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https://github.com/colinkennedy/pickrunner

A better pickWalk tool for Autodesk Maya
https://github.com/colinkennedy/pickrunner

Last synced: 3 months ago
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A better pickWalk tool for Autodesk Maya

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README 

        
Pickrunner - The New Maya pickWalk Tool

=======================================



Maya's pickWalk tool is okay, but it doesn't work well for many common scenarios.

In particular, pickWalking is useless for rigs, because rig controllers are

rarely grouped so that a user can move between them easily.



For this reason and a few others, Pickrunner was created.



Pickrunner is very simple. You assign how to move between objects in your scene

once and then you can use your up/down/left/right keys to move between those

objects just like you normally would. If an object doesn't have any

Pickrunner data assigned to it, the tool will just use pickWalk, instead. That

way, even if Pickrunner is only partially implemented in a scene, it won't

interrupt the artist's process.



For the latest documentation, head over to 



### Installing By Module



Download the pickrunner project from online.



    git clone 



Pickrunner comes with a module file located in the "modules" folder called

"pickrunner.mod". Just add the full path to the "modules" folder to the

MAYA_MODULE_PATH environment variable and restart Maya.



Pickrunner will build a brand new shelf for you to use its GUI.



The paths listed in "pickrunner.mod" are all relative to the main folder so, if

you need to place the "pickrunner.mod" file someplace else, just make sure to

replace the relative path "..\" and "../" to wherever you place the other

files.



### Installing Manually



If you don't want to use the module file, no problem. Just do this:



1. Put the "pickrunner" folder located in "scripts/pickrunner" someplace on the

   MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH

   - This makes it so that the Pickrunner GUI will load

2. Add the directory to the "userSetup.py" file onto your MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH

   - This step will override your hotkeys on Maya's startup

3. Place the "pickrunner_icon.png" in the XBMLANGPATH environment variable

   - Only do this if you want to use the Pickrunner icon(s)

4. Add these commands to a new shelf button



    from pickrunner import mayarunner

    mayarunner.show()



And you're done.



## Scene Setup



If you installed Pickrunner through the "pickrunner.mod" file, you should

already have a new shelf called "Pickrunner" on-startup. Just click the

Pickrunner GUI button.



![pickrunner icon](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ColinKennedy/pickrunner/master/docs/source/_static/pickrunner_icon.png)



This button will load the Pickrunner GUI, which comes in two modes,

Assignment Mode and Selection Mode.



![pickrunner GUI screenshot](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ColinKennedy/pickrunner/master/docs/source/_static/pickrunner_screenshot.jpg)



### Assignment Mode



This is the default mode that you'll see when you open the Pickrunner GUI.

Assignment Mode is exactly as it sounds like. It's the mode that lets you set

up Pickrunner-object relationships.



While in Assignment Mode, you should see 4 direction buttons and a button

labelled "Load Selection".



Select an object, for example objectA, and then click "Load Selection". objectA

is now being editted by Pickrunner.



Select another object, for example objectB, and click any of the up, down, left,

or right buttons.



---



If you've got "Auto-Pair" enabled, Pickrunner will reflect objects.

So when you assign objectB as the "left" direction to objectA, "Auto-Pair"

will also set objectA as the "right" direction to objectB.

It's just a timesaver. Turn it off if you don't want it to do that.



---



Assuming you've done all of the connections you wanted, you're ready to start

using Pickrunner. If you have the direction hotkeys set up correctly, you

should be able to press up/down/left/right to move between objects or use

Pickrunner's "Selection Mode".



### Selection Mode



This is a good mode to test your Pickrunner connections with. Select objects in

the scene that have Pickrunner data and press the direction keys. Your

selection should move from object to object.



## Drawback To Pickrunner



Pickrunner is implemented using node UUIDs, which means you can go from any

node to any node, even if the nodes are shading nodes (DG nodes).



The downside to using UUIDs though is that if you export your objects and

import them into another scene, Pickrunner won't work. Referencing your nodes

will still work though, and in practice that's usually good enough.



## Final Notes



If you're looking to contribute or learn more, please check out these pages, first.