Some Nice links for Maya API development

[meta4]

Hi,

When I felt that for some serious development, you just can't rely on MEL only, for that you need API control,

But there isn't much information on Maya API as there is on MEL,

I found some links which may be helpful,

http://www.robthebloke.org/
http://www.urdalen.com/blog/

and there are some on Highend3d.com also,


enjoy all developers,
and dont forget to share if you find some related information,



cheers:)

[iluvblender]

Dude, thanks a lot for the links. Anyone using the Python API for Maya 8 and above? I use python for writing scripts in Blender and am planning to try Python and Maya!!!!

[meta4]

hi,

I just started learning python, but still not decided to go for it or not,

there are some reasons,

1. Most of the work in Maya can be done by MEL

2. what is not possible in MEL, then you have 2 option in 8.5
Maya API in C++ or Maya API in Python

now learning c++ will be very tiresome, but it pays in long run,
I mean for a developer like me, i feel giving time to it now will pay off after 1 year ,

and plugin developed in C++ API will be much faster that anything else,


and for other pipeline scripts , PERL is the industry standard as if now,


so lets see and wait for a great advantage of using Python,

as far as learning goes, Python is very easy and within 2-3 days you will adapt it and start writing full fledge programs,

those interested in pipeline scripting through PERL ,
check this out,

http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~svhwan/prodScript/ (http://alumnus.caltech.edu/%7Esvhwan/prodScript/)


and learning little bit DOS - Batch file programming will be helpful too,

:)

[iluvblender]

Hello Meta.

I have limited knowledge of MEL and am more comfortable with Python/C/C++ and Perl which I use at work.

Now regarding MEL, Python usage, i feel that for writing simple scripts MEL is fine, but for writing complex scripts, python language features might be helpful. You could define python interfaces for scripting and then implement task specific scripts that implement those interfaces.

I was wondering if MEL has features for implementing Classes and such? Also thanks for the perl link.

Greetings,
Satish.

P.S.

I have some python scripts that i am working on on my website. You are welcome to check them out. Right now i am working on developing OpenGL HUD based interfaces for blender using Python.

[meta4]

Hi Satish,

there is no way to implement classes in MEL, because its a scripting language, not full fledge programming language,

but its a very good language, and almost all the tasks we are achieving through MEL only,
but when you need task like exporter or new shader or new primitive, then only MEL is not enough,

so in my suggestion you learn Maya Architecture from ground level, then you will very easily adapt MEL,

:)

[iluvblender]

Hello Meta.

Thanks for the info about MEL. I will surely look into the Maya architecture.

Greetings,
Satish.

[ammorphius]

Ahhh, so there is a CGI programming section here....cool!!!

Satish, let me just save you tons of time figuring out Maya's architecture because beneath all of that jazz, there are just two simple concepts -

1. the ability to parent an object to another
2. the ability to connect the attributes of one node to another

If you like hard core computer science, you could also go ahead and read about the Directed Acyclic Graph(DAG) nodes and DAG evaluation.

And about MEL and object oriented stuff, who says you can't have classes in MEL? If you think a little, and discover nodes and attributes, its a piece of cake to implement in MEL :)

[chapter]

Hi, pipeline developer here. I just wanted to respond to the comment about perl being the industry standard for pipeline development. I've written pipeline code in both perl and python and as a professional I can tell you that there is no reason you would want to use perl for developing a Maya pipeline now that python is integrated into maya.
Even if you had perl modules you needed to access you could use the pyperl module for python to make calls to perl when necessary.

Go with python if you are developing for Maya.

[meta4]

Hi, ammorphius,

thanks for simplifying the concept of Maya Architecture,

about object and classes,
there are ways of implementing OOP in MEL , but as I said "you have to go thru ways",

like in C++ or Python , we do not have any facility of making classes with private and public data and functions.

actually if you look deep down, MEL is Maya and Maya is MEL,
off course Maya is object oriented, the node based architecture shows it,

but MEL is just a way of automizing and simplifying complecated tasks in Maya,

if you cant do something in Maya, you cant do with MEL as well,
thats where we call for API, where you extend Maya beyond what it provides,

Maya has two APIs now, Maya API , which is original C++ API,
and new one Maya/Python API,

only difference is language, other than that you can access all classes and functions and DG Hierarchy of Maya through API.

for further look into API , plz have a look to White papers from Autodesk
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=9469002


Hope these helps , somewhere,

:)
Vishang Shah

[kailash_rohra_22]

Hi,
I am kailash, working as a rigging artist, I have a basic knowledge of c++ and i want to mel cause it is very useful in rigging can anyone tell me some links to improve my programming.
thank u..