MEL Scripting for Maya Animators, Second Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics) [Paperback]

Mark R. Wilkins (Author), Chris Kazmier (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0120887932 | ISBN-13: 978-0120887934 | Publication Date: July 18, 2005 | Edition: 2

Trying to learn Maya programming from the documentation can be daunting whether or not you are a programmer. The first edition of MEL Scripting for Maya Animators earned the reputation as the best introductory book on MEL, Maya's scripting language. Now fully revised and updated, the second edition also includes new features, such as a discussion of global procedures, new chapters on fixing programming bottlenecks, advanced user interface techniques, and optimizing character rigs. New chapters on utility nodes and Maya's Web Panel feature provide new ideas on how to use MEL in applications.

This new edition has kept the popular style of the first edition that offered very clear explanations of programming concepts to those without programming experience. A generous collection of code examples and Maya scene files is included on the companion Web site. This is a book for animators, artists, game developers, visual effects developers, and technical directors who want to learn the fundamentals of Maya, how to automate tasks, personalize user interfaces, build custom tools, and solve problems with MEL.

* Fully updated with several new chapters.
* Profusely illustrated and includes a companion Web site with numerous code examples and scene files.
* The authors bring their extensive experience in professional production studios to provide expert guidance.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Reading and following the lessons of this book provides one of the best ways for a casual Maya user to elevate their skills to a professional level. The fundamental techniques developed in MEL Scripting for Maya Animators are critical for visual effects artists to learn."
- Scott Stokdyk, Visual Effects Supervisor, Sony Pictures Imageworks

"While the first edition opened the doors to MEL scripting for interested Maya users, this expanded and updated second edition delves deeper into important programming concepts, and new features in Maya released since the original edition. No longer just for the first steps in MEL programming, this edition takes the reader into the depths of advanced topics such as user interface layout and web panels that are sure to make this book a frequently used and a welcome addition to any technical director's bookshelf."
- Doug Cooper, Visual Effects Supervisor, DreamWorks Animation

"MEL Scripting for Maya Animators is the set of keys you need to get under the hood of Maya. The book is well written for both technical and non-technical animators. It is an essential tool in making sophisticated animation not only possible but also practical."
- Henry LaBounta, Senior Art Director, Electronic Arts

"This new edition is - as was the first edition - the very best of an extremely small number of books that even attempt to cover the subject of scripting animation. The authors take great pains to explain where pertinent features, graphs, and editors are found, and to paint a picture of the interconnectivity of Maya's various networked nodes.
If you're just getting started or are advanced enough to want the second edition's beefed up content, there's an empty spot for this book next to your monitor right now. But make sure there is enough space for a few pads of sticky notes and a couple of highlighting markers. You'll want to ink this one up."
- Game Developer, December 2005

Book Description

The best introductory book on Maya's scripting language now in a new edition

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 552 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 2 edition (July 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0120887932
• ISBN-13: 978-0120887934
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I learned MEL from reviewing this book, January 28, 2003

By 

zeppocat "Kate" (Saint Paul, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MEL Scripting for Maya Animators (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics) (Paperback)

Mark and Chris have done an enormous service to the Maya animation community by writing this book. I was very impressed, as I reviewed this book prior to its publication, with how well they were able to communicate important programming concepts to an audience that usually has little or no experience with writing code. Many of the chapters will serve as an invaluable reference for future projects, while the examples show how the concepts are applied in the context of specific requirements. There is no other book on the market that specifically teaches this language, even to experienced coders. Animators with absolutely no prior knowledge of programming may buy this book with confidence, knowing it will clearly explain the concepts they need to know to use MEL effectively in their work. Highly recommended.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Tutorial and Reference, February 16, 2003

By 

Michael Goldfarb (Calgary, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MEL Scripting for Maya Animators (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics) (Paperback)

This book is a very clear introduction to the mel scripting language. Often a user will need or want to explore mel to get the most out of Maya, to speed up workflow, repeat tasks more quickly, or achieve complex actions difficult to do in the GUI alone. Those users with programming experience will have little difficulty understanding mel fundamentals from the documentation included with Maya, but those with little or no previous programming experience will have a tough time learning from the documentation alone. Now Maya users of all levels of experience can gain the benefits of mel through the concepts presented in this book, in the form of detailed explanations and dozens of example scipts.
Mark Wilkins and Chris Kazmier have writen an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn mel and get the most out of Maya. I highly recommend it.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars All in all good book,BUT, December 25, 2004

By 

O. Perry (rehovot Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MEL Scripting for Maya Animators (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics) (Paperback)

Reading the book cover to cover, I found myself obligated to write a review here about it .
I will divide my review to Good and Bad

The bad:
This book is DEFINTLY not for animators, means, it's for programmers, if you are an art person and never seen or heard about programming, this book will be very difficult to learn.

Second. a LOT OF errors!! And I don't mean errors on the text, if you download the files in the site(which should be updated) they contain a lot of bugs!! some times while reading it, I found myself debugging the author CODE!! Outrages!

Third, some of the chapters are not in place!, for example the author start in chapter one using all sorts of parameters and varibale,but only in chapter six he bothers to explain about them

Forth, as mentioned earlier there are chapters on vectors, recursive functions and more, this is for sure not for beginners, and for sure not for persons with out some math background or programming background
.
Fifth, there is to much examples on the GUI and less examples on practical things, like moving particles and stuff( there is some of it , but few..)This is sad because some of the examples the author does write are very good.

The good
This is basically the only book on MEL, and if you are joining a big team and you have some background in programming and some mat skills, you will find it very interesting because not only the author explain code, his examples are interesting, cover most of the basics in the studio needs, and some of the tips he is giving during the book worth gold, he explain many times how to work in group, how to program to someone else and what to think about before you even start to program, it can easily be seen that the person who wrote it work in the subj .
All in all a good book to start , but in some point t it missing the point
lengthy chapters with no actual code or explaining any useful things
It seems as if the author try to catch it all...
To explain things to beginners while giving advice for novice programmers...