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def vect(curv, pt2 = 1, pt1 = 0):
    """Returns a vector from two cvs on a curve. The argument curv is a PyMEL instance or string. For example:\vect('curve1', pt2 = 5, pt1 = 2) gives you a direction (i.e. vector) from cv[2] to cv[5] in curve1"""

    if type(curv) == str:
        curv = pm.ls(curv)[0]

    if curv.getShape().numCVs() <= pt2:
        print('\n!! There are {0} cvs. Make sure your pt2 value is less than {0}.  !!'.format(curv.getShape().numCVs()))
    else:
       return [curv.cv[pt2].getPosition()[0] - curv.cv[pt1].getPosition()[0],
               curv.cv[pt2].getPosition()[1] - curv.cv[pt1].getPosition()[1],
               curv.cv[pt2].getPosition()[2] - curv.cv[pt1].getPosition()[2]]

This script finds a vector from a curve. I needed it for orienting a follice to the same direction as the curve's base, which corresponds to the first two cvs. After writing it, I realized that using edit points (ep) or curve points (u) would give a more accurate direction. Good enough for now, but will rewrite it.

UPDATE: Turns out that I could just use the pymel function tangent to accomplish the same thing (i.e. finding the tangent at a given point on a curve). For example, to find the tangent at parameter 0, which is the start of the curve, execute curv.tangent(0)

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I got hooked on my last script (see previous post) and decided to extend it by creating a hair system out of the particle paths. I'll post the script when it's working more smoothly, but here are a couple screencaps.

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Wrote a little script today. It generates cv curves from the path of a particle object or individual particles. Click here to see the code and a demo.

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Just learned about Github embedding with Gist. To celebrate the excitement, here are small pymel snippets you may find useful!

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import pymel.core as pm

def chDir(object, *filtr):
    """Check methods: Returns a list of methods bound to the instanced object. Filter search with string(s) filtr."""
    if not filtr:
        return [meth for meth in dir(object)]
    
    else:
        return [meth for string in filtr for meth in dir(object) if string in meth]
                    

def lightLinks(breakLink = True):
    """Make or break links of selected lights to selected meshes."""
    lights = [o for o in pm.ls(sl=1) if 'Light' in pm.nodeType(o.getShape())]
    meshes = [o for o in pm.ls(sl=1) if 'mesh' in pm.nodeType(o.getShape())]
    if len(lights) == 0:
        print("// At least one light must be selected")
    if len(meshes) == 0:
        print("// At least one mesh must be selected")
    pm.lightlink(b = breakLink, light = lights, object = meshes)
    if breakLink:
        for l in lights:
            print('// {0} has been unlinked to:'.format(str(l)))
            for m in meshes:
                print('//\t'+str(m))
            print('\n')
    else:
        for l in lights:
            print('// {0} has been linked to:'.format(str(l)))
            for m in meshes:
                print('//\t'+ str(m))
            print('\n')

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This is Rudo - the awkward alien. Modeling, rigging, and rendering done in Maya.

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With the mesh object selected,

obj = mc.ls(sl=True)[0]
vertCount = mc.polyEvaluate(obj, v=True)
vertList = ['{0}.vtx[{1}]'.format(obj,vert) for vert in range(vertCount) if len(mc.polyInfo('{0}.vtx[{1}]'.format(obj,vert), ve=1)[0].split(':')[1].split()) == 2]
mc.select(vertList)

The if statement containing the polyInfo command does the filtering by counting the number of edges around the queried vertex. Unfortunately this returns a line of values in a string, so I had to split it a couple times to retrieve the edges count. For example, vertex 302 of 'polySurface' is shared by the edges 506, 489, 484, and 485:

mc.polyInfo('polySurface.vtx[302]', ve=1)[0]
# Result: u'VERTEX 302: 506 489 484 485 \n' #

UPDATE: A vertex sharing two edges is called 'winged'. Here's another way to select winged vertices using PyMEL (as pm)...

obj = pm.ls(sl=True)[0]
vertList = [obj.verts[v] for v in range(len(obj.verts)) if len(obj.verts[v].connectedEdges()) == 2]
pm.select(vertList)

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Finally posted my script! It's a utility that creates Maya Particle Disk Cache (PDC) files from a sequence of point cloud data. You can find more information here. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

UPDATE: I modified the script so that it contains more classes and documentation (v0.9.0). Unfortunately, it's almost twice as slow as the original release (v0.8.4). Feel free to download the code from my website: http://folio.heylight.com/#958712/Code

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The past couple of weeks I've been working on a python script that I named Cache Cloud. With all the point cloud data being generated with Kinect hacks and 3D scanners, I thought this would be a useful Maya utility. It writes Maya Particle Disk Cache files using an animation of point cloud data. It's finished, but I'll post some sample videos before releasing the script within the next couple of days. Thanks to this video, I was inspired to write Cache Cloud. Next I'd like to write another one to make nParticle cache files.

UPDATE: I added another feature that removes zero-value points; and cleaned up some code which is now making it twice as fast to process.

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It took a couple of days, but I finally found out how to configure linux in order to run Amazon EC2 Tools commands. I found some instructions here and there, but I'll provide instructions that are clearer (I hope) to the new Linux user, particularly, running Fedora (RPM-based Linux). Much of it is derived from the aforelinked instructions, so look at those for extra information. You should already know some basic linux commands - and remember that these instructions worked for me in Fedora. 

     - a PEM encoded X.509 certificate named something like cert-xxxxxxx.pem
     - a PEM encoded RSA private key named something like pk-xxxxxxx.pem

20. Start installation process, which will create a folder called "jre1.6.0_24" in this case.

[root@local-PC java]# rpm -iv jre-6u24-linux-i586.rpm

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I was inspired by the making of a music video and wanted to try the same thing using their data with Python in Maya. I also ended up trying it with the House Of Cards data. Eventually, I'll make a GUI that allows for easy point cloud data import into Maya. I wonder how this data can be used for polygon modelling - something else to try.

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I finally found some time to work on the helmet again and finally arrived at a point where happy with the model. Now I can move on to some shading tweaks and detailing the textures in Mudbox. It's way too crisp and shiny. Although, this probably won't get done until I get back from South America in a few months. A la proxima...

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I tried out this Processing code to make some 'wiggle stereoscopy'. It would be cool to use this technique in a video.

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Testing to emulate a thermal camera as close as possible with After Effects. As a reference, I used a video that was recorded with the FLIR camera. First I tried a tutorial where they use Photoshop, but it turns out that the Colorama effect in After Effects works just as well. 

I still need to figure out a good algorithm that translates a color sample to a temperature value (click here for a simple example). There's a few more details that I need to work on. For example, if you watch the real footage, you may notice the shifting in the color phase, as indicated in the right-side gradient bar. This is also accompanied by the shift in the high/low threshold temperatures. Hopefully I'll get a decent-looking thermal camera effect for a piece I'd like to do.

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I started playing around with Trapcode Particular in After Effects today by following Andrew Kramer's tutorial.  This could be useful for cool microscopic visualizations. 

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In this piece for Telus, I created all of the 3D assets: model, texture, and animation. (Click HERE to see the playblast animation.) It was mainly done in Maya, but the texturing was done in Mudbox. The toughest part was finding the best settings to export to Collada format. The plugin that I used didn't seem to support blendshapes, so the skeleton had to be built to also drive the face gestures. (Luckily, this hippo didn't require complex gestures!) It was a fun little project.

Roles:

Alex Beim - Creative Director

Jay Pozo - Programmer

Daniel Vasquez - 3D Artist

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