Quick Mel Attribute Question

Maya
1

Quick simple question,
I have a value from a distance node connected to an input of a condition node.
I would like to take the original value from that input and put it into an input of a multiply divide node but not connect it.
for example:

I'm creating a stretchy arm using MEL.
I want the arm to stretch only if it is longer than the original length.
So I have the distance node from the shoulder to the wrist, I've connected the distance attribute to the first term of a condition node.
Now, instead of manually typing in the original length of the arm into the second term of the condition node, what's the MEL command for doing that?
I've tried this:

setAttr "character_cdn.secondTerm" "character_cdn.firstTerm";
setAttr "character_cdn.secondTerm" = "character_cdn.firstTerm";

Any suggestions?

Thanks

2

connectAttr

3

Thanks Joojaa,
but I don't want to have the attributes connected.
I just want to input the initial value from one into the second, and from then on the second won't change.
At the moment, I'm inputting it manually, but I'd like to set it up in MEL.

Thanks again for your help!

4

ahh you want

setAttr character_cdn.secondTerm getAttr character\_cdn.firstTerm;

then? Or the other way around. Quite fundqamentakl understanding of programming stuff here.

QUOTE
and from then on the second won't change.

In that case you must lock the attr after the fact, or just leave it be and pray users dont change it

5

QUOTE(Joojaa @ 05/03/08, 04:57 PM) [snapback]285030[/snapback]
ahh you want
setAttr character_cdn.secondTerm getAttr character\_cdn.firstTerm;
then? Or the other way around. Quite fundqamentakl understanding of programming stuff here.
In that case you must lock the attr after the fact, or just leave it be and pray users dont change it

That's exactly what I wanted, thanks so much Joojaa.