Maya Python Scripting Ideas

In my programming class, we're doing Python scripting for our last project.  I had to brainstorm the following ideas to make a script for...

1.   Julienne tool, also known as a Dicer.  Within Modo there is a tool called the Julienne tool.  It slices a mesh evenly across the whole mesh in 'strips'.

2.  Vertex mover.  This tool would move select vertices set intervals and would have the ability to move the vertex in any direction for any multiple between 1-10.

3.  Staircase creator.  This tool would create a staircase primitive similar to the one within 3D Studio Max.  I would have a parameter to allow any amount of steps, the height of the steps, and the curvature of the steps.

4.  Circularize tool.  In a free program called VoidWorld, there's a tool called the Circularize tool.  This tool takes any selection of vertices or edges and then arranges them into a circle.

5.  Pattern select.  One thing maya really lacks is a pattern select tool.  In programs like Modo, you can select two faces, and then use the arrow keys to select the next face in the pattern.

6.  Random card rotator.  I love using alpha cards in my scenes, but I hate rotating them.  A tool that would randomly rotate all unselected objects would be a real time saver.

7.  Ambient occlusion maker.  This one's mostly for pure laziness rather than being a nice tool to add to my tool-belt.  In programs like Modo, I can easily achieve an AO render within 30 seconds of opening a new scene to test out my form.  In Maya, I have to go through the hypershade and each node to get my desired results.  If I made this tool, I'd throw in three versions, each would create and assign an ambient occlusion shader to the whole scene and then render it at 1920x1080 and then revert the whole scene back to the original lambert material and delete the created shader.  Each version would simply have lower rays to be cast, essentially a preview render, a good render, and a final render.

8.  Duplicate edge deleter.  Sometimes a tool fails, or some user error occurs, either way, I don't know what causes an edge to be on top of another edge, but it happens sometimes.  For this tool I would make a macro that would split all vertices, then extract all faces, rejoin, then merge everything back together based on the meshes overall size in the scene.

9.  Color tool.  Another useless tool, but I like colors, so oh well.  For this tool I'd make 2 sets of 6 buttons, each set would have 6 colors and have either a white or a black wireframe.  I would make the colors starting with a hue of 0° going up 60° until reaching 300°.  Once again, it's useless, but I like to change colors semi frequently to give my eyes a break.

10.  Duplicate along curve.  Maya doesn't have any way to duplicate meshes along curves.  For this script I would allow the user to chose an amount of the object, then I would tell it to align all those objects to a curve.