To Question and Seek

Abishek 's new site !

2008-05-13T07:38:00.004+05:30

heyaaa !!!

abishek (vfx sup at vhq post), my friend has finally(!) started blogging and here he is with his neat articles !! you get alot of info, education, fun, reviews, pictures, tastes and whistles..... bla bla bla..... where all the greens and blues of things are keyed out v.v.v.v.v.neatly ! heres > www.abisheknair.com

check out his site and article on stereoscopy... and this project AVIE where i had my chance of working on stereo stuff !!

News Updates !

2008-05-13T07:30:00.004+05:30

Hiiiiii !!!!

yes yes, time to update some blog news ! alot has been happening in my personal life. I'm now a happy married man :)

me and my wife have come back to singapore this month to start our new life ! and feels so good to be with your loved ones ! and a big thankyou to all friends and relatives who came to bless us both on our wedding... :)

uummm... !!! yummyy home food lovingly prepared and served and feels so nice to love and being loved ! man !! this is life !

Update !!!! Maya PDC TO RF BIN

2008-04-02T12:31:00.007+05:30

hi people,

its been a long while i updated the blog.. lots of things happened meanwhile..

but importantly i have to update that - Maya PDC TO RF BIN (python tool) i was working on has been put up in Highend3d and ReafFlow scripting sites. So pls feel free to pass me your comments and feedback...

my friend Braam tried this tool and here is what he said...

"I loaded the two versions of BIN sequence (2000 particles and 40
000 particles) converted using your script, into Reaflow and I messed
around. No problem at all! No issues!

I converted PDC files to BIN on Windows machine and the Realflow is on
linux superbox. To make sure, I have also tried loading BIN into Realflow
on my windows laptop - stable and no problem!

Congratulations!

It is truly amazing considering that your script converts 40000 particles
at the rate of 5 frames per minute on my laptop (not as powerful as linux
superbox, maybe 1/4 powerful) compared to 2 hours per frame inside realflow
on linux superbox (eight-core, 8 gig ram) !"

I plan to consolidate few other particle tools which i hopefully can bring under a single unified tool !! lot of stuff done recently on particles.. so keep watching ...

SIGGRAPH 2008 !

2007-11-27T10:53:00.001+05:30

SIGGRAPH 2008 - Singapore !!

From their website - """ For the first time an ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques will be coming to Asia next year.

From 10 - 13 December 2008, SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 will explore fresh, new horizons of innovation and excellence. The highest quality of ideas from the community is assured as all accepted papers will be published in the ACM Transaction on Graphics.

SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 will feature works that provoke thought, explore ideas in innovative ways, address contemporary issues, interactively engage viewers in discovery, and stimulate their intellect and creativity. """

man i hope to be there at any cost !! :)

charger for all ur USB needs

2007-11-02T09:51:00.000+05:30

ION-FISTED CHARGERS FOR YOU - The Ion is a nifty charger for those who carry USB devices and don’t want to lug around laptops to charge them. A smart innovation, it’s already making waves. So are the latest digital frames ... al for just Rs. 399 !

i'm plugging this because its all worth it ! Read the full article here...
and check out their website - ION.

balancing thoughts !

2007-10-26T09:28:00.000+05:30

As i ponder various aspects of my life, i find its full of things striving to strike a balance.

good / bad, light/dark, knowledge / ignorance, truth / lie, true / false, visible / invisible, on /off, `window -exists myWindow` / !`window -exists myWindow` ...bla bla blaa....

now wouldn't it be nice if you can have a side by side look at both - similarities and differences ?? and save some hair strands too ??

I 've been using CSDiff a free software which is quite decent for the purpose, to open and see the differences between your messed up files / folders. It has three modes of display. From the notes.. "CSDiff is a great asset to anyone in need of analyzing changes which have been made between two revisions of the same file or folder."

Have any better options you use, drop me a comment... if /else, open / close, 0 /1 ... bla bla blaa..

Preferences - yours and mine !

2007-10-25T13:44:00.000+05:30

Do you have preferences ? I do ! Everyone does !! And no one's preferences are the same ! How many have you ? How do you store and handle your preferences ?

na na na....<<>> I'm not talking about human preferences here, i'm talking about MAYA preferences !

Been working on some maya preferences for some time now. During this exercise, i've been looking around for information dealing with maya and its preferences. I share them now.

1) getenv - [command]

`getenv "MAYA_LOCATION"`;
 string $user=`getenv USERNAME`;
 // Result:ashish//

to know the maya installation directory. I used it to find out where and which is my maya.exe i'm using currently !

2) about - [command]

`about -win64`;

to find out if your OS is 64 bit or not. This might be handy if your studio has a mixture of 32 bit and 64 bit OS

3) optionVars - most of the maya's tool settings, UI settings, user settings are handled using these.

Check out "C:\Program Files\A*****\Maya**\scripts\startup\syncPreferencesOptVars.mel"

4) Batch files - i use them to do alot of work for me. Yes, as you guessed i'm dealing with windows machines here. Batch files can be used to copy things around for you. Ex: Copy your centrally stored Maya.env files to each artist's preferences folder on startup.

5) sytem - [comand]

If you are firing a batch script through maya (using system command) and you DON'T want maya to wait for that batch to finish its work, you can use:

system ("shell s:/batches/startMaya.bat");

and to close that batch file's dos prompt automatically, don't forget to add the "exit" line. This way your maya can 'fire and forget' a batch file, without getting effected by it.

6) scriptjobs - Ever wanted to do your own tricks just before maya quits ?? Like putting your files on server or take a backup of your files or tell your pal you've completed your work ? you can use the scriptjob to help you with just that.

proc backupprefs()
{
   // put your code here
}
scriptJob  -protected -event "quitApplication" backupPrefs;

7) internalVar - [command]

Getting information about maya - you might want to find out where maya stores its things!!!

string $currMayaPrefLocation=`internalVar -userPrefDir`; 
// Result : C:/Documents and Settings/User/My Documents/maya/8.0/prefs/

8) Reset preferences - Ever wanted to reset few options to maya's default, still having the other user prefs as they are ?

Make a mel file with your required lines and source them at startup through userSetup.mel

EX:

optionVar  
 -sv "workingUnitTime" "pal"
 -sv "workingUnitTimeDefault" "pal"
 -fv "playbackMax" 200
 -fv "playbackMaxDefault" 200
 -fv "playbackMaxRange" 400
 -fv "playbackMaxRangeDefault" 400;

This will enable your maya to have PAL as the Time - working units and set your default frame ranges to 1-200. Everytime you have to do dynamics and for the first 2 mins you spend adjusting your time line ? Its not frustrating anymore ! :)

Paulau Ubin Island !

2007-10-16T16:56:00.000+05:30

What a nice place :)

Me and my friend abishek went to Paulau Ubin Island and ah !! beautiful place and scenic nature spot ! We cyclced for 15-16 kms and it was fun, riding and sweating !

some pics...

Jetty ...

changi beach ...

At the island...

Cycles !

the two explorers !

On one side...

thanks to abishek for the snaps and "compositing" :) yaayyee !

Animation Mentor's Fall Reel !

2007-10-10T08:39:00.000+05:30

aahhha ! post after some time !! but what other thing to post about !

Aniamtion Mentor's fall show case :

DOWNnload this high res movie : here :)

awesome animation. i 've been laughing at the intro and the last clip.. awesome sounds and love the way he reacts to that !! hahahahahaha !!

WikiMapia: My work Place !

2007-10-02T09:05:00.000+05:30

WikiMapia: Singapore / VHQ Post :)

Comics !!

2007-10-01T08:29:00.000+05:30

I came across this online version of the virgin comics ..... i love this art and comics..

check it out..

Ramayan

Devi

Fun with scriptJobs (maya)

2007-09-25T15:14:00.000+05:30

i did a small test to mimic bi-directional attribute settings....

download the maya file here

open the file, select any one cube and move it. The other cube's translateX will update ! i'm using a two script jobs and a script node which hosts a global procedure which does all the trick !

drop me your comments on this... can this be used in production or have you any tricks similar to this ?

Inspiring Technology

2007-09-25T13:34:00.000+05:30

true 3D Paint ! thanx to bclark

and rigging in real life!

Old stuff i dug out !

2007-09-24T15:24:00.000+05:30

my old maya doodles !

About how i was behind dynamic maya behaviour!

Check out the page > FmFA (fire my function attributes)

Python !! started learning !!

2007-09-24T15:18:00.000+05:30

started doing some python, after 1 yr of anticipation !

I'm working on making a MAYA pdc format to realflow converter python script. Still WIP. My first script at attempting some like this! think of it as more of a practice session with the deadly language !

Idea comes from this thread...

Shifted to singapore..

2007-09-24T14:44:00.000+05:30

I'm in singapore... joined VHQ post and this sure is a organized and modern place!

will be working no tools and tech support... for vhq..

check out http://www.vhqpost.com

OK, my mel doodles !

2007-05-16T23:26:00.000+05:30

i've been posting some mel stuff in one of the forums... but i thought i can have these MEL
doodles here too :)

{
// find and rename the end joints
// select any top DAG node under which you have a joint chain
// running this will rename the LAST joint in the hierarchy
string $s[]=`ls -sl`;$s=`listRelatives -ad -type "joint" $s[0]`;
for ($e in $s)
{
if (!size(`listRelatives -ad -type "joint" $e`)) {
rename $e `substitute "[0-9]+" $e "_end"`;
}
}
// now u can deselect your 'end' joints easily before binding any geometry
}

{
// at selectted UV on a polygon place a follicle
// tweaked from the example in documentation
string $selObj[]=`ls -sl`;
float $uvValss[]=`polyEditUV -query -v $selObj[0]`;
string $objname[];$tmp=`tokenize $selObj[0] "." $objname`;
// create a follicle nodestring $fol = `createNode follicle`;
// get the parent transforms of the follicle
string $folTform[] = `listTransforms $fol`;
// connect the sphere to the follicle
connectAttr ($objname[0] + ".outMesh") ($fol + ".inputMesh");
connectAttr ($objname[0] + ".worldMatrix[0]") ($fol + ".inputWorldMatrix");
// apply the follicle output positions to its own transform
connectAttr ($fol + ".outTranslate") ($folTform[0] + ".translate" );
connectAttr ($fol + ".outRotate") ($folTform[0] + ".rotate" );
setAttr ($fol + ".parameterV") $uvValss[1];setAttr ($fol + ".parameterU") $uvValss[0];
}

{
// Create a group for a controller, which is oriented to it
string $s[]=`ls -sl`;select -cl;
group -em -n ($s[0]+"GP");
delete `parentConstraint $s[0] ($s[0]+"GP")`;
parent $s[0] ($s[0]+"GP");
}

{
// to snap objB to objA
// select objA and then shift select objB and run :
delete `parentConstraint`;
// this will point n orient snap or
delete `pointConstraint`;
// this will just point snap
// this saves us the use of 'remove target' from the constraints menu !
}

-more coming soon, or keep checking the thread .. !

Rigging - uumm, started about it ....

2006-11-05T21:37:00.000+05:30

hi,

ok, will try to post my rigging practises and ideas along with some mel scripets .......

recently me and my friend udai were thinking about what cud be the method of having a IK control driven say tail / trunk / tentacle.. but have the FK controls to follow along and then have the FK controls to still rotate to give the animators per joint controls..

i've done some sample and will post the scene sooon... i shall post some of my tests and r&d works here soon..

-rgds,

Ehhhoooww !!

2006-11-05T21:17:00.000+05:30

hi,

welcome to my blog ! i've been wanting to do this for long... time now!

but ya this place is where all my ramblings and ting tings about my work will be put and i'd love to share ideas with all !

ehooow ! happy blogging !
-cheers, ashish