Getting Maya version - it might be confusing, the return value is unicode (sort of string). So for comparing version, it's ideal to convert to INT first.

import maya.cmds as mc

mayaVersion = int( mc.about(v=True) )

if mayaVersion > 2020:

dosomething()

Maya 2022 - missing deformer set

 Interesting post about Maya 2022 (2023 and higher version) and Deformer Sets:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/maya-animation-and-rigging/maya-2022-and-deformer-sets/td-p/10599169

Basically they were replaced by Component Tags, which means copyDeformerWeights command cannot normally work to copy weights.

But apparently there is a workaround:

Deformer sets are still supported (and I'm guessing they'll never actually go away for compatibility reasons).  You can switch back to them by disabling "Settings > Animation > Use component tags for deformation component subsets".  You can turn it back on when it's convenient to migrate over, and existing scenes should work regardless of what that's set to.

Little hint for Autodesk Maya to edit keyframe node values using keyframe command :

mc.keyframe('r_tread_jt_02_path_uValue',e=True,index=(0,0), floatChange=0.05)

mc.keyframe('r_tread_jt_02_path_uValue',e=True,index=(1,1), floatChange=1.1)

mc.keyframe('r_tread_jt_02_path_uValue',e=True,index=(0,0), valueChange=0.1)

mc.keyframe('r_tread_jt_02_path_uValue',e=True,index=(1,1), valueChange=2.5)

Maya Indie - global license is here

Maya Indie license - globally available from 7th August 2020!

Here is an example of Germany link

https://commerce.autodesk.com/de-DE/indie-cart?plc=MAYAIU

Alternalively use this main link:

https://makeanything.autodesk.com/maya-indie

Highlight Affected - Maya 2019

Maybe you were wondering why objects wireframe is not pink anymore in Maya 2019 - when this object is not directly selected but it is somehow affected by the selected object(s).

This is called Highlight Affected and is Off by default in Maya 2019. Also you cannot turn it back On in Preferences anymore. This feature was also moved under new menu:

Display > Animation > Highlight Affected

Maya - get FramesPerSecond setting by script

Here is small script snippet to get Maya settinsg for Frames Per Second playback settings. This is actually not straightforward.

Here is example how to get this in python:

import maya.cmds as mc

framesRateInSecondStr = mc.currentUnit( q = True, time = True )
    framesRateInSecondOptions = { 'game':15, 'film':24, 'pal':25, 'ntsc':30, 'show':48, 'palf':50, 'ntscf':60 }
    if 'fps' in framesRateInSecondStr:
       
        fpsStr = framesRateInSecondStr.replace( 'fps', '' )
        framesRateInSecond = float( fpsStr )
       
    else:
       
        framesRateInSecond = framesRateInSecondOptions[framesRateInSecondStr]

global hotkey in Maya

Here is some nice work with Maya UI environment and python scripting. Forward this useful tutorial from bindpose.com here:

https://bindpose.com/custom-global-hotkey-maya/

Latest tip for converting PySide ui Qt user interface code to python

Here is one way recommended for Autodesk Maya 2018 to convert your PyQt ui files to python class code:
http://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2018/ENU/?guid=GUID-FAD0F6CC-15D0-4489-9372-028146B70F49

Here is also tips for using PySide in Maya 2017:
http://help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-0617A132-1B57-474F-A656-6E71A002CA28.htm

Face capture in mobile phone

This is great and I hope more mobiles will come with this technology:
http://www.bannaflak.com/face-cap/index.html

You can capture face performance with pretty good quality using iPhoneX and export is supported for applications like Maya, Blender, Cinema4D or Houdini.

Custom Character Toolkit for download

Great tutorial on building simple rigging pipeline is available here. Long lost, no more available to buy anywhere now available at this link.

Maya - Custom Character Toolkit (2004)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t2x5C7NKr10we_r5AHwGh_f4HoRZFX7V/view?usp=sharing

 

Deformation layering in GPU friendly way

Here is cool article about deformation layering in Maya in GPU friendly way:
https://medium.com/@charles_76959/deformation-layering-in-mayas-parallel-gpu-world-15c2e3d66d82

Maya joint rotation evaluation problem - solved

This is mainly for Rigging TDs. Maybe you have noticed this before - connection to a joint rotations is not evaluating.

I have made 3-channel connection (XYZ) from joint to another joint. It was completely ignoring one axis when rotating on driven joint. But only when joints where hidden (visibility hidden). If the joints where visible or only hidden using Model display Show > Joints, then it would evaluate all 3 axis.

So I have connected the joint using per-axis connections:
rotationX -> rotationX
rotationY -> rotationY
rotationZ -> rotationZ

And then it started to work again. So in case you have this problem, this might be a workaround.

 

Advanced Rig Deformation Tutorial

Advanced Rigging Deformation tutorial is quick demonstration of advanced Maya rig deformation techniques to help riggers get started with more realistic setups.

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Qt Creator IDE - Qt Designer for Windows

In case you need to use Qt Designer for Windows and you just use it occasionaly or cannot invest too much, you can use Open Source version. This can be downloaded from here (choose OpenSource):
https://info.qt.io/download-qt-for-application-development
or here:
http://download.cnet.com/Qt-Creator-IDE/3000-2212_4-75300653.html
Then if you are just starting to learn this tool and Design tab is greyed out, make sure that you select the *.ui file from the files dropdown in Edit mode, usualy its mainwindow.ui. Then the Design mode should become active and you can start easy visual creation of the GUI.

Maya channelBox in-line math operations

I wanted to make a post about this common technique, that not every TD in Maya knows. Especially the new ones who maybe switched from XSI or 3ds max.

How can make relative proportional change of one attribute value for multiple selected objects in Channel Box.


Imagine you have bunch of locators on one side, all different position, and you want to make duplicated locators on opposite side across some axis, let`s say world X.
So you duplicate them first and with the duplicated locators selected, you can now click select the TranslateX channel number field ( make sure its the number field, not the name) and now type:

*=-1

This simple formula will multiply each selected locator TranslateX value. And the effect will be moving them to the opposite side.

You can read more here at this post by Asephei.
http://asephei.blogspot.cz/2011/03/maya-numeric-expressions-in-channel-box.html

Maya python UI passing argument in command

Here is example of Maya UI code in case you need to build in a command to UI element which passes an argument.
More about this technique here:
http://download.autodesk.com/us/maya/2011help/pymel/ui.html

Note - this is all one function myUI(), where buttonPressed is function defined inside that function. It doesn`t have to be, but this way it is localised and only visible to the UI function.

import maya.cmds as mc

def myUI():

    def buttonPressed(name):
        print "pressed %s!" % name

    win = mc.window(title="My Window")
    layout = mc.columnLayout()
    btn = mc.button( command = lambda *args: buttonPressed('chad') )

    showWindow()

Battleborn rigging interview

Really cool interview with Ryan Metcalf about rigging for Gearbox latest game Battleborn.
http://area.autodesk.com/customer-stories/gamedev-ep-26---ryan-metcalf?src=fbad

Maya 2017 Pose Editor script tweak

If you worked with Pose Editor in Maya 2017 there is a chance you got an error when using Add Pose function.

In case your mesh shape was the same like its transform parent. For example transform: "body_geo" has shape: "body_geo". Maya will get clashing name problem when using duplicated shape which gets created for Pose Shape. Because duplicate command does not return long names.

If you want to prevent this to happen, just edit the duplicate command in file:

Maya2017/plug-ins/camd/scriptsposeInterpolatorAddShapePose.mel

add -rc flag to duplicate command on line 19 like this:

string $copyMesh[] = `duplicate -rc $longName`;

This is renameChildren flag which makes sure that new DAG nodes will have unique names. The whole edited file is also available for download on this link:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7o5K0aCMVWPdURJMkdYOXpROFE

Free Animation Tools

I just got couple of tips for some great Maya animation tools. And it`s even better because they are FREE ;)

http://www.studiolibrary.com/

http://camiloalan.wixsite.com/atoolswebsite

Fish rig in Maya tutorial

Here is nice fish rig tutorial in Maya: