Maya 2015

Lecture Details

Link to Maya Documentation
httpdownload.autodesk.comglobaldocsmaya2014en_usindex.html

Every time you do anything inside of Maya a script is executed in the background. Maya uses a scripting language of its very own known as MEL script. MEL stands for Maya Embedded Language and is essentially what makes anything you do in Maya work. From creating a basic box to setting an animation frame, MEL script is being executed at every step. We can see the MEL script actually being executed by Maya simply by opening the Script Editor. Inside the Script Editor we can watch the magic of MEL occurring while we operate Maya.

Since we can see the MEL script actually being used by Maya when we perform actions, we can also learn from it. If we want to learn what the command is for creating a polygon cube primitive, we simply need open the Script Editor and then click the button for creating a Polygon Cube. As soon as we click the button we will immediately see the MEL script that is used to create the cube.

Basic Maya scripts start with a command and then allow for flags to be put into that command upon execution. We can learn what flags are available for each command by visiting the Maya documentation and searching for the command we want to learn about. Learning to write MEL script is as simple as watching Maya in action through the script editor as we are using Maya. Then we just have to look up the command within the documentation to learn all we want to know about what can be done with it. Once we write the script we can save it as a button on the shelves. In no time flat we can write fairly complex scripts to carry out multiple operations for us all at the click of a button.

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