Duplicate along curve script[WIP] - Maya

chriszuko

Full Page Edit: (Just to make it easier if this thread becomes huge)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xajEw4s60nk"]Maya -Duplicating Objects Along Path - YouTube[/ame]

I am almost finished with this script.

The purpose of this script is to try to ease the pain that other similar scripts put you through when duplicating along a curve. What I noticed in other scripts were that you needed to select you’re object, place locators to get the width and what not and then finally you can duplicate it only after realizing that some measurement you were supposed to make was wrong. I wanted to take those ideas and make it easier for you to duplicate and tweak.

Here is the download link.
http://www.zukodesign.com/downloads/scripts/Z-dupCurve1.0.zip

To run it put it in your scripts folder and open up the script editor and type in

import dupCurve 
reload(dupCurve)
dupCurve.gui()

Much Appreciation!

chriszuko

Awesome.. got it sorted out.. Thanks to a buddy of mine Steve Ross.

Anyhow I'll post the finished script soon.

haikai

Nice, I'm looking forward to it. The script I've been using to do this is kind of unintuitive and sometimes takes a lot of trial and error to get the results I want. I hope this works a little better. :thumbup:

ceebee

Awesome, also looking forward to this!

malcolm

Is this script live tweakable, so once the objects are placed on the spline can I change the spacing and number of them?

chriszuko

Alright, Well I have the script running at a stable rate at the moment. There still are a few bugs that were with some of the other functions I wanted to put in, but I commented them out for now.

Here is the download link.
http://www.zukodesign.com/downloads/scripts/Z-dupCurve0.8.zip

To run it put it in your scripts folder and open up the script editor and type in

import dupCurve
reload(dupCurve)
dupCurve.gui()

When its open there are a few things in your face.
To just use the script without any special modes, keep it on "None"
1. Select your object
2. Select your curve
3. Click the "Attach to curve" Button
4. Then click Dup Curve

I will go ahead and make up a video and what not tonight to demonstrate the rest of the script's functionality.

Thanks,
I am taking feedback and will use that feedback to develop the script more.

chriszuko

Malcolm.. I missed what u said earlier.

The answer is yes to a point. After you get your first line of objects duplicated there are things you can use to tweak them. If you click the Autoupdate is "off" button .. it will switch to Autoupdate is "on"

then any changes you make to the cv curve will re-duplicate the objects.
I am working on documentation right now for it.. Gonna layout the features and what not

Dan!

very cool! extremely useful script.

chriszuko

Ok.. minor update. I realized there was a small error when you try to run the script after starting without a motioncurve.

new download link..

Still working on docs.
http://zukodesign.com/downloads/scripts/Z-dupCurve0.9.zip

also, I forgot to mention earlier.. this has been tested on 2010 2011 and 2012.

2010: Doesn't work yet
2011: Kinda works
2012: Works.

Working on compatibility after docs

chriszuko

Just updated my site with some help docs. Please tell me if they are easy to read or not. I have a hard time figuring out how to simplify some things.
Help Docs

Working on the video next, should have it soon.

Also... here is some action pics

chriszuko

Here is a vid, now I am gonna go back to working on robo-house while I look for a place to live (:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xajEw4s60nk[/ame]

chriszuko

Quick update... Just made the script compatible for Maya 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Note: 2010 is significantly slower, but it still works.

Dup Curve 1.0

ankit2910

This is the error I face

updateRendererUI;
import dupCurve
reload(dupCurve)
dupCurve.gui();
// Error: reload(dupCurve)
//
// Error: Invalid use of Maya object "dupCurve". //

CopperHaze

Been using this script lately. It works really well! Thank You!

ScudzAlmighty

just wanted to pop-in and say thanks for the script, it was acting a little odd at first, only creating 3 copies (the frame # kept locking to that) but after restarting the script a couple times it worked beautifully. Thanks Chris

chriszuko

Thanks for the feedback.. I am sorry that I didn't see this earlier ):

But that is awesome that at least 3 people have used it and have had it work yippee!!! Thats enough for me.

I know its a bit late but ankit, the error you got is because you are inputting the code into the wrong tab. Make sure you have the python tab selected. (:

ScudzAlmighty

Hey Chris,

I love your script but I'm having some trouble with the way it rotates the objects,



as you can see the tooth (its for a zipper) rotates on it's Y axis around the curve, I've tried different settings for the Twist and Vector but all it seems to do is change the way it rotates, and I really need it to keep the Y axis the same. Is one of these settings supposed to control that?

uk_resistant

when i use this i get a message about

# Error: ImportError: file <maya console> line 1: No module named dupCurve

I thought this might mean i didnt put the scripts in the right directory but i have double checked and i am sure i have.


I am using maya 2014 on Mac os - any ideas?


*edit*

I fixed it using this blog post here:

http://kirijiri-howto.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/import-script.html

passerby

Haven't tried it yet, but what method does it use? The pointOnCurveInfo node? Or motion paths?

chriszuko

@ScudzAlmighty Did you ever figure it out? I am not entirely sure what the issue is.. but the only thing I could think of is that the motion path's up-vector is set wrong.

@Passerby. It uses motion paths.

@uk_resistant on mac you need to put the scripts in a different folder than you would for pc. its located somewhere in ~/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/scripts
That should solve that issue so you don't have to put the exact directory in there.


Its been awhile since I have looked at this script. Probably needs a little bit of love.
Thanks everyone!

xIGhostRid3rIx

After playing around with several other scripts for hours I came across yours. My plan was to make tank treads but I am having a difficult time with that :poly127:. The problem is that the axis flips half way through and then flips back. Any idea on how to fix that would be greatly appreciated.

Since this is my first post on polycount I have no idea on how to upload an image otherwise I would.

evulet

Hey, Chris. Tried to play around with this script, got error kinda:
# Error: Cannot use the same axis for -followAxis and -upAxis flags.

Am i doing somithing wrong ? Oo

ilerchik

Hi, great script. I use it all the time.
However, after I updated to Maya 2014 I can't get it to load. Where do I put it in Maya 2014?

Thanks