if (`whatIs "$test"` == "Unknown") {
print "yes";
} else {
print "no";
}

There ya go.

However, it’s possible to write and edit your expression in the text editor of your choice, save it to a file, and import that file into your script at runtime. This is much, much nicer, and comes with less venom.

There’s a way using fread to put the entire contents of a file into a string at once, but I had trouble with it — this way, reading a line at a time, seems to work better. [Based on this tutorial from Jay Grenier's Script Swell.]

Code follows:

The script makes a scriptNode, which creates and tracks a scriptJob. The scriptJob checks selected objects each time something is selected, and if the control object is first in the selection list, the target objects will be selected as well. Since scriptJobs only last until the scene is closed, the scriptNode also re-creates the scriptJob when the scene is reopened.

I’d like to draw your particular attention to line 34, wherein I escape a backslash six times.

Download script here: selectTrigger_v01.mel

Code follows:

Note that real-time feedback is only available in the viewport’s “High Quality” mode.

Download the file here: rampRig01.py

New attachment support in my favela-generating code, plus a Romanesque model set, and I’ve got a collaboration by de Chirico and Dr. Seuss.

Made with my foetal citybuilder script, rendered in with mental ray using the misss_physical shader.

Voxelizer 1.0 is a script written in Python for Maya. It builds an array of animated cubes in the shape of selected target objects. It takes the color of the cubes from the texture and lighting of the object, and respects visibility and transparency. It also allows keyable voxel and gap sizes, by checking the sizes of optional control objects.

Download files here:
Voxelizer1.0.py
Voxelizer1.0_test.ma (Maya 2010)

Instructions and code follow:

Separate controls for the size of the voxel grid and the size of the cubes.

The code now respects alpha, and can vary the cube size.

Returning to the scene of the cubical crime…

I’ve found a way to apply colors to my mesh-voxelizing script, by sampling the color of the source model with Maya’s polyGeoSampler command. Incredibly, polyGeoSampler isn’t queryable. It’s used to bake the color of a mesh’s textures to the vertices of the mesh. So once you’ve done that, you can query *that* color with the polyNormalPerVertex command.

This technique only gives the expected result as long as your voxels are larger than your polys. Isn’t there any way to return the color of a texture at a given point on a poly?