MECHANICAL RIG TOOLKIT v.1.0

Tim Coleman - tim.coleman.3d@gmail.com

Welcome to the Mechanical Rig Toolkit. The top level "mechRig_toolkit" folder contains several sub-folders and script/tool files used in the Mechanical Rigging course. This toolkit will be updated several times over the 8-week course to include scripts that are used at that point in the course. The documentation below covers installation of the toolkit and its 3 core areas: Utility Script Library, Custom Maya Shelf and the Custom Maya Marking Menu.

Installation

Use one of two ways to download the mechRig_toolkit from GitHub

1) Using GitHub Desktop

• Download and install GitHub Desktop from https://desktop.github.com/
• Launch GitHub Desktop and click on “Clone a Repository from the Internet”
• Click on "URL" tab, put in https://github.com/tccoleman/mechRig_toolkit as URL
• Choose your "maya/scripts" directory and the local path
• Click the "Clone" button which will download the toolkit into your maya script directory

2) Downloading zip file from GitHub

• Download the mechRig_toolkit.zip file and unzip it.
• Inside the mechRig_toolkit folder that was unzipped, there will be another mechRig_toolkit folder. Copy and paste that folder into your <USER>/Documents/maya/scripts/ directory.
• Launch Maya.
• Once in Maya, open the Script Editor and run the following code to see if the toolkit was installed correctly.

import mechRig_toolkit
mechRig_toolkit.run_test()

You should see a "True" or a installation successful message if it was successful.

Utility Script Library

Contain various Python scripts with functions to aid in the creation of rigs.

You can test if your installation was successful by running the code below to create locators at the selected objects or points. Select objects or components to create locators at and run the code below in the Maya Script Editor

Running utility functions example

from mechRig_toolkit.utils import locator
reload(locator)
locator.selected_points()

Custom Shelf

Custom Maya tool shelf for quick access to often used utility functions and tools.

To Load Custom Maya Tool shelf

from mechRig_toolkit.shelves import shelf_mechRig_utils
reload(shelf_mechRig_utils)
shelf_mechRig_utils.load(name="MechRig_utils")

Automatically load shelf at Maya startup

Add these lines to your <USER>/Documents/maya/scripts/userSetup.py file

import maya.utils

# Load Mech Rig Custom Shelf at Maya startup
from mechRig_toolkit.shelves import shelf_mechRig_utils

def load_mechRig_shelf():
	shelf_mechRig_utils.load(name="MechRig_utils")
	
maya.utils.executeDeferred("load_mechRig_shelf()")

Custom Marking Menu

Custom Maya Marking Menu for quick access to often used utility functions and tools. Use RMB + CTL + ALT to invoke marking menu in Maya.

To Load Custom Marking menu

from mechRig_toolkit.marking_menu import mechRig_marking_menu
reload(mechRig_marking_menu)
mechRig_marking_menu.markingMenu()