The new Unified Sampling mode in Maya 2014 is set by default and doesn't work with mental ray Contour rendering. In order to get the mental ray Contour rendering to work, set the Sampling Mode in the Quality tab of the Render Settings to "Legacy Sampling Mode".
Maya users on Mac OS can run into problems when trying to get a MOV file output of their image sequences. This video demonstrates a fast and easy workaround using FFmpeg.
Some mental ray materials are now classified as “Legacy Materials” in Maya 2014. Unfortunately, there is an issue where these materials will not appear with swatches or shading groups. Here is a list of the materials affected:
mib_glossy_reflection
mib_glossy_refraction
builtin_bsdf_architectural
builtin_bsdf_architectural_comp
builtin_bsdf_ashikhmin
builtin_bsdf_carpaint
builtin_bsdf_lambert
builtin_bsdf_mirror
builtin_bsdf_phong
path_material
mib_illum_lambert
mib_illum_phong
mib_illum_blinn
mib_illum_cooktorr
mib_illum_ward
mib_illum_ward_deriv
path_material
transmat
dgs_material
dielectric_material
To work around this issue, download the attached “mentalrayCustomNodeClass.mel” file and copy it into mentalrayForMaya2014/scripts. This will revert the mental ray material classifications to their Maya 2013-state.
Download MentalrayCustomNodeClass
Cheers!
Nelson
Here are some quick links for all your Maya 2014 details.
What's New | Documentation | SDK Documentation | Release Notes | System Requirements
Running Maya in debug mode and sending a stack trace can help Autodesk troubleshoot some crashes. Maya uses GNU Debugger (usually called GDB), which when activated, lists every procedure happening within Maya. This information can then be sent to Autodesk to aid in further troubleshooting.
Note: a Linux terminal must be used to run Maya in this mode.
3. This will launch GDB and load the maya.bin file (GDB itself does not have a UI).
4. Once GDB loads you will get a prompt. You will now need to launch Maya using one of the two options below:
5. If Maya crashes you will come back to the GDB prompt in the terminal.
6. To get stack trace you will need to do the following:
1. Type "bt" to get stack trace details.
2. Type "threads #" to switch to a specific thread number. These can range between a variety of numbers. Start at 1 and go up from there until "bt" does not show any more details.
The information printed out in the terminal should be copied and pasted into an email and sent to Product Support through your service request.
When a set node is selected, the default behaviour is for Maya to expand the selection to include all the items in that set.
If you want Maya to simply select the node and ignore its contents, use the -noExpand flag.
Here is an example that caught me out yesterday and prompted me to post this.Let's say you want to preview the nodes that Maya will export when you perform an Export Selection.
1) open Maya 2013
2) create a couple of spheres
3) create a Blinn material and assign to the spheres
4) select one of the spheres
5) execute the following MEL commands:
//
string $export[] = `file -preview -exportSelected -constructionHistory 0 -expressions 1 -shader 1`;
select -replace $export;
//
You'll notice that now both spheres are selected.
This may lead you to think that both spheres would be exported, were you to remove the preview flag from the command, which is not what you want.
Query the selection you'll read the following:
//
pSphere1
pSphereShape1
materialInfo1
blinn1
lightLinker1
pSphereShape2
pSphere2
blinn1SG
//
We're assuming that this list reflects the results of the file -preview command. this is not the case. this list reflects the result of the select command.
Replace the select command with a print statement and you'll see a different result:
//
string $export[] = `file -preview -exportSelected -constructionHistory 0 -expressions 1 -shader 1`;
print $export;
pSphere1
pSphereShape1
materialInfo1
blinn1SG
blinn1
lightLinker1
//
This result is accurate.
So why did Maya select the second sphere in the previous example ? Well, one of the nodes in the list is a set node: blinnSG
When a set node is selected, Maya will by default expand the selection to include the contents of the set.
Selecting the nodes on the above list, Maya expands blinnSG and selects sphere1 and sphere2.
You can avoid this behaviour by adding the -noExpand flag to the select command, like this:
//
string $export[] = `file -preview -exportSelected -constructionHistory 0 -expressions 1 -shader 1`;
select -replace -noExpand $export;
ls -sl;
// Result: pSphere1 pSphereShape1 materialInfo1 blinn1SG blinn1 lightLinker1 //
//
To select a set node without expanding the selection to the contents of the set, use the -noExpand flag.
Owen
Here is a small video showing a workaround to getting the eye dropper tool to pick a color outside of the Maya UI.
In short, if you wish to skip the video you can simply accomplish color picking outside of the UI by selecting the eye drop tool and left mouse click hold and move the mouse over to the color you wish to pick and release the mouse button.
Cheers!
To avoid confusion from those of us using non Windows operating systems, I wanted to post the important note on the Maya 2013 Help Documentation in regards to the DirectX plug-in avialable in the Maya 2013 Extension.
If you plan to borrow Maya using this universal method that works with most Autodesk products: About Maya > Product Information > Borrow License, you will notice that you will not be able to render a file using mental ray.
Autodesk has released both Maya 2013 Service Pack 2 and Extension. All users can download the service patch from the public site while Subscription customers have access to the Extension via subscription center.
Please download Maya 2013 sp2 from the Autodesk site.
The Extension release will contain all the fixes included in Service Pack 2 plus the added features. You can access the download from subscription center.
What's fixed in Maya 2013 SP2