QuickGuide

See Installation for details on how to install and run this tool.

  • Once you load the tool you should see the interface.

https://github.com/MaxRocamora/MayaShaderLibrary/blob/master/msl/resources/screenshot/tool.png?raw=true

Categories

The MayaShaderLibrary works by creating Categories, inside each category you will save/load your shaders.

  • Categories will be created and listed, once you select one, the shaders inside that category will be displayed.

Note

To remove a category from the ui, click on open category folder and delete the folder from disk.

Shaders

Save shaders to disk by selecting a mesh in your scene and press the ‘add shader’ button, once saved the shader should appear in the category.

  • To load a shader, right click on the shader icon and select load shader, the shader will be added to the hypershade.

  • If you choose load and assign, the shader will be imported and assigned to your current selected object if possible.

Shader Notes

For adding or editing comments on a shader, use context menu, and select ‘edit notes’. Notes are shown on the information bar when a shader is selected.

Note

The shaders are stored on this location: installDirectory\MayaShaderLibrary\library\shaders

Shader Context Menu

  • Info

    Shows shader internal ID

  • Import into Scene

    Adds selected shader to the maya hypershade

  • Import and assign into selection

    Adds selected shader to the maya hypershade and assign it to selected object

  • Rename

    Renames the shader

  • Edit Notes

    Edit the notes for this shader

  • Browse

    Open explorer into shader folder

  • Generate Thumbnail

    Generates thumbnail image for this shader, uses a default light rig scene.

  • Delete

    Deletes this shader from disk

Thumbnails

You can generate a thumbnail image using arnold, right click on a shader and select ‘generate thumbnail’.
To edit this file, go to the top menu a select ‘Options’ > ‘Open Thumbnail LightRig File’

Note

The maya file used for render the thumbnail image is located on this location: installDirectory\MayaShaderLibrary\library\scene\thumbnail_scene.ma You can edit this file to change the light rig or the render settings.