Updated save tool!

I’ve updated the savetool to keep a master version of the file! I’m now refefing to it as an Up Save tool.

################################################################################################
################################################################################################
###                             Save new version of current scene                            ###
###                                  By Alastair Richardson                                  ###
###                                         May, 2013                                        ###
###                               Intended for Maya Ascii files                              ###
###          Use:                                                                            ###
###             padding is the number of digits in the version number.                       ###
###                                                                                          ###
###             versionIndicator is the characters that come before                          ###
###             the version number. May be _V or _v depending on your                        ###
###             pipeline.                                                                    ###
###                                                                                          ###
###             fileCountNumbering can be set to True or False.                              ###
###             If set to True, the next version number will be obtained                     ###
###             by counting the number of files in the working folder.                       ###
###             This method is unpredictable if folder contains additional                   ###
###             files or folders.                                                            ###
###                                                                                          ###
###             If set to False, the next version number will be obtained                    ###
###             using the current version number, can be risky if rolling                    ###
###             to old versions is required.                                                 ###
###                                                                                          ###
################################################################################################
################################################################################################
 
padding = 3
versionIndicator = '_v'
fileCountNumbering = False
masterFileName = '_v000'
 
################################################################################################
###                                                                                          ###
###                             Change script at your own risk                               ###
###                                                                                          ###
################################################################################################
import maya.cmds as cmds
from pymel.core import *
import maya.OpenMaya as om
import os
 
def saveNewVer():
    a = ''
    b = ''
    # find directory
    currentDir = cmds.file( query = True, location = True )
    splitDir = currentDir.split('/')
    length = len(splitDir)
    lessOne = length - 1
    shortDir = splitDir[0:lessOne]
    directoryToOpen = '/'.join(shortDir)
    # create next version number of file
    if fileCountNumbering == True :
        # find the next version based on number of files on directory
        currentFileName = splitDir[length -1]
        versionSpilt = currentFileName.split(versionIndicator)
        currentName = versionSpilt[0]
        files = os.listdir( directoryToOpen )
        mayaAscii = []
        for i in files:
            try:
                a,b = i.split('.')
            except:
                print i + ' has no extension'
            if b == 'ma':
                mayaAscii.append(i)
            else:
                print str(i) + ' is not a Maya ASCII'
        nextVersion =  len(mayaAscii) + 1  
    else:
        # find version by disecting current file name at _v
        currentFileName = splitDir[length -1]
        versionSpilt = currentFileName.split(versionIndicator)
        sansMA = versionSpilt[1].split('.')
        currentVersion = sansMA[0]
        currentName = versionSpilt[0]
        nextVersion = int(currentVersion) + 1
    # do the saving
    newDirName = directoryToOpen + '/' + currentName + versionIndicator + str(nextVersion).zfill(padding)
    Mel.eval( "source addRecentFile.mel" )
    Mel.eval('addRecentFile "%s" "%s";' % (newDirName + '.ma', 'mayaAscii'))
    masterName = directoryToOpen + '/' + currentName + masterFileName
    cmds.file( rename = masterName )
    cmds.file( save = True )
    cmds.file( rename = newDirName )
    cmds.file( save = True )
    om.MGlobal.displayInfo( 'saved to ' + newDirName )
saveNewVer()

Breaking Skinclusters?

Skin Clusters break sometimes. Or you just want to copy skinning from one character to another.

Usually when I have a skin cluster playing up I rebind a duplicate of the mesh to the joints and copy the skin weights from the original mesh.
To do this:
1. Duplicate mesh
2. bind duplicated mesh to the same joints as the original
3. copy skin weights over from old mesh with Skin > Edit Smooth Skin > Copy Skin Weights

Gives you a fresh skin cluster but with the skinning you’d setup already.

Useful tutorials

During my internet explorations I’ve discovered Zeth Willie.
He does Maya Tutorials and posts them on Vimeo. He explains himself and Maya very clearly, which is great for beginners and advanced users alike.

His introduction to Python is something all Maya users should watch :)

Have a look:
http://vimeo.com/67579845

Zeroing out. Or in.

Today I wrote a little tool that simply groups whatever you have selected, for the purposes of cleaning up transforms. Also works with multiple objects selected and groups them all under a group in the same worldspace as the first selected object.
Grab the code here and place it on your shelf.

import maya.cmds as cmds
import maya.OpenMaya as om

grpList = cmds.ls(sl = True)

parentObj = cmds.listRelatives( grpList[0], parent = True )
cmds.group( em = True, name = grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP' )
cmds.parentConstraint( grpList[0], grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP' )
cmds.delete( grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP_parentConstraint1' )
cmds.scaleConstraint( grpList[0], grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP' )
cmds.delete( grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP_scaleConstraint1' )
cmds.parent( grpList[0], grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP' )
try:
    cmds.parent( grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP', parentObj )
    om.MGlobal.displayInfo( grpList[0] + ' now has a group above it' )
except:
    om.MGlobal.displayInfo( grpList[0] + ' has no parent object, grouped in world space' )

cmds.select( grpList[0] )
newParent = cmds.listRelatives( parent = True )
listEndNumber = len(grpList)
remainingObj = grpList[1:int(listEndNumber)]

for i in remainingObj:
    cmds.parent( i, newParent )

om.MGlobal.displayInfo( grpList[0] + ' now has a group above it' )