MAYA: Simple Reference Option

Quote from Magnus on 29. November 2018, 9:55

Alright, thanks! I'll look in to the centralised install you proposed meanwhile 🙂

Quote from Magnus on 5. December 2018, 15:31

Hi Richard,

I'm testing the new version, is possible to create an empty import state somehow? Or connect it to an already excisting reference node?

Quote from RichardF on 6. December 2018, 0:32

I just pushed the latest dev version to GitHub., which has all the new features. But in the previous GitHub version you should also see a "Connect selected reference node" button on import states to connect it to reference nodes. The creation of an empty state is possible in the new GitHub version if you press CTRL while clicking on the "Import" button above the import list in the State Manager.

You can update Prism easily in the "Miscellaneous" tab of the Prism settings. Click "Update Prism" and select "from website". Don't get confused, this doesn't download the .exe from the Prism downloadwebsite, instead it will download a .zip file of the latest repository, which I just uploaded to the website.

Quote from Magnus on 6. December 2018, 10:42

Hi Richard,

Thanks a million, that is super awesome! The update worked without any problems, and it's also running fine on the shared folder it seems 🙂

I have couple of questions regarding the reference nodes and stuff, thought it would be best to show it in a recording:

https://app.hyfy.io/v/abGBPWhaaVn/

Quote from Magnus on 6. December 2018, 18:29

UPDATE:

I think that the stuff that cunfused me in that previous video was because there is a bug with the empty state (ctrl click) function. I made a new video showing the issue:
https://app.hyfy.io/v/abjlmjFW6pn/

Also realized that I'm repeating myself a bit in the second video, with the naming of import states, sorry about that ?

UPDATE 2:
Just found out that it is not just happening to empty states. Showing an example from an actual animation scene here:
https://app.hyfy.io/v/abHB6w6X6pn/

Quote from RichardF on 6. December 2018, 22:44

Yeah, there were a few things (including bugs), which made the whole process very confusing. I uploaded some changes to github/website so you can update your version.

When there is no object list in the Import State visible, then there are no objects or reference nodes connected to the state. If you press the "Connect selected reference" button, the objects list will become visible now and the reference node is added. When you import/update a file from the import state, existing references in your scene will only be replaced, if they are currently connected to the import state and are in the object list of that state. In your videos there was no reference node connected to the import state and because of that a new reference was created. Don't get confused by the orange button which lets you update the current version. The import state checks only the current filepath of that state and if there is a filepath with a higher version. It doesn't know about any objects in your scene and won't update/replace objects which are not in the object list.

So make sure the reference node of the character is in the object list of that import state and if you update you rig to a different version, the connected reference node will be relinked to the new version as you would expect it.

It was actually a bug, that the version was used as the import state name in some cases instead of the task name. I fixed that and I also exposed the setting for the state name of the import state, so you can rename your states when you created an empty one.

Quote from Magnus on 7. December 2018, 9:55

Thanks for clearing that up Richard, and thanks for the update. I’ll give it a try when I get back to the office on Monday.