Datasheet

Editor. To do this, highlight the shelf name in the Shelves

tab, select the icon name in the Shelf Contents tab, and

make your changes in the Edit Commands tab. If you want

to save your changes, press the keypad Enter key. To save all

the shelves, click the Save All Shelves button (this exits the

window).

You can customize the look of a shelf icon by entering

a name into the Icon Name field. The name is superim-

posed over the icon. You can also use your own custom

icon by clicking the Change Image button. Maya is able to

use a 32✕32 BMP, XPM, or DIB file. XPM is a somewhat

archaic ASCII image format supported by Maya and Silicon

Graphics machines. DIB (Device Independent Bitmap) is a

Windows variation of the standard BMP format. You can

store your icon files in the

icons folder found within the

program directory or the

prefs folder.

You can load a previously saved shelf by choosing Load Shelves from the Menu Of Items

To Modify The Shelf shortcut arrow to the left of the shelves.

Building a Simple MEL Window

One of the most satisfying elements of MEL scripting is the creation of custom windows, or GUIs.

If you’re relatively new to the world of scripting, however, the MEL code can be very intimidating.

With that in mind, this section boils down MEL windows into their most basic components.

The following MEL script makes a simple window with two drop-down menu options,

two buttons, and a short text message:

window -title “Simple Window” -menuBar true newWindow;

menu -label “Options”;

menuItem -label “Save File” -command “file -f -save”;

menuItem -label “Exit Maya” -command “quit”;

columnLayout;

button -label “Scale Up” -command “scale -r 2 2 2”;

button -label “Scale Down” -command “scale -r .5 .5 .5”;

text -label “Click me!”;

showWindow newWindow;

Building a Simple MEL Window

The Edit Commands tab of the

Shelf Editor window

“mel” and other custom icons on

a custom shelf. The custom icons

are included in the Chapter 1

images folder on the CD.

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