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labs: MayaMaya. . .

mayamaya dock

Working with multiple iterations of Maya open is a great way to save time, it allows you to copy and paste individual objects/nodes from scene to scene, just like many pro apps out there. No one has done it better than Apple with Logic Pro 9, making running multiple iterations unnecessary as they have added a fantastic method of importing whatever data you like without importing entire projects (although this is still possible with Logic) :

track import
Selective Track-Import

If you want to have this same type of functionality with Maya on OS X, you can’t just fire open another instance of the app like you can on other platforms by just launching the app again, but luckily it is very easy to do. One method is popping open Terminal and telling Maya what to do:

open -n /Applications/Autodesk/maya2009/Maya.app

This is something you want to do quickly though, so a one click solution is a must, and that is the point of MayaMaya:

Download: MayaMaya download page…

An app to pop in your dock, or Finder toolbar, or wherever is most convenient so you can easily open as many instances as your system can handle.

NOTE: The version available here is for Maya 2009 as it is the version I use, if you would like to use this for 8.5, 2008, 2010 it is a very simple process of opening the app with “Applescript Editor” which you should have in your “Applications” or “Utilities” directories, and changing 2009 to the appropriate version.

One annoyance you can run into is the “Pasted__” prefix that will be added to all pasted files. This can easily be taken care of using a simple .mel script that Alex Villabon does a great job outlining on his site Green Soda.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me or comment, and I will help you sort out any problems.

[andoru.LABS] | [Green Soda]

16 Responses

  1. Hey Andrew your MayaMaya script is something that will help many people. I personally use pc almost exclusively but I know of other people who are on macs and will be very interested in this. I’ll be sure to share this link with them.

    Thanks for the link back to GreenSODA.tv 😉

  2. Dennis says:

    Thanks for sharing the great scripts 🙂

  3. andrew says:

    No problem. Glad they are useful to people!

  4. […] like my MayaMaya app, but for After Effects CS4. It simply opens up another instance of After Effects so you can […]

  5. […] Stephen Rosenbaum joins Digital Domain as a visual effects supervisorTool: MayaMaya – Apple Script for opening multiple copies of MayaContest: ArsTechnica giving away a chance to play Starcraft 2Review: After Effects vs Nuke (Must […]

  6. Seon says:

    Hey Andrew – this seems like a great script (MayaMaya), however sad to say I’m still on a G5 running tiger(waiting for new MacPros). So the script appears not to work. It can not recognize “-n”, when I remove “-n”and run the script Maya opens, but only Maya can be opened. Do you of a fix for this? Thanks

    • andrew says:

      I don’t have a non-intel machine to test it on unfortunately so I am not sure if I will be able to help out much, it is possible this will only work under 10.5+ machines.

  7. andrew says:

    Went ahead and updated with versions for Maya 2010 and 2011, enjoy.

  8. […] both MayaMaya and MayaRender for 2010 & 2011 versions. Maya 2011 is a must have upgrade if you are working […]

  9. Daniel says:

    andrew
    you are a must
    thanks a lot for all,,, maya to maya is great, renderQ is awsome.
    thanks
    Daniel

  10. Absolutly awesome Andrew! It’s maybe a nonsense dream but is it possible to start a batch render with the first maya for example and simultanesly work with an instance? Of course that should require a lot of hardware capacity but as we are MacPro guys…

  11. […] facilitar la exportación/importación de elementos individuales entre proyectos de Autodesk Maya: MayaMaya. Noticias relacionadas:Script para exportar la posición de la cámara de Autodesk 3ds Max a Adobe […]

  12. Mr. 3D says:

    Hey Andrew
    Does the MayaMaya also work for 2013 version?

  13. […] Andrew Andoru ha creado un script para facilitar la exportación/importación de elementos individuales entre proyectos de Autodesk Maya: MayaMaya. […]

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