Hello World

This basic Maya Hello World C++ source code creates a plug-in which prints out "Hello World" in the Maya output window:

#include <maya msimple.h>
#include <maya miostream.h>

DeclareSimpleCommand( helloWorld, "Autodesk", "2020");

MStatus helloWorld::doIt( const MArgList& )
{
    cout << "Hello World\n" << endl;
    return MS::kSuccess;
}

To compile this code into a plug-in, create the helloWorld directory and save this code to a file name helloWorld.cpp in that directory.

Create a CMakeLists.txt file for this project and save it to the HelloWorld directory:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)

set(PROJECT_NAME helloWorld)
project(${PROJECT_NAME})

include($ENV{DEVKIT_LOCATION}/cmake/pluginEntry.cmake)


set(SOURCE_FILES
    helloWorld.cpp
)


set(LIBRARIES
    OpenMaya Foundation
)

build_plugin()

Use CMake and the appropriate generator to build a project for your code:

cmake -H. -Bbuild -G "Visual Studio 15 2017 Win64" when building on Windows
cmake -H. -Bbuild -G Xcode when building using Xcode on MacOS
cmake -H. -Bbuild -G "Unix Makefiles" when building using a makefile on Linux or MacOS

Once you have built your project successfully, use CMake again to build your plug-in:

cmake --build build

You can now load your plug-in into Maya using the Plug-in Manager, which is accessed from Window > Settings/Preferences > Plug-in Manager from the Maya menu.

Once loaded, run helloWorld from the Maya command window:

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The output will be written to the Maya output window:

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You can also create a version which allows you to customize the greeting using arguments passed to the plug-in.

#include <maya msimple.h>
#include <maya miostream.h>

DeclareSimpleCommand( helloWorld, "Autodesk", "2020");

MStatus helloWorld::doIt( const MArgList& args )
{
    cout << args.asString( 0 ).asChar() <<  " " << args.asString( 1 ).asChar() << endl;
    return MS::kSuccess;
}

Before recompiling the plug-in, unload the plug-in from Maya using the unloadPlugin command.

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You do not need to remake the plug-in project. You only need to recompile the plug-in using cmake --build build.

Reload the plug-in, and run it with two arguments:

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Your greeting will be printed to the Maya output window:

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