Is anyone using MEL?
 

Of all the forums up here, this one seems to get very little traffic. Either everyone here is very comfortable with MEL and expressions or no one's really using it. Just curious...

I haven't played with them much, I guess I should sometime soon.

I play with it from time to time. Here's what I did a while back: http://forum.simplymaya.com/showthre...&threadid=2032

I agree, I wish this area was a little more active, however I think that the way folks around here have been using it is on a case by case basis, and post a question when they run into problems.

Is there a particular question you had in mind?

If so, this Mel section is moderated by Kal, so feel free to post more questions:)

yep... I agree, fill it up for us dannyngan :)

I don't really have any questions. I was more curious about why this particular forum has such low traffic compared to the others. MEL and expressions are just normal parts of my normal workflow -- custom scripts, animation controls, batch processes, shortcuts, etc. I realize that, in general, there are more people modeling and texturing which don't usually need a lot of scripting. Being a character rigger and animator, I always deal with scripts and expressions in my work. Anyhow, I was just curious.

And Kevin, I'll see if I can come up with something to fill up this forum. :)

GREAT!

Thanks man!

yep I guess it shows what people use maya the most for, now and again we have some mels, but not that often... shame because its really usefull

I'm reading the Mel manual again here....and it's just too "geeky" :(

I enjoy the use of Mel when I use it like a Photoshop action, but to actually script from scratch is just too boring for me :(

If there was a way to make it more interesting and accesible I would love it! Some people are artistic and some are technical, I can make music or 3d, but I can't make heads or tails of this techno-babble I'm reading.I would really appreciate some help as I do realize the power of Mel, just can't break through the wall of the language :(

I think it's the same for a lot of people...I always wondered why programming was done in so called "secret" languages ;)

Darkon

I agree, it's the same for me as well:)

The Mel manual isn't exactly recreational reading. You're better off whacking yourself on the head with it. :)

Realistically, I think most people use Mel primarily as "macroscripts", and there's nothing wrong with that. Most times, you don't need to write scripts from scratch, especially if someone's already done it. You really only need to understand the basics of Mel and how it functions.

There are two books coming out very soon that might be of interest to people here:

Complete Maya Programming: An Extensive Guide to MEL and the C++ API by David Gould
MEL Scripting for Maya Animators by Mark Wilkins

Both authors are Maya experts and well-respected in the 3D community. David Gould is an artist and programmer at Weta Digital, and Mark Wilkins has a long history as technical director on everything from Dinosaur to Minority Report. David Gould's book is probably more programming and tools oriented for the techie types. Mark Wilkins' book is probably going to more artist-friendly. I'll most likely end up getting both for my library.

Pre ordered the ...for Maya animators book last week - should be with me by the end of the month.
Like most people reading the mel docs that come with maya bores me to tears, so hopefully this book is going to offer a new and interesting perspective :D
Will add a little mini review in here when it arrives and had a chace to work through some of it.

I think the first obstacle to cross when learning MEL is the syntax. If you've programmed with C or C++ before you'll understand MEL pretty well. If not, it may seem like swahili language :D

So a basic C/C++ user guide could also help newbies to learn MEL as well...

Just my $0.02.

Can't wait for the review, I'm going to pre-order it on the 25th of his month, uless it's released sooner?

Anyone know when it's comin out?

By extension, if you've worked with Flash ActionScript or JavaScript (both very similar), then you can probably pick up MEL fairly quickly as well. Foundations in C/C++ are very helpful, but if you've scripted before, you've got the basics down for MEL.