Do I need to learn MEL???
 

hey, all those riggers out there. i am studying rigging, and would soon like to find work in a studio. so, what do you guys think? for me to be able to find work in a good studio, do i need to learn MEL? i started reading a book, but i find it really difficult.

In a word YES. Most studios will not hire someone if they aren't proficient in MEL..... Plus, remember the other applicants are all probably up in MEL - so, what chance are you going to stand.

There's plenty help out there books/tutorials (and practice) it will also add to your overall understanding of Maya.....

be patient

Keith

Not to undermine what Keef said, but it is not essential to have a thorough knowledge of MEL to get work in a studio (unless, of course, they specifically ask for it). Obviously having some knowledge of MEL would be advantageous, but having knowledge of other languages is also good, such as c/c++/python/perl,etc. From my experience within my company knowing MEL is not essential to becoming a rigger, as rigging does not just involving writing expressions/coding. Some people have been learning rigging with only basic knowledge of MEL, they just learn on the job.

In the end, its down to the requirements of the studio, and learning any programming language is always really helpful, especially MEL. Good luck with it.

LisaG.

p.s, a good book for you may be Complete Maya programming: an extensive guide to MEL and C++ API by David Gould .

I agree!
Any kind of programing background is wellcome.
MEL is very similar to C++,but you need some time and logic to learn it.
I dont konow why everyone is afraid of MEL,MEL will be yours best friend when you get to know him.
And really, its not as hard as some people talk about!
Personaly, I began learning MEL by scripting some coustum UI for characters.

Logic is the same but syntax are lil' different.
You have all the MEL commands and flags in Maya's help file!

And, get MelStudio plugin,this default console is very boring and gray!

Good luck!!!

thanks a lot for helping out guys. lisa, i have the book by David Gould, but i am starting to have diffculties on page 72. Mr. Gould has not made much effort to explain the syntaxes, he just gives an example script. can you guys suggest any other books which might make it simpler for a prgamming illiterate?
guess i should have paid more attention in my C class when i was going to the college. :-p

...books?

Give your self a goal,lets say try to connect different nodes using MEL script...
Try creating the window with buttons that will create some poly primitives..
Try to setup a rotation order of 3 cubes so when one rotates other will rotate half the rotation as last and other will translate.
You'll see, you will search for some other syntaxes that will help you in your job.

I think there is a good web site describing MEL, try in google!

MEL that!!!

I'd have thought it was a she with the name... ;)

Definately learn mel because if its anything like C++/Python/Perl/PHP etc then you'll be learning skills which you can apply to creating websites etc which could be handly for when you need your own showreel site.

I've not tried yet but it looks soooo powerful :)

hey darijo, what you are saying seems quite difficult to me at this time. i still can't get past the really basic problems. i still can't understand the logic of MEL. i can make connections in hyperGraph...
how did you get started? what was the first things that you read in MEL?

Well, do you understand maya's node arhitecture?
Like I said you have description of all MEL commands in Mayas help file.
There you also have script examples for each syntax and meaning
of each flag!
Try:
window;
and see how can you create the window with buttons and commands assigned to the buttons!
I started by scripting costumUI...
In expression editor type:
polySphere.translateX=polyCube.rotateY //snytax is(object.attribute)
in that way you will connect nodes translateX attribute with othe node's rotateY attribute!
Just like any other program language,just like math, it takes some practice and time to get comfortable with!

So practice!
:attn:

hey guys, i stopped complaining and started to try a bit more seriously. and, i'm making progress. darijo, i understand hypergraph quite well and i can also not too bad at making connections. that's the reason why i used to think that i could ignore learning MEL. but, now i realize that to be able to make Maya really work for me, i have to learn MEL...

Is MEL the last thing I should learn?

it really depends on your preference. i started to learn it last. i actully hoped that i would be able to avoid learning MEL cause i thought programming was a boring and tedious job...
but, i do think you should at least have the basic idea of the workings of all the different tools of Maya, before you try to be good at MEL.

Right,learn all the aspects of Maya, then by using MEL you'll make those aspects work faster for you!

If you've just began learning Maya leave MEL beside 4 a while!

What is your field of interest: modeling,animation,rigging,fx(particles system)...???


By the way is there anyone who is interested or is doing with particle dynamics????

hey guys, so far i have been using the script editor for MEL. but, i realized today that all the variables i declare in script editor are automatically taken as global variables. well, what do i do? is there some other editor in which i should be doing MEL? do i need to download something? and if so, where can i get it?

Like I told you, get MelStudio Pro!

Good Luck!