Connecting textures to a switch

[davus]

So i'm an idiot when it comes to MEL. Here's what i wanted to do.... i have 10 textures that i want to connect to several hundred spheres with the same material. I plan to use a triple switch to achieve this, however connecting the textures to that many spheres by hand thru the switch would make me want to throw things.... so i can up with this script:

////////////////////////

$switchNode = "tripleShadingSwitch1";

for($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {

int $rep = 10;

connectAttr -f ($psdFileTex[($i)] + ".outColor") ($switchNode + ".input[" + (($i) + (0 * $rep)) + "].inTriple");

connectAttr -f ($psdFileTex[($i)] + ".outColor") ($switchNode + ".input[" + (($i) + (1 * $rep)) + "].inTriple");

connectAttr -f ($psdFileTex[($i)] + ".outColor") ($switchNode + ".input[" + (($i) + (2 * $rep)) + "].inTriple");

};

//////////////////////

I couldn't figure out how to get the textures files to loop back to 1 after it had reached 10, so instead i duplicated the lines connecting the attributes about 50 times and just changed the multiplier at the end. i used the "$rep" variable instead of just putting a 10 because theres a chance I will only be using 8 textures instead of 10 and i didn't want to go back and re-change all those lines of code. I realize is probably the dumbest way to do this (it works though), but i don't really know what i'm doing. Love to hear a better way of achieving this if anyone can help me. Thanks!   -DD 

[joojaa]

Well this si slightly inefficent what you isntead want is a single shading switch that acts as a selector for your file nodes. Its easier to manage, say by adding a int value to all your objects and connect your switch to that. Then use that value ito do the choice in the network, Thsiway should you add more textures or need to change them its much less work, and it uses up less memoy.

[davus]

hmmm.... I'm not sure i've ever used a switch like that. i've always added the surface to the switch and then plugged the textures into the corresponding surfaces on the switch. I'll do some more research into it...thanks!

[joojaa]

Thats fine as long as you intend to really use one material per switch.

[davus]

oh sorry i didn't mention that, yes, I will only need one material for the animation. Only the psd textures need to change for each object so I thought it would be better to use the one switch to control everything so that i'd only have to adjust the settings for one material. I'm still curious about your method though, I'll def look into it. Thanks again Joojaa

[joojaa]

Well yes offocurse but material may also mean input of switch, material being the most abstract of all the types and all. So saying connact material means all possible shading nodes.