Dont know if this makes sense I mean I have a shader named plastic in the hypershade but all the nodes are named crazy from being imported like SX_:yopiupiiu_mib_amb_occlusion1 I want to name the nodes to look like something like this plastic_mib_amb_occlusion1
First of all if it's imported stuff, you should start be deleting the namespaces (Windows > General Editors > Namespace Editor).
To clean up lots of names like this with vanilla Maya, your best bet is to use Search and Replace Names (in the Modify menu), but otherwise I'm sure there must be some nice mel scripts around somewhere to do some more advanced automatic naming.
I use a rename script called 'cometRename' it'll rename anything you can select, and has options for numbering, adding suffix/prefix, etc. It's old but still works fine.
No need for scripts! Often Unknown Maya trick #47: Top right corner of your status bar where the Absolute Transform input box lives is actually a dropdown menu. There's a Quick Rename tool there.
Thanks for the information guys love this forum (I always forget about that rename box). In the end as suggested I used search and replace to clean the junk named nodes then a postfix prefix mel to change the node names to what I want e.g. plastic_mib_amb_occlusion link to the mel in case anyone needs it.
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since it would be pretty easy to do via scripting and i could give you a little sample too.
To clean up lots of names like this with vanilla Maya, your best bet is to use Search and Replace Names (in the Modify menu), but otherwise I'm sure there must be some nice mel scripts around somewhere to do some more advanced automatic naming.
after clicking a node click select in the attribute window
Scroll to the bottom of the page:
http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/maya2013/en_us/index.html?url=files/Basics_Tools_Status_line_toolbar.htm,topicNumber=d30e59943
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/scripts-plugins/c/prefix-postfix-name