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) :

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 (56KB .zip)

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]

Looking to get a little bit more friendly with that new Magic Mouse? Look no further.

I have been using BetterTouchTool since I got my hands on the Magic Mouse to be able to middle click in apps like Maya, Nuke, whatever. I actually asked the developer Andreas Hegenberg for very specific middle click functionality (being able to click with one finger in the center of the mouse and to have an adjustment for the exact parts of the mouse that would respond to it) and he came through 100% within 48hrs:

He has recently added many other types of gestures, and a favorite of mine, a single tap right on (or right above) the Apple logo. I have a few tools I have made to make my day to day workflow a little bit more efficient. fn & layout are simple workflow tools that promote laziness to its full extent and the Magic Mouse has managed to make them a little lazier!

960×600 .mov

iPhone

If your mind is blown then comment or email and I will uhh. . . un-blow it for you. Hmm. . .

[BetterTouchTool]

I really don’t enjoy setting renders in Maya, and I definitely don’t enjoy manually setting up command line renders, but it is definitely the way to go when it comes to rendering animation.

The purpose of these little apps is to make that a drag and drop process:

MayaRender – Drag any Maya .ma or .mb onto this droplet to automatically start a command line render in terminal. (Asks to choose Renderer and add any additional Render Flags, universal version will ask which Maya version you would like to use)

Maya SW, MentalRay, and RenderMan, and V-Ray are setup to automatically startup up renders as soon as a file has been dragged onto them, avoiding having to put in any options. (The renderer will automatically use whatever you have setup within your Render Globals in your scene)

Download: MayaRender (3.7MB .zip)
-added 2008 and 2010 versions plus V-Ray as another render option. Also, a universal version that allows you to choose your Maya version (8.5 through 2010)
-UPDATE: Fixed Maya 2010 versions to work with the changes that were made to the location of the “render” binary.

Enjoy! If there are any issues feel free to contact me or leave comments here.

Maya is great, it can handle all of them CG’s that are so popular now a’days. What isn’t so great is that due to it’s fancy pants nature, it can crash at very inopportune times leaving you with your hopes crushed and tears streaming down your face. . .

Luckily, Maya does store recovery .ma files on every operating system that it is available for, on the Mac they are stored in a hidden folder (/private/var/folders/), and in those hidden folders are folders that a normal human doesn’t really understand.

However, it is very easy to set up a search that will indeed search these hidden folders for .MA files, allowing you to easily find your latest recovery data.

I quickly made a saved search (smart folder) that anyone can use to quickly access this default recovery location:


Maya Recover Smart Search
(1kb .zip file)
[Mac OS X 10.5+ if you are using 10.4 you are kidding yourself)

Just unzip the file, and place it in a easy to find directory (I recommend the default Maya directory in your User/Documents/maya folder, so it is always easy to find). I don't care how cool you are, if you have used a 3D app, it has crashed on you before, and you have shed a tear. If you try this out leave me a comment.

UPDATE: This will-not always work 100%, sometimes it can miss some temp files, because it doesn't always search the entire nested directories, so if you aren't seeing it, another method is to go to a Finder window press Cmd+Shift+G, and type /private/var/folders/ and press return. In that "folders" folder is a bunch of arbitrarily named folders, in one of those there should be a -Tmp- folder that will likely have some .ma recent recovery files.

[andoru.labs]

I have done a little bit of re-configuring and provided BLANK title and name .PDF’s for people that might not have Illustrator.

click images for previews of what is included

All zipped up in a single pack

Download:
andoru_2009_storyboard_pack.zip
[1.19mb .zip file] (includes Illustrator and .PDF files)

For those using the Illustrator (.ai) files please make sure to change the Title at the top and the Name at the bottom to avoid looking foolish. It takes 2 cicks and 5 seconds.

click image for preview

Enjoy! Leave me donations! Feel good about yourself!

User Friendly:

Not very Friendly at all:

Do you like having your Finder and Application windows organized in a specific way? Or maybe you spend a lot of time re-positioning your windows to specific locations when they are moved around.

Well this app I developed called “layout” can turn all of that time spent re-organizing your windows into a simple one-click process.

Here is a video explaining exactly how it works and how to set it up to fit your own setup:

Download full 1440×900 video
[98.23.mb Quicktime .mov]

Included in the package is an Instructions file for reference on getting your own configuration working.

Download:

[UPDATE]: layout 1.0 now available, fixes and changes include:
-Will now check to see which Finder windows and Apps are open and run accordingly. Won't open every listed app to re-position it, will only position the currently open Applications.
-Finder is now setup to make your default layout if no windows are detected.

layout 1.0
(63kb .zip file)

layout is a set of 2 apps, one “Get Sizes” to find the position of your application windows, and “layout” to reset them to this default position. The setup is pretty simple, just open all of the apps you would like specifically positioned, maybe Firefox, iTunes, and others. Then, run Get Sizes SETUP to configure the Get Sizes app to fit your specific setup. Run layout SETUP to configure your particular version of layout, then simply drag your version of the “layout” app, to your finder toolbar, or where you would like it.

Feel free to leave a comment (donation) on this post if you have any issues or questions. And let me know what you think. Enjoy, or ignore and move on. I promise it is worth it.

[App originally based off idea and scripts developd by "francodecoyo" of MacThemes, and reworked and completely re-scripted by me]