Updates

So I've been updating things silently, and realized it'd be best if I post what and when I update on this blog. Here's some recent things:

boUtilities 2.2:
  Added new utils!:
    Lock File Texture Paths
    Unlock File Texture Paths
    Find PSDs
    Find Multi-Shader Geo
    Render Stats
    Z Depth Shader
    nCloth Preroll Utility
  Changed the layed to be tabbed, for space reasons (it was growing)
  Separated some larger utilities into companion scripts (currently 6)
    Check the description for all required/companion mel scripts

Triggers 1.3.9:
  Referenced objects can now be trigger objects
  Mac compatible

Ghosting 1.5
  Selected time range is used to create multiple ghosts at once
  Selected keys are also used
    (ghosts are created at each selected keyframes time)

As always, updates are available on my scripts site!

Z Depth with Maya and Nuke

So large environments just don't look right without atmospheric depth, and z depth outputs are usually the easiest way to get such an effect. I figured I'd make the whole process easier by automating the creation of z depth shaders in a scene.

The shaders use samplerInfo nodes so they're compatible with pretty much any renderer in maya. The other advantage is that you get motion blur, depth of field, and the same antialiasing as the beauty passes rendered into the z output, so the results are very accurate. There are also a lot of nodes for tweaking falloff such as a remapValue and blendColors node, so you may want to look for them to get more precise control.

Anyhoo... with one button you'll be able to apply z depth shaders to all objects, while preserving displacement shaders as well as materials with transparency. Give it a try and let me know if it helps. I've also put together a 15 min tutorial on how to use it, as well as comping the outputs in nuke, so check it out!


bohdon.com/scripts

#1 Continued

So after more testing with the whole pound one thing (#1) I've discovered that its use goes far beyond checkboxes. In fact I think every GUI control can use it, from floatSliderGrps to textFields. It simply returns that control's value (usually the -v flag). So for instance you can use a floatSliderGrp to change an attribute by making the -dc or -cc flags "setAttr someObject.someAttr #1". Here's a really simple example that you can run in the script editor.

window;
columnLayout;
textField -cc "print #1";
showWindow;

boSliders

So I haven't had much time to write obviously, but I wanted to get this one out there. I'm sure there are tons of methods of creating a facial rig, but the method I'm most familiar with is Jason Osipa's blendshape and slider setup. boSliders is a nice tool for quickly making sliders and quickly setting them up. It's main purpose was speed, so I designed it to use marking menus to make things quicker. Feel free to grab it off my scripts site and give it a try! There's a small amount of documentation (mostly unfinished) found at bohdon.com/scripts/docs. The one thing I was sure to finish is the explanation of the major Corner Interpolation types and how their useful. I'll get to finishing it sooner or later, but in the meantime just know that everything is in the right click menus. There's a lot of features, so just try to poke around.

You'll need boRightClickManager to use the script too, so grab that if you haven't!

boRandomizer 1.1

So I realized that the channel randomizer in this script was only grabbing the main attributes (attributes directly on the object that is selected). I've modified it so that you can select attributes in the channel box from both the main object, shape, inputs and outputs. This is mainly so I can easily randomize values for things like blendShapes and poly operations... update's available on bohdon.com/scripts

Multi Blend Slider 2.1

Just updated the multi blend slider tool (part of boBlendShapes.mel) so that it works on both multiple targets and multiple bases (it also works if you select the actual blend shape nodes). I also changed the little marking menu to buttons, so you can easily click 0, .333, .5, .666, and 1. Anyhoo! Enjoy.

Notepad ++ Mel Language

So I've gone through many text editors, and although Komodo is pretty much my favorite, Notepad ++ is undeniably quick and lite, and extremely easy to install on a usb flash drive. Writing User Defined Languages in Notepad ++ is extremely simple as I recently found out, so I decided to edit the 1.0.1 mel udl that has been floating around (on highend and other places).

I've added back quotes (`) as string delimiters, as well as signifying words that start with $ as variables (so you can easily find them!). I've also changed the default color scheme to something a little easier on the eyes and more appealing. Apparently there's no way to fix (enable) escaped string characters, so that's still a present glitch ("hello \"world\"!" is syntactically highlighted as two strings, not one).

Anyway, feel free to grab the plugin. If you have the most recent version of Notepad ++ you can also now grab my styles definition (the darker colored syntax highlighting seen below).

The insertExt.ini and userDefineLang.xml should go in the applications data folder which is usually in user/AppData or something similar. If you've installed npp on a flash drive, then chances are the app data folder is the Notepad ++ folder. The mel.xml goes in plugins, or plugins/APIs. Also, if you grab the Bo Style version, you'll need to put the Bo Style.xml in the themes folder, and choose it with the style configurator (Settings > Style Configurator), you should also enable global background color.

Enjoy.