Unfortunately though, this requires Maya 2012 though due to the thickness attribute that was introduced. But this is a good thing as it is *much* more reliable than the translate z method of making objects thicker – thanks Autodesk!

Call script in MEL via “panelize” without quotes – it will work also on multiple objects selected.

Download

• panelize.mel

The nice thing about this over other edge scripts is that it will round the decimals to 2 places making things a little cleaner – however to do this you will need both scripts in your Maya folder for it to work.

Download

• Download edgeLength.mel
• Download roundoff.mel

string $fileName = `file -q -sceneName`;
string $workspace = `workspace -q -rd`;
string $workspacevray = "renderData/vray";
string $result = `confirmDialog
	    -title "Assign Cache Paths"
	    -message ("Would you like to assign this as the correct cache path?\n\n" + $workspace + $workspacevray +"/")
	    -button "OK" -button "Cancel"
	    -defaultButton "OK" -cancelButton "Cancel"
	    -dismissString "Cancel"`;

	if ($result == "OK") {

setAttr -type "string" vraySettings.imap_fileName ($workspace + $workspacevray + "/" + "cache.vrmap");
setAttr -type "string" vraySettings.imap_autoSaveFile ($workspace + $workspacevray + "/" + "cache.vrmap");
setAttr -type "string" vraySettings.autoSaveFile ($workspace + $workspacevray + "/" + "cache.vrlmap");
setAttr -type "string" vraySettings.fileName ($workspace + $workspacevray + "/" + "cache.vrlmap");
}

If you have customised your fileRuleEntry’s with, say a Custom V-Ray Cache rule. you can substitute this line of code

string $workspacevray = "renderData/vray";

with a fileRuleEntry if you have added one. Heres’ mine:

string $workspacevray =`workspace -q -fileRuleEntry Vray`;

Just remember to declare the “Vray” variable in np_getSecondaryProjectFileRules.mel by adding this simple line of code.

(uiRes("m_np_getSecondaryProjectFileRules.kVRay")),     				"Vray",      "renderData/vray",

and np_getSecondaryProjectFileRules.res.mel

displayString -replace -value "V-Ray" m_np_getSecondaryProjectFileRules.kVRay;

Instead of doing all this importing manually it’s obviously always better to script!

To batch convert Max files to FBX within Max, use this script:

(
	local dir = getSavePath "Pick a folder with .max files to convert to .fbx" initialDir:(getDir #scene)
	undefined
	if (dir != undefined) do (
		local files = getFiles (dir + "\\*.max")
		if (files.count > 0) do (
			if (queryBox ("About to convert " + files.count as string + " .max files to .fbx.\r\n\r\nContinue?") title:"Continue conversion?") do (
				for f in files do (
					if (keyboard.escPressed) do (a
						if (queryBox "Abort processing?") do ( exit )
					)
					loadMaxFile f useFileUnits:true quiet:true
					exportFile ((getFileNamePath f) + (getFileNameFile f) + ".fbx") #noprompt
				)
			)
		)
	)
)

To batch convert FBX into the Maya ASCII (.ma) format use this script:

string $path = "C:/temp/";
string $filelist[] = `getFileList -folder $path -filespec "*.fbx"`;
string $newFileList[];
int $cnt;
string $parts[];
for ($i=0;$i$cnt = `tokenize $filelist[$i] "." $parts`; //strip out "." from fbx suffix
$newFileList[$i] = $parts[0];
FBXImport -f ($path + $filelist[$i]) -t; //open the fbx file
file -rename ($path + ($newFileList[$i]+".ma")); //rename to .ma
file -f -save -options "v=0" -type "mayaAscii"; //save the .ma
file -f -new; //create a new scene
}

You’ll have to manually change the first line of the code above to match the directory where all your FBX files are stored. Always make sure to end the $path with a forward slash (/) otherwise Maya will not execute the script properly.

I created this little shortcut to help out. Basically when I have “Use V-Ray framebuffer” checked, using this script will launch the framebuffer, if it is off…well just the default Maya Render window launches.

Pretty simple!

To call script, use the command “rlauncher”.

Download

To use this script, just select a face or edge and run the script. Maya’s manipulator will automatically snap to the custom axis of whatever is selected. Much faster than the marking menu and it will also retain the selection.

It’s probably best to assign this script to a shortcut key as well for even faster use. I prefer to use alt + a (easy to remember as a = align).

To call the script use “alignAxis”.

Download

rvInstancer is a MEL script that will generate instances based on black and white areas of geometry that are painted by the 3D texture tool inside Maya. As a result I find it to be much more useful when it comes to large areas of instancing geometry (forests, grasslands etc..), rather than spPaint3D which I find to be better when accuracy or small areas of instancing is needed (street trees, cars etc). Both these scripts complement each other nicely.

Anyway, instead of boring everyone any further on how it works, check out the video from Robert Vari. I highly recommend this time-saving script!

For all the advanced people out there, there is also SOuP to check out.

Download

• rvInstancer (Redirects to CreativeCrash.com)

If you haven’t seen LayoutTools before, it is basically an invaluable tool from Autodesk’s Steven Roselle that does a great of organising your props and assets as thumbnails within the Maya UI (among other useful things).

Take a brief look at it here.

By default, LayoutTools only supports the Hardware Renderer, mental ray and Maya’s native Software Renderer to generate its thumbnails. To add V-Ray support, we have to replace some scripts with the ones in the zip file below.

Update (24th November 2010)

I have updated the script as I had found some errors with my original script.

If you have downloaded this script before the 24th of November 2010 I suggest to update as I have fixed the following.

• When generating icons, Maya’s Render Window will no longer open upon every render
• Defaulting to V-Ray “Adaptive DMC” instead of “Adaptive Subdivision”, so there should be a speed increase
• Previously, the script would fail to render when a pre-existing “icons” folder was not found in the props directory
• Lowered soft shadow sampling for faster icon generation
• Made bucket size smaller for faster icon generation
• A few other minor fixes

Instructions

• First of all, make sure you have the latest version of LayoutTools and at least Maya 2011 Hotfix3 installed (otherwise things might be a little buggy)
• Once you have LayoutTools installed, download the zip file below and extract all the files inside to where you have LayoutTools installed

Don’t worry about overwriting any files as I have included the original files in the zip file below, just in case you need them again

Download

Paint Effects Method

The method I prefer is to select your curve and from Maya’s rendering menu, select Paint Effects > Curve Utilities > Attach Brush to Curves

This will attach the default black Paint Effects brush to your curves. Make sure to share one brush so you can control the thickness of all these curves all at once: Paint Effects > Share One Brush

Curves rendered in V-Ray for Maya

There are a few problems with this method though.

mental ray cannot render Paint Effects at all (despite Maya Software, V-Ray and 3Delight being able to).

If you use this Paint Effects method and want to render with mental ray, you will have to convert the Paint Effects into mesh (which can get quite messy and heavy, but there are not too many alternatives that we are left with).

There also may be a chance that some hard corners might bug out with this method. Although it is kind of rare, you can easily just bump up the Paint Effects resolution to fix it.

Alternative QuickTube Method

If you are using mental ray as your primary renderer, you could try running an old (but handy) mel script called xyQuickTube. It basically attaches NURBS cylinders to your curves.

While this is quite a heavy method, it works and it will render with mental ray.

Curves rendered as NURBS cylinders in mental ray

I’ve used this script on scenes containing DWG’s with thousands of curves in it so it is pretty reliable. Just make sure to get a coffee or something with those render translation times!

spPaint3D is a replacement for Maya’s inbuilt geometryPaint script. However, unlike Maya’s basic geometryPaint, spPaint3D doesn’t rely on UV mapping for meshes.

This means very reliable placement of your objects.

All you do is select your object. Select your Target mesh and start painting.

Ready to paint Proxy Trees over the ground surface

You can also randomize scale and rotation when painting

If you’ve ever seen the videos for 3DS Max’s Object Paint feature, it is basically the same thing.

I have found it very useful for grass, bushes, trees, rocks, people (in Arch Viz), cars everything really!

Download Link

• spPaint3D (Redirects to CreativeCrash.com)