Chapter 17. MEL and Expressions


In Maya, many repetitive tasks can be made easier with Maya Embedded Language (MEL) or expressions. MEL is a scripting language that uses commands to cause Maya to do different things. In fact, most of the tools you use in Maya create their effects by executing MEL commands. You can view these commands in the Script Editor, which makes it easy to learn the MEL commands for specific tasks (Figure 17.1). You can also use the Script Editor to write and execute MEL scripts, which are simply multiple commands executed in sequence.

Figure 17.1. The Script Editor displays the MEL commands for the tasks you perform in Maya.


Expressions are another form of scripting used to control keyable attributes. Rather than being executed once, like a MEL script, expressions are evaluated at every frame. The result of this evaluation becomes the new value for the attribute the expression controls. You can use MEL commands or mathematical equations in expressions. You can create and edit expressions in the Expression Editor (Figure 17.2).

Figure 17.2. The Expression Editor allows you to create and edit expressions.





Maya 7 for Windows and Macintosh(c) Visual Quickstart Guide
Maya 7 for Windows & Macintosh
ISBN: 0321348990
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 185

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