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

Maya - Writing Creature Deformers tutorial

One of the first tutorials for making Maya deformer plugins was no more available anywhere. Now found at this link by community.

Maya Techniques - Writing Creature Deformers (2006)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TFNPfEHZYhlMS7Yf-I4fWfciWwKjhCWI/view?usp=sharing

WASD arrows switch / remap keyboard problem

If you suddenly cannot type A, W, S, D on your keyboard, maybe these keys were actually remapped to arrow keys. This could happen during playing a game.

Most keyboard can fix this if you press [Fn] key and then [w] key holding both pressed. This should switch the mapping of the keys back to letters and arrows.

More in this video here:

ALSO read:

Windows key not working

This can also happen. And I managed to sort it by pressing [Fn] key and then [Windows] key.

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

FORGERAPP - nice app for 3d sculpting on iPhone / iPad

 I`m not a modeller, but rigging is very close so this was interesting to see and some cool results from people using this FORGER App.
This demo was done by Alex Huguet. 
The application website:
https://forgerapp.com

Rookies - Introduction to work in VFX

Great FREE to download document - I really recommend for schools, students, 3d animation beginners, people who work in production for VFX and animation.
This was done by the team at ROOKIES.

Download the book:
https://discover.therookies.co/beginners-guide-to-visual-effects-free-ebook/

Here is also link to similar info on Rookies website:
https://discover.therookies.co/2019/05/06/beginners-guide-to-becoming-a-visual-effects-vfx-artist/

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]

Windows 10 files sharing

Sometimes this can be a challenge, how to easily share files with Windows 10 between PC computers on a local network.

Recently HOMEGROUP sharing system was removed and here is few tips about current way of sharing files and folders:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4027674/windows-10-share-files-in-file-explorer

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.

Online text tools for programming

This one is quite handy - for removing line breaks or empty spaces:
http://removelinebreaks.net/

 And this one:
https://codebeautify.org/remove-line-breaks

 

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

 

Skype login problem on Windows 10

Recently I had some problem with signing in to Skype on Windows10. Here is a way to solve the problem, it worked for me.
Basically you make sure first Skype is not running (exit app, remove from Start apps list, restart PC). Then this tutorial will guide you how to disable or delete your user cache saved in Skype app folder. There is some bug with not deleting some lock file, so you get rid of it this way. Then Skype starts clean from scratch. More on thi link:
https://www.kunal-chowdhury.com/2013/04/solution-unable-to-open-skype.html

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

Weeds short animated film

Nice animated Weeds short directed by Kevin Hudson. A flower is the main hero here :) Also really good rigging by Disney Rigging TDs.
https://www.weedsshort.com/

WEEDS_h264 from Kevin Hudson on Vimeo.

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.