcome to this tutorial of how to create a Maya set driven key inside MotionBuilder using a relation constraint. This will go through the steps and explain a little about how its done. This tutorial is aimed at intermediate MotionBuilder users who are familiar with some basic constraining and what a set driven key in Maya is and knows how to look at one in the graph editor.
Apr
So I have been thinking about my options on how I want to rebuild my site and how much time it will take. So I decided to go the short route and try out wordpress after hearing some good things about it. So far it seems really easy to add content and also switch out the themes easily without having to copy all the old content over each time. So we’ll see…
Stand by while I migrate my old work over to this new system and hopefully it will be more friendly and enjoyable to visit.