What options are available for 2D to 3D stereo conversion and how do they measure up

2010-09-03T14:22:36Z

Can anyone give some first hand experience with any 2D 3D conversion technology or services?

How do they work? What's the quality like? How labour intensive are they? Are there any cool new emerging technologies on the horizon?

Thanks

Julian

How can I call a method on a python object through mel?

2010-06-30T08:56:58Z

Hi,

How to resolve this. 

Following error occurs from maya. I am doing the following in Filemenu.mel file. this runs at the startup.

python("import saveCentral_fromPath"); . . .

global proc runSaveCentral() {

python("saveCentral_fromPath.saveCentral()");
python("a._first_()");

}

. . . menuItem -label ("save Central") -en 1 -annotation ("publish : copy to central area") -command ("runSaveCentral()") publishItem;

# Error: file: S:/xxxxxxxx/scripts/maya/melTEST/FileMenu.mel line 64: class saveCentral_fromPath has no attribute 'saveCentral'
# Traceback (most recent call last):
#   File "<maya console>", line 1, in <module>
# AttributeError: class saveCentral_fromPath has no attribute 'saveCentral' #

Brgds,

kNish

Maya Python: find encoding for printing byte strings

2010-09-03T15:54:55Z

I'm struggling to get (or even set) the encoding used when a byte string is printed in the maya Script Editor.

I have discovered that sys.stdout has been assigned to maya.Output. This class doesn't have an encoding attribute.

From the tests I've done, I have found that maya 2011 is using cp1252 (which is my locale encoding) et maya 2009, ascii. Unfortunately, all the tests I've done to find the encoding used returns the same information in 2009 or 2011 (cp1252).

Here is a code sample to show my research:

import sys
import maya.cmds as mc 
try: 
    print "Stdout Encoding:", sys.stdout.encoding 
except AttributeError: 
    print "No stdout encoding" 
print "Default Encoding:", sys.getdefaultencoding() 
print "Filesystem Encoding:", sys.getfilesystemencoding() 
import locale 
print "Locale:" 
print locale.getpreferredencoding() 
print locale.getlocale() 
print locale.getdefaultlocale() 
print "Maya Locale:", mc.about(codeset=True) 
print "Non-ascii char conversion:" 
uni = u"\xe9"  # "é" character 
DEFAULT_ENCODING = "cp1252" 
try: 
    encoding = sys.stdout.encoding or DEFAULT_ENCODING 
except AttributeError: 
    encoding = DEFAULT_ENCODING 
print "encoding:", encoding 
bstr = unicode(uni).encode(encoding, "replace") 
print "repr:", repr(bstr) 
print "unicode:", uni 
try: 
    print "byte string:", bstr 
except UnicodeDecodeError, err: 
    print err

In Maya 2009 I have:

Stdout Encoding: No stdout encoding 
Default Encoding: ascii 
Filesystem Encoding: mbcs 
Locale: 
cp1252 
('fr_FR', 'cp1252') 
('fr_FR', 'cp1252')
Maya Locale: 1252 
Non-ascii char conversion: 
encoding: cp1252 
repr: '\xe9' 
unicode: é 
byte string:  'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 0: 
ordinal not in range(128)

In Maya2011:

Stdout Encoding: No stdout encoding 
Default Encoding: ascii 
Filesystem Encoding: mbcs 
Locale: 
cp1252 
('fr_FR', 'cp1252') 
('fr_FR', 'cp1252') 
Maya Locale: 1252
Non-ascii char conversion: 
encoding: cp1252 
repr: '\xe9' 
unicode: é 
byte string: é

As you can see last line of the two outputs, Maya 2011 looks to use cp1252 for encoding whereas Maya 2009 use ascii. - Why Maya 2009 and Maya 2011 behave differently? - How can I get the encoding used when printing? I.e. maya.Output encoding? - Is it possible to set the encoding? (I'd rather use utf8)

(I'm using maya2009 x64 SP1 and maya2011 x64 hotfix3) Many thanks!

How do you manage your projects planning?

2010-07-09T13:46:11Z

Hi. I'd like to ask a question that might seem a little bit off topic but I find it quite important. How do you manage you projects ? Let consider a situation of a small 3d departament, having 10 artist working on 2 or 3 projects simultaneously.What software you use to keep track of what everyone is doing ? I've been looking for a couple of project management tools but most of them are over-bloated and IT oriented (all those bug tracking stuff). I wanted to find something that works like a mixture of an interactive Gantt chart and a calendar but I've failed. Have you ever used something that allows to plan artists work, and gives ability so see a chart "how the projects is doing" or "how an artist is doing" ? Thanks in advance for any help.

How to create directable lightning?

2010-07-22T11:00:49Z

I need to create some directable lightning effects. Unfortunatly it has to be in 3d, so I cannot use afterEffects or other compositing solutions.

Any ideas?

Preventing Python Output for Python-Maya Standalone

2010-08-20T00:36:41Z

I am using python-maya standalone, and I want to prevent the stdout of maya commands when I run a maya command.

i.e. if I run, maya.cmds.file(open=True, "somefile.ma") I don't want to see any output about whether or not it opened successfully or not, or about what versions its using or what plugins it is calling. I just want it to open the file without any output to the terminal.

Is there a way to achieve that?

Render management software

2010-01-15T17:06:36Z

What render management software do people like, from both a cost and a user experience point of view?

How do you like the way they manage jobs, and how do you find them to administrate, as well as from a user's point of view?

How to get a camera in Maya from a Camera to World matrix?

2010-06-09T20:59:47Z

Here's the camera data taken from the LightStage knight's head data set (source http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Data/LightStage/)

#focal length
24745.1 24731.5
#principal point
1962.85 1167.7
#distortion coeffs
1.19791 2.1775 -0.0168257 -0.0151422

#camera tranformation matrix - Camera to World
0.99767 0.0598546 0.0327442 6.13211 
-0.0584816 0.99743 -0.0413955 -13.0434 
-0.0351378 0.0393841 0.998606 433.477 
0 0 0 1

So the main issue is the 4X4 matrix, although the focal length seems odd and ideas on using the principal point and the distortion coefficients would be welcome too.

I tried plugging the matrix into decomposeMatrix.mel

http://www.sigillarium.com/blog/lang/en/186/

but didn't get a camera that seemed usable, quite possibly because I'm still in the wrong coordinate system.

Any ideas?

how do i get a postage stamp on a gizmo or group

2010-07-20T08:03:52Z

how do i get a postage stamp on a gizmo or group in nuke

Make compound attributes visible in the Hypershade swatch

2010-06-09T16:15:42Z

Hello,

In some shaders, I want to create a RGBA output (it is for an external renderer which doesn't support multiple outputs). So I want a compound attribute named output with 4 elements : cr, cg, cb, and ca.

For now, I just want a compound output attribute named "output", with only one component : "alpha".

Here is what I did :

MFnNumericAttribute nAttr;
MFnCompoundAttribute    cAttr;

aOutAlpha = nAttr.create("ca", "ca", MFnNumericData::kFloat);
aOutput = cAttr.create("output", "out");
cAttr.addChild(aOutAlpha);
cAttr.setHidden(false);
cAttr.setReadable(true);
cAttr.setWritable(false);

addAttribute(aOutAlpha);
addAttribute(aOutput);

attributeAffects(aOutAlpha, aOutput);

I didn't report here the input stuff.

The outputs appear as they should in the connection editor, but when I click in the triangle in the swatch's bottom-right corner, there is no output.

Why wont openId allow me to login to my account?

2010-01-05T13:10:54Z

I can't log in to my account. The login page tells me "we haven't seen this openId before". What can I do?

Delete keyframe

2010-05-25T11:50:11Z

Hi all I would like to know the command in mel to be able to delete all the keyframe created by me. Thanks for the help

Breaking rope with Maya Hair

2010-02-19T21:29:28Z

Hi guys,

I'm trying to use maya hair to create some breaking ropes. I have 2 hairs that meet tip to tip. I have successfully managed to get the hairs to behave as one by constraining the tips to each other using a hair constraint.

The challenge I face is that a gap appears between the 2 tips as the hairs are stretched apart, regardless of stiffness and glue settings. The only constraint that seems to lock them together is the transform constraint, but this type of constraint creates a rigid section where the hairs meet, destroying the ropes motion.

Any maya hair guru's ( or hairy maya guru's) have any suggestions? ;-)

Cheers

Maya, Remove blendshape leaves, weight[#] space

2010-01-31T18:00:32Z

Can we get rid of this clutter....? After using 'remove blendshape'...blend targets are removed but are replaced with 'weight[#]'

Since I a new user I'm not allowed to insert images, Here's a link to what I'm describing. http://www.joel3d.com/images2010/RemoveBlenshapeProblem.jpg

component sets on custom MPxSurfaceShape derived nodes in Maya

2010-08-31T08:47:00Z

Hello, what functions do I need to implement / override in MPxSurfaceShape derived nodes to enable components to be put into sets? My desired workflow is

select custom shape
go into component mode
select components
use the "sets" mel/python cmd to create a set from the currently selected components

alternatively using the sets cmd directly with the current component selection (which I can query) would be acceptable, too

Thanks for any inside knowledge!

How to create nested attributes in Maya?

2010-03-15T21:01:11Z

There's satisfaction in figuring things out for oneself. But I've looked everywhere I can think of to find this solution. Here's an example of what I'm after:

node.attr1[0].attr2[33].attr3

Here's an example of Maya's execution:

tweak1.plist[0].controlPoint[33].xValue

If I get the attribute type of "plist", I get "TdataCompound". I've tried creating "attr1" as a compound type and I was able to parent multi-attribute children to it. But how do I create "attr1" as a multi-attribute?

I hope that makes sense.

Where is the face list on the polyExtrudeFace node in Maya?

2010-07-19T16:51:22Z

I thought it was handled through the groupParts node but when I ran the extrude tool, I just got the polyExtrudeFace node. So where are the faces kept? I want to be able to adjust my face list.

I recall a script on highend3d that did this. I might have to resort to finding that because I can't seem to find the face list. Any ideas on where the face list is stored?

Maya Hypershade interface is empty, why ?

2010-07-23T11:51:00Z

Most of the times when opening Maya, Hyperhsade´s interface is totally empty ,the only thing that displays is the main menu. One workaround is to source the "HypershadePanel.mel" from Maya then it loads the interface correctly.

Does anybody know why this is happening ?

Thanks, Alex.

What do you prefer to use for de-graining plates?

2010-02-26T15:32:22Z

It's something that there are a lot of options out there for, so it would be great to hear people's opinions on what they like to use for degraining plates, and what they've had the best experience with in the past....

Digital Asset managment software

2010-01-15T16:14:24Z

Hey All,

We are looking for asset manager software for out studio. Something that can track all assets, view thumbnails of that asset as well as being able to search for an asset based on tags.

I know about Canto Cumulus but this is pretty expensive and can do a lot more than we really need.

Does anyone no any others or can recommend anything?

Thanks,

Richard

How do I set per-particle field and emitter arttributes on nodes in namespaces in Maya?

2010-06-18T17:20:13Z

Greetings - I'm wondering if it is possible to use particle systems with namespaces. THe problem arises when using PP attributes that supply data to specific dynamic nodes...

Without namespacing everything works fine - We can specify a PP attribute to supply values to an associated emitter or field, as explained in the docs :
_{- User Guide > Dynamics and Effects > Dynamics > Fields > Work with fields > Work with per-particle field attributes

- User Guide > Dynamics and Effects > Dynamics > Particles > Work with emitters > Vary emission from different points of point emitters}

These techniques require that the PP attr name is formed from a maya emitter/field node name. SHould we wish to change the name of said field/emitter we can do so, also making sure to change the relevant 'nameFieldPP' attr on our particle shape _[1]

Finally, the problem: When using namespaces, our field/emitter name will be of the format "namespace:field" - It is not possible to name an attribute like that, so namespaced nodes become inacessible to these techniques :-(

(Furthermore, the fact that the add attibutes window fails when using a namespaced particleshape node indicates that the namespace/particle relationship has not even been considered by the developers. -sigh!- )

Am I missing something obvious here? If its an issue, can anyone suggest a workround?

cheers!
ciaran

[1] - We have to workround even this, as renameAttr doesnt work for particle Attrs.: Create a newly named attrPP, connect it, and delete the old one,

Particles to follow particles as goal

2010-05-06T22:24:57Z

What would be the fastest way to make particles to follow particles on goal. I tried expression and this works fine, but it is a bit slow with lots of particles. Normal goals work on particles, but due to uneven number, they change the goal they are aiming mid flight, which is something I don't want them to do.

Thanks

Als

Maya cloud particles popping when rendered...any solutions?

2010-05-20T05:36:16Z

I'm using an Overburn like setup. Using particle attributes to control fluid shader parameters and then rendering cloud particles. When motion blur is turned on, the particles will pop on and off. There's even a youTube video on this bug. It's been around forever. The popping is reduced a lot when motion blur is turned off. In fact, it looks like a very slight flicker. The problem is I have solid debris that I want motion-blurred through the cloud. The cloud, being cloudy doesn't really need to be motion-blurred.

How do I turn off motion blur on my particles? I've even tried over-sampling by 4 to try to address the motion blur issue. My latest thoughts are to cache my particles sampling at 1. Then manually copy the cache files to subframes around the cached frame so it will appear to Maya that the particles are still. I'll try this tomorrow. But I thought I'd put this up here to see if anyone has found a workaround for this problem.

Why are particle instances not at particle position in Maya?

2010-06-15T06:38:55Z

I've just noticed this in my Maya 2009 scene file. The particle instanced geometry is a frame behind the particle position. Has this always been the case? I've never had a problem with particle instancing before. I need to have this work because I'm also emitting a stream of particles and the instanced geometry and the stream don't line up.

Any ideas o workarounds?

(Windows) Set Maya playblast compression option in MEL

2010-06-18T02:13:14Z

Maya Version 2009 (though earlier and later solutions might work)

I've got a script which renders 10 smallish images using Playblast. For hundreds of animations. In Playblast using Avi, and Full Frames, it's up to 10 times faster than Maya HW render. So I want to stick with Playblast (and HW render has the same problem anyway).

Here's the problem: I can't figure out how to set the compression using MEL, System or anything else. If I use the Playblast -compression none setting, it has no effect.

This tool will be used by a large body of animators, and I can't rely on them to manually set the compression in Playblast, and when some other compression is used, it slows the Playblast down unacceptably.

When an animator selects the compression type, where is it stored? How can I access and change it? Can it be done through MEL? Can it be done through a Windows command? Can it be done in Python? I'm fluent in all of them, and I've found NOTHING on the web, as if I'm the first one to try something like this, which would be mind boggling if true.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Edit: I couldn't add a comment but I tried the first answer with no joy.

Sadly, this doesn't work. When I set it to "Cinepak", close, reopen, and set the optionVar as above, it is still set to Cinepak. When I close it and check the userPrefs.mel file, it says it is set to "none". When I use optionVar -q "playblastCompression"; as above, it says it is set to none, but when I render or check the Playblast options through the menu it is still set to Cinepak!

Setting Playblast options in Windows XP in Maya 2009 (which I'm stuck with for the project) seems to have no effect on the optionVar. At least when it comes to "playblastCompression".

I can do a Playblast, check it's format, it's in Cinepak codec, and the optionVar still says it is set to "none". Restart, check the optionVar, "none". Playblast...it's in Cinepak. Check the optionVar, and "playblastCompression" claims it is set to "none".

Rendering particles passes with 3Delight

2010-04-24T20:16:15Z

Hi, I'm rendering lot of point particles with 3Delight. Now I'm trying to render different passes, most of them don't work, like Z, or luminance depth. Is there any trick involved. I was also looking for the proper dust shader. Is ti possible to get occlusion pass at all? I have a shot I'm trying to achieve is a sand storm sand. I work long time with particles, but not with renderman, or such a number of particles. I also tried mental ray, but MR inside maya would die very soon. API 0.0 warn 302064: while defining userdata "particleShape1:ptdata": user data block has huge size 163636520 3Delight would render this in 14s. I don't have option to try standalone version of MR.

Thanks

Als

maya default camera options

2010-07-14T16:48:03Z

What would be the way to ensure each new camera has some default settings applied? Specifically gate settings. Probably possible with a scriptJob node, but maybe it's burried somewhere in files ? I can easily override menu commands, but this wont work with createNode or camera commands.

-Michal

Render Layers not working

2010-04-20T01:22:32Z

Maya 2009 SP1a x64 unlimited:

I can't seem to assign shader overrides. I created a simple scene with 4 spheres. I created a new renderlayer. I created a new shader. All this while in the masterLayer.

Then I selected my new renderlayer and 1 sphere. I tried to assign a shader override with my new shader. All the spheres get this override. Even using mel, I can't get around this problem. I've never had this behaviour before. But now I'm at a new facility and a new Linux box. And I've been going around this all day long.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

Add/Remove frameLayouts in a window using MEL

2010-04-20T20:22:23Z

How would one go about adding/removing frameLayouts from a window in MEL?

I have a window with "add" and "remove" buttons at the top, and I want the user to be able to add/remove frameLayouts in the area below the buttons as needed.

Is this difficult to do or is there a better way of doing this?

Nvidia settings in Mac OS X

2010-01-03T18:28:17Z

Is there any way of accessing Nvidia card controls under OsX ?. I want to set up a card for stereo/3d.

Top Questions - VFX Overflow

What options are available for 2D to 3D stereo conversion and how do they measure up

How can I call a method on a python object through mel?

Maya Python: find encoding for printing byte strings

How do you manage your projects planning?

How to create directable lightning?

Preventing Python Output for Python-Maya Standalone

Render management software

How to get a camera in Maya from a Camera to World matrix?

how do i get a postage stamp on a gizmo or group

Make compound attributes visible in the Hypershade swatch

Why wont openId allow me to login to my account?

Delete keyframe

Breaking rope with Maya Hair

Maya, Remove blendshape leaves, weight[#] space

component sets on custom MPxSurfaceShape derived nodes in Maya

How to create nested attributes in Maya?

Where is the face list on the polyExtrudeFace node in Maya?

Maya Hypershade interface is empty, why ?

What do you prefer to use for de-graining plates?

Digital Asset managment software

How do I set per-particle field and emitter arttributes on nodes in namespaces in Maya?

Particles to follow particles as goal

Maya cloud particles popping when rendered...any solutions?

Why are particle instances not at particle position in Maya?

(Windows) Set Maya playblast compression option in MEL

Rendering particles passes with 3Delight

maya default camera options

Render Layers not working

Add/Remove frameLayouts in a window using MEL

Nvidia settings in Mac OS X