Re: creating a file node

On Mar 26, 6:42 pm, DTrel <DT...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:05:43 -0700 (PDT), pk_pk <aye_hy...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
> >On Mar 25, 5:27 pm, aen <a...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >> Hi Kanita...
> >> Sorry, but its been over a year since I worked directly with the API.
> >> However if you have not looked for it the:
> >> "....\Autodesk\Maya8.5\devkit\plug-ins" directory, there are a
> >> number of examples of creating and connecting shader networks.
> >> cgfxShaderNode.cpp
> >> checkerShader.cpp
>
> >> hth's aen
>
> >> >hi,
>
> >> >how can i create a file node using the maya api?
>
> >> >i would like to create a file node which i can assign to a
> >> >MFnPhongShader object.
>
> >> >does anyone have any ideas?
>
> >> >thanks,
> >> >kanita
>
> >hi aen,
>
> >thanks for that lead. it actually helped out a lot- i was able to make
> >the file texture node and hook it up to the material. all that remains
> >is hooking up the MFnPhongShader material to a phong shading group.
>
> >thanks!
> >kp
>
> Glad to help...
>
> Hooking up a shader network basically amount to the properl
configuration of the
> Dependency Graph (DC) (not the DAG) - dirty node propagation.
> There is a very good video intermediate level video tutorial for this;
> "Learning Autodesk Maya - Understanding the Maya API - The Dependency
Graph"http://www.creationengine.com/html/p.lasso?p=15143
> (copies of this may also be floating around the net?)
> At first it seems to be a very simple tutorial, but at the end they give
some
> practical understanding of API Nodes and Maya Cl***** (which are weird).
>
> Also...www.highend3d.comhas a good API Forum, not very active but they
do have
> good listing of archived postings. And Highend3d also have some plugins
with
> full source code, reverse engineering works great.
>
> luck...aen

Hi Aen,

After I created the shading network, I used the example from here
(http://ewertb.soundlinker.com/api/api.008.htm)
to assign the shading
group to my mesh/components:

MStatus MShadingGroup::AssignToShadingGroup(
  const MObject & shadingGroup,
  const MDagPath & dagPath,
  const MObject & component )
{
  MStatus                     status;
  MFnSet                      fnSG( shadingGroup, &status );

  if ( fnSG.restriction() != MFnSet::kRenderableOnly )
    return MS::kFailure;

  status = fnSG.addMember( dagPath, component );
  if ( status != MS::kSuccess )
  {
    cerr << " ! MShadingGroup::assignToShadingGroup could not add Dag/
Component to SG ! " << endl;
  }

  return status;
}

Although the "addMemeber" line above succeeds, I get the following
error in the script editor window:

// Error: line 5: Cannot add the following items to the set since they
would break the exclusivity constraint: pCube3.f[0] //
// Error: line 5: Cannot add the following items to the set since they
would break the exclusivity constraint: pSphereShape1 //

My parmeters to AssignToShadingGroup are something like (wrote them as
strings for explanation purposes):

shadingGroup: "phong1SG"
dagPath: "pCube3"
component: "pCube3.f[0]"

Do you know why this could be happening? The meshes in my scene
already have some other materials applied so do I need to break the
connection to old materials before assigning new ones?

I thought maybe the way I'm creating my shading engine may be the
problem also. To create the shading group, I had to use the following
mel command (I got this from the script editor when you create a
shading engine using the UI):

MString addShadingEngineToSet = "sets -renderable true -
noSurfaceShader true -empty -name " + phong.name() + "SG";
MGlobal::executeCommand(addShadingEngineToSet, result, false, true);

I'm looking into where I can find the video you suggested.

Thanks for any help!
kanita