Index_F

F

Faces of polygons, 92-97

Feedback to user , 332-334

File dialog command, 424-425

File dialog, 424

File identifier, 413

Filenames

forward slash (/) in, 244

tokenizing, 245

Files

appending, 413

ASCII, 412-423

binary, 412-413, 418

 buildPolyIcosohedron.mel , 89

closing, 413

creating text files, 413-414

cycBuildScriptJob.mel, 207

cycGetCyclingCurveData.mel, 207-212

cyclingTool.mel, 203-204

cycSetTimes.mel, 204

cycTimeCheck.mel, 204-205

cycUpdateCurve.mel, 212-215

 dirNameExt.mel , 425

editCycleKey.mel, 215-216

end of, 418-419

 generateGrass.mel , 113

Grass.mel, 113

log, 413

.ma, 449

Maya ASCII format, 449-450

maya.env, 67

.mel, 66, 363

 nurbsInfo.mel , 403, 404

opening, 413

proprietary formats, 412, 418

reading, 413, 414-417

Renderman Standard format, 418

scySelectCheck.mel, 205-207

 setupSmoothRender.mel , 265-267

skin data, 434-448

 skinDataIn.mel , 447-448

 skinDataOut.mel , 445-447

 smoothRender.mel , 267

types of, 412

userSetup.mel, 353, 396

writing to, 413-414, 419-434

Flags, 35-36, 95

Flapping ball project

adding sine wave to rotation Z channel, 221-222

altering axis of motion, 224

definition and design, 220

driven key animation, 224-226

dynamic attributes, 223-224, 226, 228

Expression Editor, 221-222

implementation, 220-230

increasing flap of wings, 224

initializing element, 228-229

modifying flap time, 222

overview, 220

random ball direction, 226-228

random speed, 228

target position, 229-230

Float field controls, 290, 327-330

Float Slider control, 289

Float Slider Group control, 289

Float variable, 43, 47-48, 50-51

Floating-point numbers , 9, 43, 139, 440

Flow control

break command, 54, 63-64

continue statement, 63-64

Flowcharts

cubic reflection maps project, 234

for Cycling tool, 173

described, 72-73

for geosphere project, 153

for grass generator project, 108, 113

for icosahedron project, 87

for rendertime smoothing, 252, 253, 254

for scene summary, 420

for skin data tool, 435, 436

Focus, panel with, 368-369

For loop, 58-60, 126

For-in loop, 59-60, 185-186, 255-256

Form layout

attaching buttons to, 331-332

using, 287, 305, 374, 378

Forward slash (/)

in comments, 77-78

in file name , 244

Fractional numbers. See rational numbers

Frame layout, 280-282

Frames per second (fps) and time, 222

Function and function calls, 74-75

Functions, mathematical, 10