The MEL Companion: Maya Scripting for 3D Artists (Charles River Media Graphics)

C

Callbacks, 384-385, 386, 388, 391-395

Cameras

in blend shape animation, 371, 375

in cubic reflection maps, 236, 238-242

Carriage return (\r), 44

Cartesian space, 15-26. See also Vectors

CD-ROM use and system requirements, 453

Charles River Media Web resources, 455

Checkbox controls, 294-295

Checkboxes on custom menus , 347

Closing files, 413

Color Index Slider Group control, 293

Color Slider Group control, 293

Column layout, 275-276, 277, 376-377

Combining faces, 96-97

Command Feedback area, 30, 31

Command Line, 30-31, 126

Command Shell, 31-32

Commands

arguments, 35-36, 38

echoing, 32-33

entering on Command Line, 30-31

flags, 35-36, 95

grouping, 46, 60-61, 64

help with, 35

improving readability of, 36, 38

issued from custom menu items, 348

MEL command, 34-39

modality of, 36-38

nesting, 61

options, 34

return value, 49

semicolon (;) used in, 38

standard format for, 38

Comments in scripts, 77-78

Comparison operators, 54-56

Conditional operators, 54-55

Conditional statements

based on user input, 156-157

types of, 52-56

Conditions

for script jobs, 178-180

for script nodes, 263-264

Confirm dialog, 272-273, 311

Context sensitive Marking menu for joints, 364-367

Continue statements and flow control, 63-64

Controls

for blend shape animation UI, 377

buttons , 296-297

checkboxes, 294-295

Color Index Slider Group, 293

Color Slider Group, 293

Density slider, 326-327

field types, 289-291

Float Slider Group, 289

Float Slider, 289

Grass Style and Detail pull-down controls, 325-326

groups, 291, 293

Image control, 297, 299

layer buttons, 297

for Light window tool, 316-317

Name Group, 292

naming, 305-306

placement, 302-305

radio buttons and radio collection, 294, 295-296

Scroll Field, 292

scrolls , 292-294

Separator control, 297, 299-302

sliders, 292-294

symbol buttons, 296

templates, 307-309

Text control, 290, 297-299, 332-334, 358

Text Scroll List, 293-294

Conversion of data, 47-48, 155, 440. See also Precision

Co-ordinates

of polygonal vertices, 89-91, 95-96

vector mathematics, 15-26. See also Vectors

Cosine function, 13-14

Create mode of commands, 36-38

Create Polygon tool, 92

Cross product of vectors, 25, 50

Cubes, 86

Cubic reflection maps

building system command string, 246

cameras, 236, 238-242

capturing name of rendered file, 244

cleaning up nodes, 246

declaration of global procedure, 237

definition and design, 232-234

filename and path , 245

finding center of object bounding box, 241

flowchart, 234

hiding object by setting visibility attribute, 243

implementation, 237-247

issuing renders , 243

parsing through selection list, 237-238

project overview, 232

reflective materials, 235

research and development, 234-236

script review, 248-251

setting resolution and aspect ratio, 242-243

tokenizing file path, 244-245

using escape (\) character, 244-246

Curly braces ({}) and command groups, 60-61

Curvature settings, 111

Cycling tool

constantly monitoring keyframes, 183

definition and design, 172-174

determining validity of animation curves, 187

editing keyframe data, 200-203

finding current frame, 176

finding length of animation, 174-175

finding selected animation curves, 182-183

finding selection list, 181

finding whether curve is set to cycle, 185-186

flowcharts, 173

global variables and time check, 175-176

graph editor, keyframes selected in, 184-185

implementation, 174-203

job number, 179

keeping time in cycle range, 176-177, 179

killing script jobs, 194-196

prepare data to be edited, 199-200

preventing script from entering loops , 199

procedure to find selected curves, 183

procedure to start, 177-178

project overview, 172

proxy script, 193-194

re-gather data each time selection changes, 192-193

research and development, 174

results and keyframe selection, 181-182

script review, 203-216

set three cycles in timeline, 177

storing identities in global variables, 179-180

token matrix and animation curve data, 188-192

tokenizing stored data, 188, 197-199

tracing user-modifications to curves, 196-197

updating master tool procedure, 183-184

updating multiple procedures, 194

using script jobs, 174, 178-180, 183, 193-194