Ok, so you have some tools built and you have a basic understanding of Python and Maya but you want to start customizing things a bit more, maybe the ‘plastique’ style UI just isn’t as cool as it used to be and you want your tools to have a uniform or unique style to them. This is where stylesheets come into play.

No doubt if you have searched Google you have found the post in TAO that Yasin Uludag started where he released his “darkorange” stylesheet. This is a great resource to get started, but I think there are some details still missing on how to get it setup and working so I decided to make a simple tutorial on how to get a basic application started. This tutorial features the following:

• How to create a simple PyQt application
• How to create and compile a .qrc file for icons
• Edit Yasin’s stylesheet to create your own style
• Have the application set some options to send to mayapy and create a maya file
• maybe create your own app to compile .qrc files to .py files easier

Part 1

Part 2

QRC Code:

<RCC>
  <qresource>
    <file>images/checkbox.png</file>
    <file alias="down_arrow.png">images/down_arrow.png</file>
    <file>images/handle.png</file>
  </qresource>
</RCC>

Shell Script:

pyrcc4 icons.qrc -o icons.py

Python:

References:

http://nathanhorne.com/?p=451
http://lateral.netmanagers.com.ar/stories/BBS49.html

This still not perfected but it’s close, I’m just experimenting a little to try and think out side the box

A new tutorial on how to create a squash and stretch control that can be moved to any point around the ball.

I had a project recently that led to me discovering a useful but often overlooked (by me) menu known as deformer sets.

As an example let’s say you have a ball that is deformed by a lattice. Then you need to have another ball deformed by that same lattice, well that’s what the deformer set menu is for.

It can be found under Window>Relationship Editors>Deformer sets.

To get the now unaffected sphere to be affected by the lattice, simply select the ffd set for that lattice in the left column and then the object you want to be influenced by it in the right.

Now the object is affected by the lattice. (The image looks weird because the sphere isn’t  sitting in the center of the lattice).

Okay, now what if you only wanted a specific part of that object affected by the lattice? You can use the Edit Membership tool under the animation set in Edit Deformers> Edit Membership.

Make sure you have the lattice (or whatever other deformer you are using) selected. Hold down shift then use the cursor to select the verts you want to add or use ctrl to deselect them. Now you can see that the specific area that was selected is being deformed. That’s all there is to it!

I just a made a short tutorial , a tip really on how to use a modeling tool to rig a bellows.

In this tutorial I show how to setup a limb that can utilize no-flip and a pole-vector at the same time.

No-flip+Ik Limb Tutorial from Matthew Murray on Vimeo.