Dash+

Dash+ extends Dash to add super powers to Maya's Channel Box. Using value relative operators like "+=" and "*=" feels great, but there is so much more fun to be had.

New Super Powers

• Chain Dash commands!
• Use the New @command decorator to add your own commands directly from Python.
• Use Time operators to manipulate key times! +=:, -=:, *=:, \=:, %=:, ^=:
• Create and modify Expressions by using "=" like in the Attribute Editor.
• Execute Python code to modify values and keyframes by using ":".

Install Dash+

Place dashplus.py in your Maya's scripts directory. Add the following to your userSetup.py.

import dashplus
dashplus.install()

Use Dash+

To bring up the Dash+ UI select some channels in your ChannelBox and then alt + right click on channel.

Dash Command Mode

Dash is the default mode of the Dash+ UI. If you enter some text and press return, all commands will be looked up in the Dash+ registry. You can also chain Dash commands by entering more than one separated by spaces.

Examples

Use wave and timeStep to produce regular sine curves offset in time.

wave(3, 12, 1) ts(2)

wave will generate a sine curve with keys every 12 frames then ts will offset each animation curve in steps of 2 frames. The keyframes wave produces are at the maximum and minimum values of a sine curve, to give ourselves a better rest state, let's use key_value to set the first and last keys values to 0.

kv(0, 0) kv(-1, 0)

Clicking a command from the menu will insert the command at the end of your current input. Making it very easy to build up a chain of Dash commands.

Python Mode

By prefixing your input string with : Dash+ will evaluate the command using python. The resulting value will be applied to the channels you have selected. Some useful variables are made available to you.

Also available are all registered Dash commands and all objects in the math and random modules.

Examples

Distribute values from -10 to 10:

:fit01(t, -10, 10)

Jitter every other value using uniform:

:(i % 2) * uniform(5)

Time Operators mode

Time operators are just like relative value operators except that they operate on keyframe times rather than channel values.

Expressions Mode

Expressions in Dash+ are super duper crazy. By providing additional variables, like we did with Python above applying expressions to many objects at once can seem miraculous!

The trick here is that we're evaluating the variables in expressions using Python and then replacing them with the resulting values. This lets you create Expressions that vary between all the objects they are being applied to.

Examples

From frames 24 to 36 have all object's values change from 0 to 180 stepped by 1 frame ($i):

=smoothstep(24, 36, frame + $i) * 180

Produces a value change scaled by the normalized object index. Objects at the start of your selection barely change, while objects at the end of the selection get the full effects of frame.

=$t * frame

Add new dash commands

Decorate a python function

import dashplus

@dashplus.command('multiply', 'm')
def multiply(*args):
    '''Multiply values by an amount.'''

    assert len(args) == 1, 'Expected 1 argument.'

    for i, t, channel in dashplus.channels():
        value = channel.get() * args[0]
        channel.set(value)

OR add a text command by hand

import dashplus
dashplus.add_command(
    MayaExec='import random',
    MayaEval='random.choice',
    DashCommand='choice',
    ShortDashCommand='ch',
    Description='Randomly choose a value from a list.',
    Hint='([...])',
    Icon=':/chooser.svg'
)

I think there's a lot of interesting workflows that can be developed around Dash+. Please email me if you have any questions or requests.