The first edition of MEL Scripting for Maya Animators earned the reputation as the best introductory book on
MEL, Maya's scripting language. Now fully revised and updated, the second edition also includes new features, such
as a discussion of global procedures, new chapters on fixing programming bottlenecks, advanced user interface techniques,
and optimizing character rigs. This is a book for animators, artists, game developers, visual effects developers,
and technical directors who want to learn the fundamentals of Maya, how to automate tasks, personalize user interfaces,
build custom tools, and solve problems with MEL.
Table of Contents
Ch. 1. Maya under the hood
Ch. 2. The basics of MEL commands
Ch. 3. Using expressions
Ch. 4. Controlling particles with expressions
Ch. 5. Problem solving with MEL scripting
Ch. 6. Variables and data types
Ch. 7. Using MEL commands
Ch. 8. Manipulating nodes in MEL
Ch. 9. Controlling the flow of execution
Ch. 10. Procedures and functions
Ch. 11. Naming nodes, scripts, and variables
Ch. 12. Designing MEL user interfaces
Ch. 13. Simple MEL user interfaces
Ch. 14. Custom dialog boxes
Ch. 15. Making advanced dialog boxes with formLayout
Ch. 16. Making advanced dialog boxes with Web panels
Ch. 17. Improving performance with utility nodes
Ch. 18. Installing MEL scripts
Ch. 19. Examples using MEL with particle dynamics
Ch. 20. Examples using MEL with solid body dynamics
Ch. 21. Example of a simple crowd system
Ch. 22. Examples using MEL in character rigging
