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7 comments

1. Michael McReynolds says:

   August 21, 2019 at 23:51

   Great tutorial, and really novel approach! I went a bit further, making it into a small python script. With this, you can choose any number of result nodes you want. Just change the ’64’ in the last line to any number you want.

   Paste the following code into a python tab in the script editor, hit Cntrl-A and Cntrl-Enter to run

   #### CreateSineViaNodes by Mike McReynolds mranim8or@aol.com
   #### automates creation of a sine function, via nodes. based on a tutorial by Jorn-Harald Paulsen
   #### paste into a python tab and run via CreateSineViaNodes(64) (change 64 to however many output cubes you’d like)

   import maya.cmds as mc
   import maya.mel as mel

   def CreateSineViaNodes(NumOutputNodes):
   try:
   mc.delete(“Sine_Master”)
   except:
   pass

   ## create all the main groups
   mc.group(n=”Sine_Master”, em=True)
   mc.group(n=”sineResult_grp”,em=True)
   mc.group(n=”sineOutput_grp”,em=True)
   mc.group(n=”sineValue_grp”,em=True)
   mc.parent(“sineResult_grp”,”Sine_Master”)
   mc.parent(“sineOutput_grp”,”Sine_Master”)
   mc.parent(“sineValue_grp”,”Sine_Master”)

   ### create a control, call it sineController
   mc.circle(r=2.5,n=”Sine_CNTRL”)
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.overrideEnabled”, 1)
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.overrideColor”, 17)

   mc.addAttr(“Sine_CNTRL”, ln=”Frequency”, at=”double”, dv=False)
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.Frequency”, k=True)
   mc.addAttr(“Sine_CNTRL”, ln=”Amplitude”, at=”double”, dv=False)
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.Amplitude”, k=True)
   mc.addAttr(“Sine_CNTRL”, ln=”Offset”, at=”double”, dv=False)
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.Offset”, k=True)

   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.Frequency”,1)
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.Amplitude”,1)
   mc.parent(“Sine_CNTRL”,”Sine_Master”)

   mc.addAttr(“Sine_CNTRL”,ln=”ShowValueLocators”,at=”bool”)
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.ShowValueLocators”, k=True)
   mc.addAttr(“Sine_CNTRL”,ln=”ShowGraphObjects”,at=”bool”)
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.ShowGraphObjects”, True,k=True)

   mc.parentConstraint(“Sine_CNTRL”,”sineResult_grp”)
   mc.parentConstraint(“Sine_CNTRL”,”sineOutput_grp”)

   mc.connectAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.ShowGraphObjects”,”sineResult_grp.visibility”)
   mc.connectAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.ShowValueLocators”,”sineValue_grp.visibility”)

   mc.setAttr(“sineOutput_grp.visibility”,False)

   ### create s sine value locator
   mc.spaceLocator(n=”sineValue_loc_1″)
   mc.setAttr(“sineValue_loc_1.overrideEnabled”, 1)
   mc.setAttr(“sineValue_loc_1.overrideColor”, 6)
   mc.group(n=”sineValue_grp_1″,em=True)
   mc.parent(“sineValue_loc_1″,”sineValue_grp_1”)

   FrequencyAmt = (360.0 / NumOutputNodes)
   MultDiv = mc.shadingNode(“multiplyDivide”, asUtility=True, n=”MultDiv_Frequency_1″)
   mc.setAttr(MultDiv + “.input2X”, FrequencyAmt)

   mc.connectAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.Frequency”,MultDiv+”.input1X”)
   mc.connectAttr(MultDiv+”.outputX”,”sineValue_grp_1.rz”)
   mc.connectAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.Amplitude”,”sineValue_loc_1.tx”)

   ### create an output locator
   mc.spaceLocator(n=”sineOutput_loc_1″)
   mc.parent(“sineOutput_loc_1″,”sineOutput_grp”)

   ### create output geo
   mc.polyCube(n=”sineResult_1″)
   mc.setAttr(“sineResult_1.sx”,.5)
   mc.setAttr(“sineResult_1.sy”,.5)
   mc.setAttr(“sineResult_1.sz”,.5)
   mc.parent(“sineResult_1″,”sineResult_grp”)

   ### duplicate the sine value groups
   for n in range(NumOutputNodes-1):
   mc.select(“sineValue_grp_1”)
   mc.duplicate(rr=True,ic=True, renameChildren=True)

   for n in range(NumOutputNodes,1,-1):
   mc.parent(“sineValue_grp_”+str(n),”sineValue_grp_”+str(n-1) )
   mc.parent(“sineValue_grp_1″,”sineValue_grp”)

   ### connect and duplicate the sine results
   mc.connectAttr(“sineOutput_loc_1.ty”,”sineResult_1.ty”)
   for n in range(NumOutputNodes-1):
   mc.select(“sineResult_1”)
   mc.duplicate(rr=True,un=True, renameChildren=True)

   ### point constrain output locators to sine value locators
   for n in range(NumOutputNodes):
   mc.pointConstraint(“sineValue_loc_”+str(n+1), “sineOutput_loc_”+str(n+1), mo=False )

   # ### parent sine value group to sine controller, connect it
   mc.parent(“sineValue_grp”,”Sine_CNTRL”)
   mc.connectAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.Offset”,”sineValue_grp.rz”)

   for n in range(NumOutputNodes):
   mc.setAttr(“sineResult_”+str(n+1)+”.tx”, (2.0 / NumOutputNodes)*n )
   mc.setAttr(“sineResult_”+str(n+1)+”.sx”, (2.0 / NumOutputNodes) )
   mc.setAttr(“sineResult_”+str(n+1)+”.sy”, (2.0 / NumOutputNodes) )
   mc.setAttr(“sineResult_”+str(n+1)+”.sz”, (2.0 / NumOutputNodes) )

   mc.makeIdentity(“sineResult_”+str(n+1),apply=True,pn=True,t=False,r=False,s=True,n=False)
   mc.connectAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.sy”,”sineResult_”+str(n+1)+”.sy”)

   # mc.scaleConstraint(“Sine_CNTRL”,”sineResult_grp”,skip=”y”)
   mc.connectAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.sx”,”sineResult_grp.sx”)
   mc.connectAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.sz”,”sineResult_grp.sz”)

   ### lock everything that cant be animated
   for Attr in [“.tx”, “.ty”, “.tz”, “.rx”, “.ry”, “.rz”, “.sx”, “.sy”, “.sz”, “.visibility”]:
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_Master” + Attr, lock=True)
   for Child in mc.listRelatives(“Sine_Master”, ad=True, typ=”transform”):
   for Attr in [“.tx”, “.ty”, “.tz”, “.rx”, “.ry”, “.rz”, “.sx”, “.sy”, “.sz”, “.visibility”]:
   if Child != “Sine_CNTRL”:
   mc.setAttr(Child + Attr, lock=True)
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.sx”,lock=True)
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.sy”,lock=True)
   mc.setAttr(“Sine_CNTRL.sz”,lock=True)

   mc.select(“Sine_CNTRL”)

   CreateSineViaNodes(64)

   Reply
2. Aditya says:

   October 16, 2017 at 16:41

   Hi,
   I have downloaded mecha_cat Model file
   but its not in default pose.
   Can you please share the default pose model file

   Thank you.

   Reply
   • Jorn says:

     October 16, 2017 at 17:07

     That is actually the pose in which the model initially was uploaded. I don’t even know if I still have my own rig files for the cat, so you’ll have to pose the model yourself before starting the actual rigging, sorry 🙁

     Reply
3. roman says:

   June 26, 2017 at 14:41

   awesome!!!

   Reply
4. celia col says:

   January 4, 2017 at 11:23

   Hello your tuto on the ribbon is great but I have a worry the last script in python for the scale of the group I have a syntax invalid while I have the same line as you. For line 1 I am on maya 2017 Please help me
   Thanks have nice day

   Reply
   • Jorn says:

     January 5, 2017 at 19:24

     As you’re getting invalid syntax, you’re most probably trying to execute the Python code from the MEL tab. In the script editor, make sure you’re running the script from the Python tab. It works in Maya 2017 here, so I’m pretty sure that should fix it 🙂

     Reply
5. badmanjam says:

   January 4, 2016 at 11:55

   Awesome! Your technique is inspiring.
   Thank you

   Reply