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.

boRandomizer 1.0

I've come across a few situations in which I really wanted a nice randomizer, on both an object level and component level. It helps you add some imperfections to your models when needed, and it's great when you've got a ton of objects to lay out, like leaves or grass. Anyway... I made this cool GUI for randomizing just about anything. It also lets you select attributes in the channel box, and randomize their values (useful for randomizing colors and other non-transformational attributes). It works across multiple objects and you can sync nodes/channels etc. To access a bunch of other options, right click on the Translate, Rotate, Scale, or Randomize buttons and you'll see a marking menu including options for X, Y, Z, rounding values, uniform scaling, absolute/relative, world/local/object (and gimbal for rotations). So check it out, it's handy.

Marking Menu Checkboxes and #1

So it's not difficult to realize that trying to learn the finer things about mel is like trying to learn about a language that doesn't even exist. The strange part about this, however, is that every once in a while you come across something implemented by Autodesk, which is seemingly documented nowhere. The even more difficult part about some of these situations, is that due to the wonderfully symbol-filled world of programming, trying to google "#1" is identical to trying to google "1". I'm not really sure what the functionality of the pound symbol is in other programming languages, and maybe that would've helped, but... Anyway, here is a neat feature in mel, of which I couldn't find information about anywhere on the internet. What I know about it is pretty much just from trial and error.

The #1 (pound 1) option is basically the future value of a menuItem's checkbox. So let's say you are in a marking menu with a checkbox called Happy (currently unchecked). If the -command (-c) of happy was "print #1", selecting Happy would output "1" in the script editor (which is now the value of the checkbox). The next time you select Happy (currently checked) the output would be 0 (now unchecked). So the usefulness of this comes in toggling one or more options with a checkbox item.

So let's take the example of toggling the selection mask of polys.
Instead of having to do something like...

menuItem
-l "Toggle Poly Mask"
-c "selectPref -polymesh (!`selectPref -q -polymesh`)"
-checkBox (`selectType -q -polymesh`);

you could simply use

menuItem
-l "Toggle Poly Mask"
-c "selectPref -polymesh #1"
-checkBox (`selectType -q -polymesh`);

Sure not a huge change with only one option, but it definitely came in handy when I was changing about 14 options at once. Trying to use #1 in any other situation but a checkbox command will return a syntax error (you can use it in menuItem checkboxes or even regular checkboxes), so you'd have to use the not (!) technique in such situations. Anyway, putting this out there because it's always nice to have quick answers to quick questions.

Transform Tool Hotkeys for 2009

So I recently discovered that maya 2009 changed the functions of the w, e, and r hotkeys. They're still move, rotate, and scale of course, but a more specific function has been changed.

So for example with the move tool. When you first select something, and the move tool is on, the axes will be green red blue, and the center square will be yellow (signifying that middle mouse will move in all three axes). If you click on the green arrow it turns yellow (signifying that now middle mouse will only move in that axis.) Well the difference is that in 2008 and before, pushing 'w' again would reset the constraints (turn the center square yellow again), but now it does nothing. So if you want to go back to middle mouse working in all three axes, you have to click on the center square. I'm so used to being able to hit w and regain my middle mouse functionality that I went ahead and wrote a script to fix it. It's a part of boWorkspace.mel (which doesn't really contain anything else right now), so you can grab it if you want. Don't forget this is just for 2009 users.

For the more interested, the dumb technique that I used to fix this is just making the w, e, and r hotkeys switch to the select tool, then immediately the move, rotate, or scale tool (respectively). There is a small possibility that somewhere someday you may want to get rid of that, so there's a button in my script for setting everything back to default.

Check out the video for a representation of what I'm talkin about.

boSmear 2.0 documentation

So I just finished the documentation for boSmear 2.0. It's available for anyone to read here:

http://www.bohdon.com/scripts/docs/boSmear_docs/

enjoy!