I've had a problem with lots of scripts that I write in that while they are running after a few seconds all the UI windows turn white and there's no way to see the progress bars any longer.
I've tried using the "progressWindow" command to use Maya's built-in progress bar functionality, but it seems to have the same friggin problem.
Does anybody out there know how to force the progress window to continue to update, even if a user is, say, reading email or surfing the internet while a script runs in the background?
I prefer using mayas built in progress bar on left bottom Although everything freezes but you can still see the progress. (dont remember the command right now) A Good thing about this is you can press escape and your script will stop without restarting maya. I founf it very useful. So when things are not converging its a very handy trick. I'll post this under the tips once I have access to my code. But its really the same thing as in mel reference.
That would be cool...I can't seem to find any info on it in the Command Reference, though. If you remember the command, would you mind passing it along?
i think the command he was talking about was the progressBar command (which is the one you're having trouble with, is it not?).
i think the problem you're having is winXP related. you're on XP right? it seems that sort of thing happens often on XP. there is a "fix" that might do the trick for you:
right mouse click on you Maya.exe icon and select properties -> click on the compatibility tab and check "Run this program in compatibility mode" and select Windows 2000 from the pull down