System Requirements
System Requirements
Maya Complete 4.0 or later on any available platform. Maya PLE 4.5 users cannot use the file functions of MEL. An external text editor suited to programming, such as Edit Plus, vi, or Visual SlickEdit, is recommended, but not required.
Appendix B: Web Resources
Charles
River
Media
www.charlesriver.com
The publisher of this book. Here you will find a wide variety of books
AliasWavefront
www.aliaswavefront.com
The Web site of Maya s developer. Essential for finding the latest updates to the Maya software, frequent releases of scripts and tools for Maya, and tutorials on all aspects of Maya.
Mathworld
http://mathworld.wolfram.com
From the developer of the Mathmatica software, an advanced tool for scientific and mathematical research. This site should always be your first stop for any research into mathematics, from geometry to trigonometry to complex equations understandable only by those with advanced degrees.
ACM
SIGGRAPH
www.siggraph.org
The Web site for the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. Provides information on the annual worldwide conference and the many local chapters, as well as a store to purchase the proceedings from past conferences. As mentioned, these
Gamagroup
www.
www.gdconf.com
From the people behind
Game Developer Magazine
come Gamasutra and the Game Developers Conference. This site provides information on the
Highend
3D
www.highend3d.com
The most complete site on the Web for all Maya information, Highend 3D also serves as the MEL scripting repository. Almost every
Index
A
ACM SIGGRAPH Web resources, 455-456
Action script, 67-68. See also Scripts
Adding
matrices, 26
vectors, 17-18, 20
Adjustability of
Algebra, 11-13
Alias command, 353
Alias(Wavefront Web resources, 455
Alpha software, 134
AMC SIGGRAPH
Ampersands (&&) logical operator, 55
Angled brackets (<>) and vector variables, 43
Angles
trigonometry, 13-15
units of measurement, 26-27
Animation
blend shape, 371-385
cycling tool for, 172-217
Expression Editor, 221-222
flapping ball, 220-230
Animation curves, 182-183. See also Cycling tool
Animation menu global variables, 351
Appending files, 413
Arguments
command, defined, 38
converting short to long, 35-36
passing correct number, 120
Arithmetic statement, 49-52
Arrays
accessing elements of, 50
described, 45
parsing, 58, 59-60
ASCII files, 412-423
Aspect ratio and cubic reflection map, 242-243
Assignment statement, 48-49
Attachment of windows in UI, 304-305
Attributes
Attribute Editor, 402
dynamic, in flapping ball project, 223-224, 226, 228
enumerated, 42-43
Axis of motion, 224
