Conclusion

Rendering is a largely passive process, and therefore not an area artists feel they have much influence over, other than the creation of the elements being rendered. However, by using MEL to enhance the pipeline associated with the renderer, even in the most basic ways shown here, we see how much easier an artist s life becomes once the scripting becomes a part of it. We also learned how to use Maya to communicate with the operating system, allowing MEL to pass information, work with files, or even interface with other scripts, such as PERL or Python scripts. This expands the power and flexibility of Maya far beyond what many artists think are its limits.