Is it possible to delete the a shape node from its transform node and then link up a different shape node to that transform node?
For example, create a polyCube and a polySphere and delete the histories. You now have pCube1 and pSphere1 as transform nodes and pCubeShape1 and pSphereShape1 as the respective shape nodes. I want delete pCubeShape1 and use pSphereShape1 as the shape node for pCube1 instead. I don't want to just parent pSphere1 to pCube because I would like to get rid of the pSphere1 transform node.
Wow, I can't believe I figured this one out on my own! After digging through twenty other commands related to nodes, DAGs, and polys, the answer was right under my nose as a flag for the parent command.
With the example I gave above it is as simple as...
parent -r -s pSphereShape1 pCube1;
I noticed that I can have multiple shape nodes on a single transform doing this. I haven't seen anything else in Maya use multiple shape nodes like this. Is there anything to watch out for with multiple shape nodes on a single object? I have already noticed that if I go to component mode, I cannot select components from both shapes at the same time.