MEL Scripts
Here is a collection of the MEL scripts that I have written. The links below will redirect you to their download at Highend3D.

Here is a list of resources I found useful when learning the MEL Scripting language.

mh_makePlanar v1.0.0 - Updated 01/22/07

This script will take a selected group of faces and make them co-planar based on any selected 3 points that make up the new plane.

mh_clothScaleCalc v0.0 - Updated 05/27/05

This is a utility that calculates cpCloth Scale values according to your production needs. More information is available from the Help pull down menu.

mh_unitConverter v0.0 - Updated 05/26/05

This is a utility that converts distance and angles across various units of measure.

mh_copyCurves v0.0 - Updated 05/24/05

This is a utility that will copy symmetrical curves to be used in cloth creation. The script will mirror the curves in the selected direction, and group them together for scene organization. You also have the option of generating a display layer for the curves.

mh_selectFaces v0.0 - Updated 05/21/05

This is a utility that will select polygonal faces based on their relationship (+/-) to the mirror axis. (YZ, XY, XZ)

mh_patchTSS v0.0 - Updated 04/17/05

This script will create a triple shading switch network used for painting on patch models with a 3D paint package.

mh_copyKeys v0.0 - Updated 03/25/05

This is a utility that will copy keys from one frame to another on selected objects. The script will also traverse down through the heirarchies to copy keys on child objects as well.

mh_softSpotRig v0.3 - Updated: 03/16/2005

This is a Spot Light Rig utility that generates a lighting setup to simulate soft shadow lighting. You can use the camera created to "Look through selected" in the viewport to aim your light rig at your subject. All of the rig controls are located under the "rigControls" node in the extra attributes folder of the Attribute Editor.

mh_polyCounter v 0.1 - Updated: 03/03/2005

This is a utility tool that will count and calculate percentages of all the faces, quads, tris, and n-gons of a selected polygonal mesh. You also have the ability to select face types.

AfterBurn v1.11 - Updated 03/01/2005

This is an awesome script written by Peter Shipkov. The script creates pre-canned volumetric particles in Maya that can be used as a starting point to achieve some very realistic results by combinging the speed of software rendered particles and the quality of Maya Fluids voxel shading. Peter wrote the script and I revised it to enhance and streamline the code as well as added scene organization.

mh_imagePlaneCamera v0.1 - Updated: 02/25/2005

Quite often Maya will slow down when working with image planes in your modelPanel. Here is a script that will generate a separate image plane camera and assign it to a referenced layer while you work out of another camera to speed up viewport performance. You can run the script multiple times to generate more than one image plane for each camera, too.

mh_keesCam v0.0 - Updates 02/12/2005

This is a special request script to aide in the camera manipulation process for someone who is physically unable to use the default "alt" hotkey combinations to navigate the viewport.

mh_rideCam v0.1 - Updated: 02/10/2005

This is a Spring / Ride Camera Rig utility that generates a dynamic camera rig. You can animate the "rideCam#MotionRig" cube and the camera will react dynamically. This is a spin-off of the rig that Alex Alvarez builds in the Gnomon Dynamics 11 - "Spring Effects" DVD. Available for purchase at: The Gnomon Workshop

mh_particleLights v0.2 - Updated: 01/07/2005

This is a Point Light Rig utility that generates a lighting setup with point lights constrained to particles that react to fields, and behave dynamically. Think fireflies with glow!

mh_fluidAttrRand v0.0 - Updated: 12/06/2004

This script will apply random values to the emission and turbulence attributes of fluid emitters. The script will traverse through selected heirarchy and grab all of the fluid emitters, too. This works well if you have a scene full of emitters and you want each of them to have a random value inside a given range. Just select them all and run the script.

mh_setRendStats v0.0 - Updated: 12/06/2004

This script will allow you to set render stats on a group of items without having to manually go through the Render Stats folder in the Attribute Editor one at a time. It will also let you select the parent in a hierarchy and the script will traverse all the way through the hierarchy changing all of the children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc., as well.

mh_camRig v0.0 - Updated: 12/04/2004

This script will set-up a 3-node camera and create the heirarchy that can be animated so you have seperate animatable nodes for transform, pan, tilt, and roll.

mh_softFill v0.1 - Updated: 11/29/2004

This script will generate a cluster of directional lights for adding soft fill lighting. All rig controls are in the extra attributes folder on the "softFillRig" group node.

mh_floatingToolbox v0.0 - Updated: 11/16/2004

This is an enhanced version of my floating shelf script. In this one you will find camera switching controls as well as a shading display option toggle. If you find the shelf script useful you may consider switching to this one.

mh_shadowSpot v0.1 - Updated: 11/09/2004

This is a script to generate a "shadow only" spot light. Sometimes you need a shadow in a certain area but do not want to add illumination to get it. Here's the script for you!

mh_tippet v0.2 - Updated: 11/09/2004

This is a script to produce a environmental lighting rig based on the industry standard "Tippet Rig". The custom rig controls are located in the "envRig" extra attributes folder.

mh_randomize v0.2 - Updated: 11/06/2004

This is a utility to randomly scatter objects in your scene. It works with Translate, Rotate, and Scale. The translate portion was created with the help of Jason Busby at 3DBuzz.com and I added the rotation and scale options.