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Team Nissan

AVABOT

An astral salvager and his automaton delve into the deep reaches of space in search of a legendary starship that has been missing for over a century. Their quest takes them on a perilous journey where they learn a lesson of mortality, selflessness, and what it is to be human.

The Making of Avabot


Runtime, 10 minutes
2009

Jamie Surgener
Writer, Director, Sound Design, Music, Video Editor, Camera Operator, Set/Prop Designer and Builder, CGI Modeler

Kevin Capizzi
CGI Animation, Texture Mapping, Rendering, Additional Modeling

Tracy Wayne Surgener
Actor, “David”

AWARDS
Best Film 2010 (Do It Yourself Film Festival, Hollywood, California)
Best Director 2010 (Do It Yourself Film Festival, Hollywood, California)
Best Editing 2010 (Detroit Independent Film Festival, Detroit, Michigan)
Best Art Design 2011 (Mitten Movie Project, Detroit, Michigan)
Third Place Best Cinematography 2011 (Mitten Movie Project, Detroit, Michigan)
Third Place Best Editing 2011 (Mitten Movie Project, Detroit, Michigan)
Best Location 2011 (Mitten Movie Project, Detroit, Michigan)
Audience Choice Award 2010 (Mitten Movie Project, Detroit Michigan)

Be Your Own Souvenir! from blablabLAB on Vimeo.

Feel free to drop by the live video feed in the Live Print Room

The script I put together here will do all of what I explained above. Simply select an edge loop and run the script. You can view the actual script just below. Any questions or problems please comment!

//——————————- Gz Average Verts Script ————————————-//
global proc vector snapToClosestSpan(string $curve, string $vert,vector $curveVector[])
{

vector $closestDistance[];

vector $positionVert = `xform -q -ws -t $vert`; // returns the position of the current Vert

vector $tempVec;
vector $tempCurveVec;
vector $finalVec;

float $span = `getAttr ($curve+”.spans”)`;
float $testDistWinner = 100000;
float $testDistChallenger;
float $j = 0;

float $tempDistance;
int $closestArray;
int $m = $span *100;
int $k = 0;

while ($k <= $m)
{ // all jacked up right here.

$distance = GzDistance($curveVector[$k], $positionVert);
$testDistChallenger = $distance;
if ($testDistChallenger < $testDistWinner)
{
//print “Challenger Wins!!!\n”;
$testDistWinner = $testDistChallenger;
$closestArray = $k;
//print $closestArray;
}
else
{
//print “Winner remains Champion!!!\n”;
}
//print $closestDistance[$k];
//print “\n”;
$j=$j+ .01;
$k++;
}
//print ($vert + ” is closest to ” + $curveVector[$closestArray]+”\n”);
$finalVec = $curveVector[$closestArray];
//print ($finalVec + ” Number ” + $closestArray+”\n”);
return $finalVec;
}

// ——————– Gz Distance Begin ——————–//
// Gz Distanc calculator between 2 vectors.
global proc float GzDistance(vector $tempCurveVec, vector $positionVert)
{
float $tempX;
float $tempY;
float $tempZ;
vector $tempCurveVec;
$tempX = (($tempCurveVec.x) – ($positionVert.x))*(($tempCurveVec.x) – ($positionVert.x));
$tempY = (($tempCurveVec.y) – ($positionVert.y))*(($tempCurveVec.y) – ($positionVert.y));
$tempZ = (($tempCurveVec.z) – ($positionVert.z))*(($tempCurveVec.z) – ($positionVert.z));
$tempDistance = ($tempX + $tempY + $tempZ);
$distance = sqrt($tempDistance);
return $distance;
}
// ——————– Gz Distance End ——————–//

global proc vector[] getPointsOnCurve(string $curve)
{
float $span = `getAttr ($curve+”.spans”)`;
int $k = 0;
int $m = $span *100;
float $j = 0;
vector $curveVector[];
string $infoNode;
while ($k <= $m)
{
$infoNode = `pointOnCurve -ch on -pr $j $curve`;
$curveVector[$k] = `getAttr ($infoNode + “.position”)`; // returns the position of the point on Curve
$j=$j+.01;
$k++;
}
return $curveVector;
}

// get your curve
{
string $selectionEdge[] = `ls -sl -fl`;
string $curveArray[] = `polyToCurve -form 0 -degree 1 -n edgeCurve01`;
string $curve = $curveArray[0];
rebuildCurve -ch 1 -rpo 1 -rt 0 -end 1 -kr 1 -kcp 1 -kep 1 -kt 0 -s 4 -d 3 -tol 0.00393701 $curve;
xform -cp $curve;

// get your verts
select -r $selectionEdge;
ConvertSelectionToVertices;
string $vert[] =`ls -sl -fl`;

int $vertsToSnap = `size($vert)`-1;

// get the amount of spans in this jig
vector $curveVector[] = getPointsOnCurve($curve);
//print $curveVector;

int $i = 0;
vector $move;
while ($i <=$vertsToSnap)
{
select -r $vert[$i];
$move = snapToClosestSpan($curve, $vert[$i], $curveVector);
move ($move.x) ($move.y) ($move.z) ;
$i++;
//print $vert[$i];
}
delete $curve;
select -r $selectionEdge;
}

//——————————- Gz Average Verts Script End ————————————-//

This is a really simple script to be used instead of the Maya’s polygon combine. It saves me a couple of cleanup steps while I’m modeling.

Normally when you combine polygons maya will pull the new poly out of any existing group and create transform nodes for every polygon that existed. If you delete history on your new poly these will go away. And possibly any group that contained your polys could have vanished as well.
Well this script fixes all of that. Just beware history will be deleted in the process too. I’m sure there are some cases where you want to keep history. Here is my Better Combine V2.3 Mel Script.

Update: V2.3 I fixed an error, added merge verts with a tolerance of .001 and centered the pivot. you can check the code below and download the file just above. If you like you can change the tolerance in the mel file within the area noted and you can also turn off the merge verts option. Enjoy! =D


// ---- EVEN More Better Combine V2.3 ----- //
// Combines Polygons deletes history and keeps it within it's Group if it is in one.
// Also Keeps the name of the first Poly selected.
// Now it merges verts and Centers the pivot as requested. =D
// the initial Tolerance of the merge vert can be changed below or you can change it in the history after.

}
int $selNumTokens = `tokenize $sel[0] "|" $selBuffer`;
$i = $selNumTokens -1;
$newPoly[0] = `rename $newPoly $selBuffer[$i]`;
if ($onOff == "on")
{
polyMergeVertex -d $k -am 1 -ch 0 $newPoly;
}
xform -cp $newPoly;
select -r $newPoly;
}

Key Features
The file exported is in a .txt file in the same location of the file you are working on
The layers in the txt file are in the same order as they are in the Maya scene

You can download the Mel here And you can view the script just below. Enjoy!

/* Display Layers to txt file V 0.75
Sorts and prints Layers to external .txt file within the
directory of the current Maya file */
/*————————————————————————————–
File name extractor
————————————————————————————–*/
global proc string filepart( string $path ) // Setting up Directories
/* Extracts the name of the current open Maya file.
Input: e.g. “D:/projects/default/scenes/myScene.mb”
Result: e.g. “myScene.mb”
Filepath can be delimited with
either slash (“/” or “\”) */
{
string $filepart = match( “[^/\\]*$”, $path );
return $filepart;
}
/*————————————————————————————–
File Path extractor
————————————————————————————–*/
global proc string pathpart( string $path )
/* Extracts the path out of the absolute filepath of the
current open Maya file.
Input: e.g. “D:/projects/default/scenes/myScene.mb”
Result: e.g. “D:/projects/default/scenes”
Note: Requires that the filepath be delimited with
_forward_ slashes (“/”) */

{
string $dir = match( “^.*/”, $path );
int $sz = size( $dir );
/* Strip off trailing ‘/’ */
if ( ( $sz > 1 ) && ( substring( $dir, $sz, $sz ) == “/” ) )
{
$dir = substring( $dir, 1, ($sz – 1) );
}
return $dir;
}
/*————————————————————————————–
Layer name File Output
————————————————————————————–*/

/*—————————————————————————————
Prompt for DisplayLayers or Render Layers
—————————————————————————————*/
global proc string userPrompt()
{
string $returnVal = `confirmDialog
-title “Export Display/Render Layers as a text file”
-message “Would you like to Export the Display Layers or Render Layers as a Text File?”
-button “Display Layers”
-button “Render Layers”
-button “I’m not sure”
-defaultButton “Display Layers”
-cancelButton “I’m not sure”
-dismissString “I’m not sure”`;
return $returnVal;
}

/*—————————————————————————————
Prompt for DisplayLayers or Render Layers
—————————————————————————————*/

string $fullpath = `file -q -loc`;
string $file = filepart( $fullpath );
string $directory = pathpart( $fullpath );
string $projPath = `file -q -loc`;
string $userInput = `userPrompt`;
string $selectionSyntax;
string $input;

if ($userInput == “Render Layers”)
{
$selectionSyntax = “renderLayer”;
$input = “Render_Layer”;
}
else if ($userInput == “Display Layers”)
{
$selectionSyntax = “layer”;
$input = “Display_Layer”;

select -r ($selectionSyntax + “Manager”);

string $layerManager[] = `ls -sl`;
string $layer[] = `listConnections $layerManager`;
// select -r $layer;

string $path = ($projPath + “_” +$input + “_List.txt”);
int $fileId = fopen($path, “w”);
int $layerCheck = size ($layer)-1;
int $intDispOrder[] = {0};
int $intDispOrderSize;
int $i=1;

// fprint($fileId, “\r\n -=Beginning of Layers=- \r\n”);

/*————————————————————————————–
Testing Code Area
————————————————————————————–*/

// print $intDispOrder;
// print $intDispOrder[6];print $intDispOrder[7];print $intDispOrder[8];
// print $intDispOrder;

$i=1;

while($i<=$layerCheck)
{
select $layer[$i];
$intDispOrder[$i] = `getAttr ($layer[$i] +".displayOrder")`;
$i++;
}
$i=1;

print $intDispOrder;
// int $intDispOrderSize;

int $intDispOrder[] = `sort $intDispOrder`;
int $intDispOrderSize = size ($intDispOrder) -1;

fprint($fileId, "\r\n \r\n -=Beginning of " +$input+ " Layers=- \r\n");

// potentially dangerous loop will keep increasing file size forever.
$j=$intDispOrderSize;
while($j >= 1)
{
$k=1;
while ($k <= $layerCheck)
{
int $currentDispOrder = `getAttr ($layer[$k] + “.displayOrder”)`;
if ($intDispOrder[$j] == $currentDispOrder)
{
fprint($fileId, “\r\n” + $layer[$k]) /* + “.displayOrder ” + $currentDispOrder)*/;
$k++;
}
else
{
$k++;
}
}
$j–;
}

fprint($fileId, “\r\n \r\n -=End of Layers=-”);
fclose $fileId;
print (“A “+$input+” list “+ $file +$input+”_List.txt was output to ” + $directory);

}
else
{
warning “user is confused and should take a break”;
}
/*————————————————————————————–
Idea for making this work
————————————————————————————–

get the list of layers
get the display order number on all the layers
find the highest number on the display order and run a loop that many times
loop and check from 1 to highest number
print it if it’s next in line.
*/

Some people around the office thought this was such an entertaining mug that I ordered nearly 12 of them. Your not limited there as you can get t-shirts, hats, ties and anything else with my “mug” on it. The latest request was for a Stein! So don’t delay and get your mug today!