How to copy expressions to multiple objects

Maya
1

OK so I've made a jellyfish from a number of curves which are controlled by expressions ( which in turn define a lofted surface ). The thing is I'm happy with the movement and I'd like to do 2 things...
1. duplicate the setup to make lots of jellyfish and
2. set them off in random directions ( currently the jellyfish only moves in Y ) It's like I need an outerNode to contain my code and geometry which I could then copy and randomize - can anyone help? Has anyone done anything similar? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

2

I know a decent fake method. Place the jellyfish in to its own layer. Save your jellyfish file. But leave it open. Go to file-->import, and choose the jellyfish file you just saved. Your new imported jellyfish will have all the controls of the first, and best of all, it will have its own layer.

If you want hundreds, like you mentioned, you can look at this script editor, and see what is generated when you import your jellyfish file, copy it several times, then execute all of them. This is an example of what your script might look like.

//copy 1//
pv_performAction "C:/AW/Maya4.0/bin/jellyfish.mb" "mayaBinary";
file -import -type "mayaBinary" -rpr "jellyfish" -options "v=0" "C:/AW/Maya4.0/bin/jellyfish.mb";

//copy 2//
pv_performAction "C:/AW/Maya4.0/bin/jellyfish.mb" "mayaBinary";
file -import -type "mayaBinary" -rpr "jellyfish" -options "v=0" "C:/AW/Maya4.0/bin/jellyfish.mb";

//copy 3//
pv_performAction "C:/AW/Maya4.0/bin/jellyfish.mb" "mayaBinary";
file -import -type "mayaBinary" -rpr "jellyfish" -options "v=0" "C:/AW/Maya4.0/bin/jellyfish.mb";

//copy 4//
pv_performAction "C:/AW/Maya4.0/bin/jellyfish.mb" "mayaBinary";
file -import -type "mayaBinary" -rpr "jellyfish" -options "v=0" "C:/AW/Maya4.0/bin/jellyfish.mb";

This is a sample of what you would have if you wanted only 4 copies. Just copy the script as many times as you need models with expressions

3

Thanks a million that's a great tip!