Instancer Errors - Anyone

[geordie-martinez]

I am working in Maya 6.0.

I'm doing the same project that Adrian Graham did in his new DVD on alias.

I keep getting these errors:

// Warning: No items found in: OptionMenu //
// Warning: No items found in: OptionMenu //
// Error: Could not find attribute named ".cycle" //

it's starting to piss me off that no one knows what the hell they are. I've been all over the forums here and at cgtalk. No one knows. Is this a basic I'm missing?

[failure]

QUOTE
I keep getting these errors:

What action triggers the errors?

[geordie-martinez]

SOLUTION: It wasn't the instancer!

in Maya 6, Adrian used deg_to_rad twice to get the value he needed. but in Maya 7.0 you just have to use it once.

Maya 6 code:

CODE
// convert direction of travel and up vector into rotations
    float $rot[] = vector2rot $vel $normal;
    float $rotX  = deg_to_rad( deg_to_rad( $rot[0] ) );
    float $rotY  = deg_to_rad( deg_to_rad( $rot[1] ) );
    float $rotZ  = deg_to_rad( deg_to_rad( $rot[2] ) );

    // finally, assign rotation values
    rotationPP = <>;

Maya 7 code:
CODE
// convert direction of travel and up vector into rotations
    float $rot[] = vector2rot $vel $normal;
    float $rotX  = deg_to_rad( $rot[0] );
    float $rotY  = deg_to_rad( $rot[1] );
    float $rotZ  = deg_to_rad( $rot[2] );
    // finally, assign rotation values
    rotationPP = <>;

[geordie-martinez]

If you're getting these errors:

CODE
// Warning: file: C:/Program Files/Alias/Maya7.0/scripts/AETemplates/AEdynParticleInstancerNew.mel line 730: No items found in: OptionMenu //
// Warning: file: C:/Program Files/Alias/Maya7.0/scripts/AETemplates/AEdynParticleInstancerNew.mel line 478: No items found in: OptionMenu //
// Error: file: C:/Program Files/Alias/Maya7.0/scripts/AETemplates/AEdynParticleInstancerNew.mel line 480: Could not find attribute named ".cycle" //

They will go away if you:
1. close the FLOATING ATTRIBUTE EDITOR
2. open the ATTRIBUTE EDITOR IN YOUR MAIN WINDOW DOCKED
3. close the DOCKED ATTRIBUTE EDITOR
4. reopen the FLOATING ATTRIBUTE EDITOR

I don't know why this fixes it. It just does. I stumbled on this.

[joojaa]

yes this forces recompile of the code... on can as easily re eval the ae template.

[voxel10]

I get these same errors every time i use the instancer in Maya 7. The AE window closeing thing works for a bit, but the errors still come back. I too am amazed that more people arn't affected by this issue. Maybe it's an install/configuration issue?

Karl

[joojaa]

Havent seen this problem with intancer ever. i have hoever sen the render globals go blink on me!

[raaajjj]

Hi guys.

     I have a temporary solution for this error.

CODE
// Warning: No items found in: OptionMenu //
// Warning: No items found in: OptionMenu //
// Error: Could not find attribute named ".cycle" //

(Before doing these modifications it is recommended to take a backup of the mel file ...Maya7.0/scripts/AETemplates/AEdynParticleInstancerNew.mel)

open ...Maya7.0/scripts/AETemplates/AEdynParticleInstancerNew.mel and do these changes...
original code
CODE
478:    string $selectedInstancer = optionMenuGrp -q -v AEdynInstancerNodeOM;
479:    scriptJob -replacePrevious -parent $AEmenuParent
480:    -attributeChange ($selectedInstancer+".cycle") "AEparticleInstWatchCycleAttribute";

modified code
CODE
    int $no_of_items = optionMenuGrp -q -ni AEdynInstancerNodeOM;
    if( $no_of_items != 0 )
    {
    string $selectedInstancer = optionMenuGrp -q -v AEdynInstancerNodeOM;
    scriptJob -replacePrevious -parent $AEmenuParent
    -attributeChange ($selectedInstancer+".cycle") "AEparticleInstWatchCycleAttribute";
    }

in two more places...
original code
CODE
615:    string $selectedInstancer = optionMenuGrp -q -v AEdynInstancerNodeOM;
616:    string $flag  = AEparticleInstancerCmdFlag( $attrName );
...
640:    }

modified code enclose lines from 616 to 640 inside this condition...
CODE
    int $no_of_items = optionMenuGrp -q -ni AEdynInstancerNodeOM;
    if( $no_of_items != 0 )
    {
    string $selectedInstancer = optionMenuGrp -q -v AEdynInstancerNodeOM;
    string $flag  = AEparticleInstancerCmdFlag( $attrName );
... upto end of else { optionMenuGrp.... }
    }

original code
CODE
728:global proc AEparticleInstWatchCycleAttribute()
729:{
730:    string $selectedInstancer = optionMenuGrp -q -v AEdynInstancerNodeOM;

modified code
CODE
global proc AEparticleInstWatchCycleAttribute()
{
    int $no_of_items = optionMenuGrp -q -ni AEdynInstancerNodeOM;
    if( $no_of_items == 0 )
    return;
    string $selectedInstancer = optionMenuGrp -q -v AEdynInstancerNodeOM;

after doing these changes, save the script and restart maya and say good buy to those errors.

[geordie-martinez]

Raaajjj,

thanks.

Now... converting a vetor to a rotation ANSWER:

CODE
float $camXYZ[] =xform -q -a -ws -t camera1;

vector $camLoc =  <>;

vector $dir = (particleShape1.worldPosition - $camLoc) * -1;
vector $normal = <>;
float $rot[] = vector2rot $dir $normal;

particleShape1.rotationPP = <>;

And the code that makes it possible:

CODE
// vector2rot.mel
// script for converting vector into worldspace rotations.

// adrian@kolektiv.com Jun 20/04
// AWGUA Maya Seminar August 2004

// Description: An essential script for converting velocity and up vectors into
//              Euler rotations.
// NOTE: If you're using this for particle instancing, make sure to convert rotational
//       values in degrees to radians twice, due to a little legacy bug. Like this:
//            vector $direction = worldVelocity;
//            vector $up        = normalPP;
//            float $rot[]      = vector2rot $direction $up;
//            float $rotX       = deg_to_rad( deg_to_rad( $rot[0] ) );
//            float $rotY       = deg_to_rad( deg_to_rad( $rot[1] ) );
//            float $rotZ       = deg_to_rad( deg_to_rad( $rot[2] ) );

// Special thanks goes out to Steve Hwan for providing the guts, I just Maya-nized it.

////
// main proc
global proc float[] vector2rot( vector $direction, vector $up ) {

    // normalize vectors first
    $direction = unit( $direction );    
    $up        = unit( $up );

    // calculate the side vector
    vector $sideVec = cross( $up, $direction );
    vector $upVec   = cross( $direction, $sideVec );

    float $cosY = sqrt( ($sideVec.x)($sideVec.x) + ($sideVec.y)($sideVec.y) );

    // solve each angle
    float $rotZ = atan2( ($sideVec.y), ($sideVec.x) );
    float $rotY = atan2( -($sideVec.z), ( (($sideVec.x)+($sideVec.y)) / (cos( $rotZ ) + sin( $rotZ ) ) ) );
    float $rotX = atan2( ($upVec.z), ($direction.z) );

    // convert to degrees
    $rotX = rad_to_deg( $rotX );
    $rotY = rad_to_deg( $rotY );
    $rotZ = rad_to_deg( $rotZ );

    // return x,y,z rotations
    return { $rotX, $rotY, $rotZ };

} // vector2rot

[michael-oliver]

Thanks raaajjj.  Here is the code implemented for Maya 2016.  If you look at the revision history you can see where the modifications are made:

https://gist.github.com/hdev-moliver/8d3f8eb76ec5b4a86d8e4e18b1e1332f