Autodesk Maya API White Paper

Short Description
Complete Maya Programming, An Extensive Guide to MEL and the C++ API; ….. Autodesk, Maya, and Sparks are registered trademarks or trademarks of …

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Content
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AUTODESK?MAYA?API
WHITE PAPER
Autodesk Maya API | White Paper
This white paper introduces Autodesk?Maya?software and its architecture to
programmers who may be unfamiliar with its APIs (application programming
interfaces).
Contents
CONTENTS ………………………………………………………………………………………. 1
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………… 3
AN OVERVIEW OF THE MAYA ARCHITECTURE…………………………………. 3
MAYA API AND MAYA PYTHON API…………………………………………………… 4
PLUG-INS…………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
Loading and Unloading ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
The simplest Maya Plug-in …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
A more complex example …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8
PLUG-IN INTEGRATION WITH MAYA ……………………………………………….. 11
Types of Plug-ins ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 11
Plug-in access to Maya scene data ……………………………………………………………………………………. 12
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MAYA API …………………………………………….. 12
Objects and Function Sets …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12
Objects ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 13
Function Sets…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
Transient Objects………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 14
Math Classes…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15
Proxy Objects ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 15
UI………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 15MAYA?API | WHITE PAPER
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Access to the Dependency Graph………………………………………………………………………………………. 15
A Note on the API and MEL ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 16
MAYA API DOCUMENTATION AND RESOURCES……………………………… 16
CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………………………………….. 17
APPENDIX A: MAYA API CLASSES………………………………………………….. 17
APPEDIX B: MAYA API CLASS HIERARCHY…………………………………….. 25
APPENDIX C: SELECTED LIST OF SAMPLE PLUG-INS …………………….. 29…