Node-based interface for Maya using PyQt

[Tim Withers]

Well hello.  So I just completed this interface to be used in conjunction with my Masters' Thesis and figured I'd post it here to show a little bit more of what PyQt can do?  The goal of the interface was to bring a node-based, Houdini/Nuke/Fusion/Naiad, type interface to Maya.  When I started I didn't know Python or PyQt, and really didn't even know if what I wanted to achieve was possible with PyQt.  So I started learning!  I watched both of Justin Israel's videos on CMIVFX (link to these videos are in my vimeo link) to get me started, then Justin mentored me through the development process.

I wasn't sure of how flexible PyQt was or how customizable it could be.  Like I said, I didn't even know if making a node-based interface was possible before I started, but YEP, it is!  Obviously the underlying algorithms are not as sophisticated as Houdini or Naiad, but it does what I set out for it to do.  The interface alleviates a lot of the frustrating interface aspects of Maya.  For me, some of the more frustrating aspects are the collision events, instancing, poor menu design, lack of organization, and the SHIFT+CLICK garbage to create relationships between objects (WHICH ORDER DO I CLICK? I DON'T EVER REMEMBER and 9 times out of 10 I get it wrong).

The link to the video is here: https://vimeo.com/40380911 

It doesn't show everything the interface can do; I just started recording my screen and played around with it.  Enjoy!

[Bradley Friedman]

Any interest in open sourcing the node GUI aspects?  I wrote this a while ago and have been meaning to rework it. 

http://mdag.fie.us/

It might be interesting to see if there is any use in sharing some burden. 

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[Tim Withers]

Yeah I believe I'm going to release the source code for it.  I'm currently pretty busy and would like to have some documentation with it.  The next couple of days will determine when I put the source code out for the world.  I'll either post in this thread or create a new one with link, etc...

On Tuesday, April 17, 2012 11:18:00 PM UTC-5, leith wrote:

Any interest in open sourcing the node GUI aspects?  I wrote this a while ago and have been meaning to rework it. 

http://mdag.fie.us/

It might be interesting to see if there is any use in sharing some burden. 

[Aditya Naik]

awesome stuff Tim.

[Martin La Land Romero]

That's great man, congrats!

Martin

Martin La Land Romero
www.martinromerovfx.com
http://martinromerovfx.blogspot.com/
martin...@gmail.com
(415)261-2172

[Carlos Rico 3D]

Ahhh. Beautiful. I'm starting to smell Node-based GUIs as something "normal" and adopted by Maya :) Maya users also want to "cook" our recipes as others do :D. Hopefully one day... great job!!

Carlos Rico Adega
Maya Generalist
-------------------------------------
LinkedIn
carlos....@gmail.com

[James Ricker]

Great work Tim!

[Tim Withers]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the nice words!

[Shawn Patapoff]

Looks really great, nice work.

On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 12:53 PM, Tim Withers <clay.w...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks guys, I appreciate the nice words!