Search icon CANCEL
Subscription
0
Cart icon
Your Cart (0 item)
Close icon
You have no products in your basket yet
Save more on your purchases! discount-offer-chevron-icon
Savings automatically calculated. No voucher code required.
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Newsletter Hub
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
timer SALE ENDS IN
0 Days
:
00 Hours
:
00 Minutes
:
00 Seconds
Maya Programming with Python Cookbook
Maya Programming with Python Cookbook

Maya Programming with Python Cookbook: Master complex workflows and conquer the world with Python and Maya

Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Pankaj K P Singh Profile Icon Herbez
Arrow right icon
$19.99 per month
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4 (4 Ratings)
Paperback Jul 2016 266 pages 1st Edition
eBook
$35.98 $39.99
Paperback
$48.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at $19.99p/m
Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Pankaj K P Singh Profile Icon Herbez
Arrow right icon
$19.99 per month
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4 (4 Ratings)
Paperback Jul 2016 266 pages 1st Edition
eBook
$35.98 $39.99
Paperback
$48.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at $19.99p/m
eBook
$35.98 $39.99
Paperback
$48.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at $19.99p/m

What do you get with a Packt Subscription?

Free for first 7 days. $19.99 p/m after that. Cancel any time!
Product feature icon Unlimited ad-free access to the largest independent learning library in tech. Access this title and thousands more!
Product feature icon 50+ new titles added per month, including many first-to-market concepts and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.
Product feature icon Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.
Product feature icon Thousands of reference materials covering every tech concept you need to stay up to date.
Subscribe now
View plans & pricing
Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Maya Programming with Python Cookbook

Chapter 2. Creating User Interfaces

In this chapter, we'll be taking a guided tour through Maya's collection of user interface elements and learning how to use them to create interfaces that you and your teammates will love to use. The following topics will be covered:

  • Making a basic window
  • Simple controls – making a button
  • Retrieving input from controls
  • Using classes to organize UI logic
  • Using nested layouts
  • Using tabs and scrolling
  • Adding menu to your UIs

Introduction

While it is by no means required to create a graphical user interface (GUI) for your scripts, you're likely to want one in almost all cases. Very often, you'll find yourself creating scripts that are meant to be used by your teammates, some of whom may be less comfortable with command-line tools.

In this chapter, we'll be looking at how to create windows, fill them with interface elements, and link those elements up to other functionality within Maya.

Making a basic window

All great user interfaces start with window. In this example, we'll be creating a simple window and using the text label control to add a simple message.

We'll end up with something like the following:

Making a basic window

How to do it...

Start by creating a new file in your scripts directory and naming it basic Window.py.

Add the following code:

import maya.cmds as cmds

def showUI():
    myWin = cmds.window(title="Simple Window", widthHeight=(300, 200))
    cmds.columnLayout()
    cmds.text(label="Hello, Maya!")

    cmds.showWindow(myWin)

showUI()

If you run the script, you should see a small window containing the text Hello, Maya!.

How it works...

To create a window, you'll need to use the window command.

myWin = cmds.window(title="Simple Window", widthHeight=(300, 200))

While all of the arguments are optional, there are a few that you'll generally want to include by default. Here, we're setting the title to "Simple Window" and...

Simple controls – making a button

Creating a window is only the beginning. In order to create a proper interface, we'll need to both add controls, and tie them to functionality. In this example, we'll be revisiting our good friend, the polyCube command, and tying it to a button press.

The resulting UI (and its output) will look similar to the following:

Simple controls – making a button

How to do it...

Create a new script and name it buttonExample.py. Add the following code:

import maya.cmds as cmds
def buttonFunction(args):
    cmds.polyCube()

def showUI():
    myWin = cmds.window(title="Button Example", widthHeight=(200, 200))
    cmds.columnLayout()
    cmds.button(label="Make Cube", command=buttonFunction)
    cmds.showWindow(myWin)
showUI()

Run the script, and you should see a 200 by 200 pixel window with a single button inside it. Pushing the button will create a polygonal cube with the default parameters.

How it works...

In order to trigger functionality from our UI, we'll first...

Retrieving input from controls

While you will often need to add one-way controls (such as buttons) that trigger functions upon user input, you will also often need to retrieve information from the user before taking an action. In this example, we'll be looking at how to grab input from field controls, in both integer and float varieties.

The finished script will create a given number of polygonal spheres, each with a given radius. The resulting UI will look like the following:

Retrieving input from controls

Pressing the Make Spheres button with the previously mentioned settings of 4 spheres at a radius of 0.5 units each will result in a line of spheres along the x-axis:

Retrieving input from controls

How to do it...

Create a new script and name it makeSpheres.py. Add the following code:

import maya.cmds as cmds

global sphereCountField
global sphereRadiusField

def showUI():
    global sphereCountField
    global sphereRadiusField

    myWin = cmds.window(title="Make Spheres", widthHeight=(300, 200))
    cmds.columnLayout()
    sphereCountField...

Using classes to organize UI logic

Using global variables is one way to allow the different parts of your script communicate with each other, but there's a better way. Instead of using globals, you can organize your script using custom class.

Creating a class for your script will not only allow you to easily access UI elements from various functions, but it will also make it easy to neatly contain other kinds of data, useful in more advanced scripts.

How to do it...

Create a new script and name it SpheresClass.py. Add the following code:

import maya.cmds as cmds

class SpheresClass:

    def __init__(self):
        self.win = cmds.window(title="Make Spheres", widthHeight=(300,200))
        cmds.columnLayout()
        self.numSpheres = cmds.intField(minValue=1)
        cmds.button(label="Make Spheres", command=self.makeSpheres)
        cmds.showWindow(self.win)

    def makeSpheres(self, *args):
        number = cmds.intField(self.numSpheres, query=True, value=True)...

Using nested layouts

Very often, the interfaces that you'll want to create cannot be implemented with a single layout. In those cases, you'll need to nest layouts inside each other.

In this example, we'll create rowLayouts within a single columnLayout. Each rowLayout will allow us to have two controls (in this case, some text and intField) next to each other horizontally, and the parent columnLayout will stack the combined text/field pairs on top of each other vertically.

The end result will be something like this:

Using nested layouts

How to do it...

Make a new script and name it nestedLayouts.py. Add the following code:

import maya.cmds as cmds

class NestedLayouts:

    def __init__(self):
        self.win = cmds.window(title="Nested Layouts", widthHeight=(300,200))
        cmds.columnLayout()
        
        cmds.rowLayout(numberOfColumns=2)
        cmds.text(label="Input One:")
        self.inputOne = cmds.intField()
        cmds.setParent("..")
        
      ...

Introduction


While it is by no means required to create a graphical user interface (GUI) for your scripts, you're likely to want one in almost all cases. Very often, you'll find yourself creating scripts that are meant to be used by your teammates, some of whom may be less comfortable with command-line tools.

In this chapter, we'll be looking at how to create windows, fill them with interface elements, and link those elements up to other functionality within Maya.

Making a basic window


All great user interfaces start with window. In this example, we'll be creating a simple window and using the text label control to add a simple message.

We'll end up with something like the following:

How to do it...

Start by creating a new file in your scripts directory and naming it basic Window.py.

Add the following code:

import maya.cmds as cmds

def showUI():
    myWin = cmds.window(title="Simple Window", widthHeight=(300, 200))
    cmds.columnLayout()
    cmds.text(label="Hello, Maya!")

    cmds.showWindow(myWin)

showUI()

If you run the script, you should see a small window containing the text Hello, Maya!.

How it works...

To create a window, you'll need to use the window command.

myWin = cmds.window(title="Simple Window", widthHeight=(300, 200))

While all of the arguments are optional, there are a few that you'll generally want to include by default. Here, we're setting the title to "Simple Window" and the size of the window to 300 pixels wide by 200 pixels tall. Also...

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon
Download code icon Download Code

Key benefits

  • Improve your modelling skills and reduce your scripting problems using Python in Maya
  • Learn to communicate with web applications using Python for easier team development
  • A quick and practical answer to every problem you can have whilst scripting in Maya with Python

Description

Maya is a 3D graphics and animation software, used to develop interactive 3D applications and games with stupendous visual effects. The Maya Programming with Python Cookbook is all about creating fast, powerful automation systems with minimum coding using Maya Python. With the help of insightful and essential recipes, this book will help you improve your modelling skills. Expand your development options and overcome scripting problems encountered whilst developing code in Maya. Right from the beginning, get solutions to complex development concerns faced when implementing as parts of build.

Who is this book for?

This book is for Python developers who have just started scripting with Maya.

What you will learn

  • * Find out how to use Python scripting to automate tedious tasks
  • * Create functional user interfaces to make scripts easy to share with others
  • * Add new functionality to Maya via the power of scripting
  • * Import and export arbitrary data into and out of Maya
  • * Improve your workflow, and that of your team
  • * Create custom create custom controls to make rigs that are easy to work with
  • * Implement a system to render 3D assets for isometric games
  • * Use script jobs to trigger actions automatically in response to user interaction
  • * Open a command port to allow other applications to communicate with Maya

Product Details

Country selected
Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Jul 29, 2016
Length: 266 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785283987
Languages :
Tools :

What do you get with a Packt Subscription?

Free for first 7 days. $19.99 p/m after that. Cancel any time!
Product feature icon Unlimited ad-free access to the largest independent learning library in tech. Access this title and thousands more!
Product feature icon 50+ new titles added per month, including many first-to-market concepts and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.
Product feature icon Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.
Product feature icon Thousands of reference materials covering every tech concept you need to stay up to date.
Subscribe now
View plans & pricing

Product Details

Publication date : Jul 29, 2016
Length: 266 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785283987
Languages :
Tools :

Packt Subscriptions

See our plans and pricing
Modal Close icon
$19.99 billed monthly
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Simple pricing, no contract
$199.99 billed annually
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just $5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts
$279.99 billed in 18 months
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just $5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts

Frequently bought together


Stars icon
Total $ 141.97
Maya Programming with Python Cookbook
$48.99
Practical Maya Programming with Python
$48.99
Python Game Programming By Example
$43.99
Total $ 141.97 Stars icon

Table of Contents

11 Chapters
1. Getting Started with Maya Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Creating User Interfaces Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Working with Geometry Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Giving Things a Coat of Paint – UVs and Materials Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Adding Controls – Scripting for Rigging Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Making Things Move – Scripting for Animation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Scripting for Rendering Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Working with File Input/Output Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Communicating with the Web Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Advanced Topics Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
(4 Ratings)
5 star 50%
4 star 0%
3 star 50%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
SKP May 10, 2023
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Had this book on my reading list for a class, it has helped a LOT. Wouldn't say it ‘s totally beginner friendly, but a few YouTube videos to get a proper introduction, this book is a great resource to have handy. It explains things well and when combined with the Python help in Maya you can get a lot out of it, I was surprised!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Joseph Hocking Aug 12, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I've been meaning to learn about this topic for a while, and this was a great intro. The very weekend after I got the book I'd already written (and released on the Internet) a "dropper", one useful script to export scene data as either JSONor XML.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
steven verborgh Sep 22, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
It's a "cookbook" kind of book ... as to be expected. Don't expect great insights, but exemplary pieces of code that demonstrate some things. It had nice short topic on shader networks, which is not something that is easily found elsewhere. It might have contained some more advanced recipes, but for a start it's a nice bedside material book.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Oliver Reischl Oct 04, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
For example it only mentions PyMel at one point in the whole book and warns about the possibility of poorer performance. While this is not necessary untrue, it's a very narrow look on what Pymel is and misses the fact, that pymel also wraps part of the purely c++ maya API and will be much faster in other situations. Also it purely focuses on standard maya UI scripting, while by now professional technical artists in general favor the Qt-framework (which Maya itself is built on).On the flipside it has some unmentioned requirements: The idea of classes isn't really explained, which might stumble beginners coming only from MEL. And the python package manager PIP is mentioned for installation of the Python Image library, which is a slippery slope, as the installation of other modules is very tricky. Modules featuring C or C++ libs need to be compiled from source, as Maya Python uses a different compiler version than standard Python. Also PIP doesn't consider Maya when installing modules, which might mess with your installation. (PIL seems to come preinstalled with Maya 2017 though.)It's still a good start to get into scripting, but if you're already quite familiar with Maya scripting and Python, this book won't teach you many new tricks. And it's not doing a great job with teaching you how to create clean code, which will be an issue once your scripts extend beyond 1000 to 10k lines. Finally this book leans very towards the very "un-pythonesque" Maya-style of scripting, while most professionals will tell you that coding the Python-way is far superior.So accept the book for what it is: If you scripted a little, you will learn a lot and increase your production output a lot. You might even be able to support a small team of artists with tools. But once you go beyond that, you will need to look for more pro-information and tutorials.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Get free access to Packt library with over 7500+ books and video courses for 7 days!
Start Free Trial

FAQs

What is included in a Packt subscription? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

A subscription provides you with full access to view all Packt and licnesed content online, this includes exclusive access to Early Access titles. Depending on the tier chosen you can also earn credits and discounts to use for owning content

How can I cancel my subscription? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

To cancel your subscription with us simply go to the account page - found in the top right of the page or at https://subscription.packtpub.com/my-account/subscription - From here you will see the ‘cancel subscription’ button in the grey box with your subscription information in.

What are credits? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Credits can be earned from reading 40 section of any title within the payment cycle - a month starting from the day of subscription payment. You also earn a Credit every month if you subscribe to our annual or 18 month plans. Credits can be used to buy books DRM free, the same way that you would pay for a book. Your credits can be found in the subscription homepage - subscription.packtpub.com - clicking on ‘the my’ library dropdown and selecting ‘credits’.

What happens if an Early Access Course is cancelled? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Projects are rarely cancelled, but sometimes it's unavoidable. If an Early Access course is cancelled or excessively delayed, you can exchange your purchase for another course. For further details, please contact us here.

Where can I send feedback about an Early Access title? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

If you have any feedback about the product you're reading, or Early Access in general, then please fill out a contact form here and we'll make sure the feedback gets to the right team. 

Can I download the code files for Early Access titles? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

We try to ensure that all books in Early Access have code available to use, download, and fork on GitHub. This helps us be more agile in the development of the book, and helps keep the often changing code base of new versions and new technologies as up to date as possible. Unfortunately, however, there will be rare cases when it is not possible for us to have downloadable code samples available until publication.

When we publish the book, the code files will also be available to download from the Packt website.

How accurate is the publication date? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

The publication date is as accurate as we can be at any point in the project. Unfortunately, delays can happen. Often those delays are out of our control, such as changes to the technology code base or delays in the tech release. We do our best to give you an accurate estimate of the publication date at any given time, and as more chapters are delivered, the more accurate the delivery date will become.

How will I know when new chapters are ready? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

We'll let you know every time there has been an update to a course that you've bought in Early Access. You'll get an email to let you know there has been a new chapter, or a change to a previous chapter. The new chapters are automatically added to your account, so you can also check back there any time you're ready and download or read them online.

I am a Packt subscriber, do I get Early Access? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Yes, all Early Access content is fully available through your subscription. You will need to have a paid for or active trial subscription in order to access all titles.

How is Early Access delivered? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Early Access is currently only available as a PDF or through our online reader. As we make changes or add new chapters, the files in your Packt account will be updated so you can download them again or view them online immediately.

How do I buy Early Access content? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Early Access is a way of us getting our content to you quicker, but the method of buying the Early Access course is still the same. Just find the course you want to buy, go through the check-out steps, and you’ll get a confirmation email from us with information and a link to the relevant Early Access courses.

What is Early Access? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Keeping up to date with the latest technology is difficult; new versions, new frameworks, new techniques. This feature gives you a head-start to our content, as it's being created. With Early Access you'll receive each chapter as it's written, and get regular updates throughout the product's development, as well as the final course as soon as it's ready.We created Early Access as a means of giving you the information you need, as soon as it's available. As we go through the process of developing a course, 99% of it can be ready but we can't publish until that last 1% falls in to place. Early Access helps to unlock the potential of our content early, to help you start your learning when you need it most. You not only get access to every chapter as it's delivered, edited, and updated, but you'll also get the finalized, DRM-free product to download in any format you want when it's published. As a member of Packt, you'll also be eligible for our exclusive offers, including a free course every day, and discounts on new and popular titles.

Modal Close icon
Modal Close icon