Go to: Related nodes. Attributes.

Manage the grouping : components group.

Manage the tweak, used for moving points (translate, rotate, scale), the tweak attributes can be animated.

Manage all display options (normal, center, border, edge style, ...).

Manage partial attributes used for ascii I/O : aPoints aVertex aEdges aUvpoints aFaces.

Manage the tessellation's criterions for the polygonal's displacement : aUseMaxEdgeLength aUseMinEdgeLength aUseMaxSubd aUseMaxUv aUseMinScreen aUseNumTriangles aNumTriangles aMaxEdgeLength aMinEdgeLength aMaxSubd aMaxUvaMinScreen.

Node nameParentsClassificationMFn typeCompatible function sets
meshsurfaceShapedrawdb/geometry/meshkMeshkBase
kNamedObject
kDependencyNode
kDagNode
kShape
kGeometric
kSurface
kMesh

Related nodes

polyCreator, polyCreateFace, polyPrimitive, polyTorus, polyPlane, polyCube, polyCone, polySphere, polyCylinder, polyUnite, polyBoolOp, polyBlindData

Attributes (134)

Attribute quick index omitted (too many attributes to show them all).

Long name (short name)TypeDefaultFlags
allowTopologyMod (atm) boolbooltrueoutputinputconnectablestorable
Allow commands to modify the surface topology
alwaysDrawOnTop (adot) boolfalseoutputinputhidden
Draw this polygon on top of other polygons. But once multiple polygons mark this true, all of the marked ones will be draw from back to front.
backfaceCulling (bck) enum0outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit backculling.
borderWidth (bw) doubledouble2.0outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit border width .
boundaryRule (bnr) enumint16_t1outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls how boundary edges and vertices are creased. By default, creases are automatically applied to all boundary edges and all vertices that have only 2 incident edges prior to converted to a smooth mesh. Users can control this behavior by modifying this enum. The options are 0 - use the original legacy algorithm which did not automatically crease boundary edges and vertices. 1 - default setting, apply creasing 2 - apply creasing to edges only
cachedInMesh (ci) meshnullptroutputinputstorable
Internal cached input mesh used only for file I/O. This attribute is for internal use and should never be directly manipulated by the user. If it is modified the results will be unpredictable.
cachedSmoothMesh (cs) meshnullptroutputinputconnectablehidden
The cached smoothed mesh, that holds all the meshes from different levels of subdivision
colorPerVertex (cpvx) compoundn/aoutputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Attribute to specify the color of a vertex, either on the entire vertex or on a per face basis.
vertexColor (vclr) compoundn/aarrayoutputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
A compound attribute that corresponds to the color of the vertex. The attribute is a multi with the index of the multi identifying the vertex that the color applies to.
vertexColorRGB (vrgb) float3outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Vertex color. RGB channels.
vertexColorR (vxcr) float0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Vertex color - R channel.
vertexColorG (vxcg) float0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Vertex color - G channel.
vertexColorB (vxcb) float0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Vertex color - B channel.
vertexAlpha (vxal) float1outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Vertex color - Alpha channel.
vertexFaceColor (vfcl) compoundn/aarrayoutputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
A compound attribute that corresponds to the color of the vertex attached to a particular face. It is a multi attribute and the index of the multi identifies the face that the color applies to. The index of the parent attribute (aVertexColor) already identifies the vertex that color is being attached to.
vertexFaceColorRGB (frgb) float3outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
RGB channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face.
vertexFaceColorR (vfcr) float0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
R channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face.
vertexFaceColorG (vfcg) float0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
G channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face.
vertexFaceColorB (vfcb) float0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
B channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face.
vertexFaceAlpha (vfal) float1outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Alpha channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face.
colors (clr) compoundn/aarrayoutputinputstorable
Special Attribute to specify the color - For file I/O only.
colorR (clrr) float0.0outputinputstorable
Special Attribute to specify color - Red channel - For file I/O only.
colorG (clrg) float0.0outputinputstorable
Special Attribute to specify color - Green channel - For file I/O only.
colorB (clrb) float0.0outputinputstorable
Special Attribute to specify color - Blue channel - For file I/O only.
colorA (clra) float0.0outputinputstorable
Special Attribute to specify color - Alpha channel - For file I/O only.
continuity (co) float1outputinputconnectablestorable
The smoothness parameter. Range is [0,1]. Default value of 1 smooths the faces as much as possible. Value of 0 subdivides faces only.
creaseData (cd) polyComponentnullptroutputinputstorablehidden
Polygon Edge Crease Data
creaseVertexData (cvd) polyComponentnullptroutputinputstorablehidden
Polygon Vertex Crease Data
displayBorders (db) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit edge border display.
displayCenter (dc) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit face center display.
displayEdges (de) enum0outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit edge style display.
displayFacesWithGroupId (dfgi) integer-2outputinputconnectablestorable
Overrides which faces are drawn on the UV Texture Editor. Has no effect on the 3d modeling view
displayInvisibleFaces (difs) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit hole face display.
displayMapBorders (dmb) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit map edge border display.
displayNormal (dn) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit normal display.
displayItemNumbers (din) integer0outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit item numbers display.
dispResolution (dr) enum0outputinputconnectablestorablehidden
Controls resolution at which surface is displayed
displayTangent (dtn) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit tangents display.
displayTriangles (dt) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit face triangles display.
displayUVs (duv) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit uvs display.
displayVertices (dv) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit vertices display.
displayNonPlanar (dnp) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit warped (non-planar) faces display
displayAlphaAsGreyScale (dags) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Display alpha as grey scale If color set only contains alpha.
displaySmoothMesh (dsm) enum0outputinputstorable
Display mode for the smooth mesh
displaySubdComps (dsc) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls if the subdivided components should be displayed or not.
edgeIdMap (emap) boolfalseoutputinputhidden
Should the API watch for the edge ID modification?
edge (ed) long3arrayoutputinputstorablehidden
Polygon Edges.
edg1 (e1) integer0outputinputconnectablehidden
Polygon first point of edge.
edg2 (e2) integer0outputinputconnectablehidden
Polygon second point of edge.
edgh (eh) integer0outputinputconnectablehidden
Polygon the hard or smooth information of edge.
faceColorIndices (fcid) intArrayemptyarrayoutputinputstorablehidden
Polygon Face color indices override. Only use to store colorPerVertex information for referenced mesh in fileIO.
faceIdMap (fmap) boolfalseoutputinputhidden
Should the API watch for the face ID modification?
face (fc) polyFacesnullptrarrayoutputinputstorablehidden
Polygon Faces.
holeFaceData (hfd) polyComponentnullptroutputinputstorablehidden
Polygon Face Hole Data
inForceNodeUVUpdate (ifuv) boolfalseoutputinputhidden
Dirty this attribute to trigger a UV update to the shape.
inMesh (i) meshnullptroutputinputconnectable
The input (creation) mesh.
keepBorder (kb) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
If true: border edges will not be smoothed.
keepHardEdge (khe) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
If true: hard edges will not be smoothed.
keepMapBorders (kmb) enumint16_t1outputinputconnectablestorable
Treatment of UV map borders 0 - all map border edges will be smoothed 1 - map borders that are also geometry borders will be smoothed 2 - no map borders will be smoothed
materialBlend (matb) enum0outputinputconnectablestorable
Determines how to blend any stored color per vertex values with the current material, when in color display mode when blending is enabled. The default is to overwrite the material color.
maxEdgeLength (mxe) floatdouble0.1outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the maximum length of a triangle edge for the tessellation.
maxSubd (mxs) integerint5outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the maximum subdivision level for the tessellation.
maxTriangles (tsl) integerint60000outputinputconnectablestorable
Maximum numbers of triangles generated from an initial triangle.
maxUv (xuv) floatdouble0.5outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the maximum UV rectangle size in parametric space for the tessellation.
minEdgeLength (mne) floatdouble0.01outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the minimum length of a triangle edge for the tessellation.
minScreen (mns) floatdouble14outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the maximum screen size (in pixels) a triangle can be for tessellation.
motionVectorColorSet (mvcs) stringnullptroutputinputconnectablestorable
This is a string which identifies a color set to use for motion blur vectors. Normally motion blur vectors are computed by evaluating the mesh at different points in time then taking the difference of the positions. However for meshes that change topology over time this method will not work. Some nodes, such as the nParticle node, can create a color set that contains the motion vectors which are computed at the same time the mesh is constructed. The particle velocities are used to generate the list of motion vectors rather than the difference of meshes. If the motionVectorColorSet is not specified then the default method of generating motion blur from multiple mesh evaluations will be used.
normalPerVertex (npvx) compoundn/aoutputinputstorable
Attribute to specify the normal of a vertex, either on the entire vertex or on a per face basis.
vertexNormal (vn) compoundn/aarrayoutputinputstorable
A compound attribute that corresponds to the normal of the vertex. It is a multi attribute with the index of the multi identifying the vertex that the normal value applies to.
vertexNormalXYZ (nxyz) float3outputinputstorable
Vertex normal - XYZ values.
vertexNormalX (vxnx) float1e20outputinputstorable
Vertex normal x value
vertexNormalY (vxny) float1e20outputinputstorable
Vertex normal y value
vertexNormalZ (vxnz) float1e20outputinputstorable
Vertex normal z value
vertexFaceNormal (vfnl) compoundn/aarrayoutputinputstorable
A compound attribute that represents the normal of the vertex attached to a particular face. It is a multi attribute and the index of the multi identifies the face that the normal applies to. The index of the parent attribute (aVertexNormal) already identifies the vertex that normal value applies to.
vertexFaceNormalXYZ (fnxy) float3outputinputstorable
VertexFace normal - XYZ.
vertexFaceNormalX (vfnx) float1e20outputinputstorable
Vertex face normal x value
vertexFaceNormalY (vfny) float1e20outputinputstorable
Vertex face normal y value
vertexFaceNormalZ (vfnz) float1e20outputinputstorable
Vertex face normal z value
normalSize (ns) doubledouble0.4outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit normal size.
normalType (ndt) enum0outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit normal type.
normals (n) float3arrayoutputinputstorable
Special Attribute for file i/o of user specified normals. Gets written if there are any user specified normals on the object. If the default value which is 1e+20 is written out, then it means that system defined normal values are used.
normalx (nx) float1e20outputinputstorable
Special Attribute for file i/o of user specified normals - value in x.
normaly (ny) float1e20outputinputstorable
Special Attribute for file i/o of user specified normals - value in y.
normalz (nz) float1e20outputinputstorable
Special Attribute for file i/o of user specified normals - value in z.
numTriangles (nt) integerint100outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the maximum number of triangles for the entire tessellation.
outForceNodeUVUpdate (ofuv) boolfalseoutputinputhidden
Output attribute that will force a compute to update the shape UVs when dirtied.
outGeometryClean (ogc) Messagen/aoutputinputconnectablehidden
Tells if aOutMesh is only dirty due to tweak change.
outMesh (o) meshnullptroutputinputconnectablestorable
The output (local space) mesh.
outSmoothMesh (os) meshnullptroutputinputconnectablehidden
The smoothed output (local space) mesh.
perInstanceIndex (pii) integer-1arrayoutputinputconnectablestorable
When the mesh has per-instance data, this attribute can be used to determine the unique tag value for a given dagPath. The array index of this attribute corresponds to the dagPath instance number.
perInstanceTag (pit) integer-1arrayoutputinputconnectablestorable
When the mesh has per-instance data, this attribute is used in conjunction with the perInstanceIndex to maintain a unique per-instance tag for a given dagPath.
pinData (pd) polyComponentnullptrarrayoutputinputstorablehidden
Polygon UV Pin Data
pnts (pt) float3arrayoutputinputconnectablestorable
This attribute is the array of vertex tweaks (relative movements). The attribute values are always significant regardless of whether the object has history or not.
pntx (px) distance (float)0.0cmoutputinputconnectablekeyable
Vertex position tweak in x.
pnty (py) distance (float)0.0cmoutputinputconnectablekeyable
Vertex position tweak in y.
pntz (pz) distance (float)0.0cmoutputinputconnectablekeyable
Vertex position tweak in z.
propagateEdgeHardness (peh) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
If true: The smooth mesh preview edges which are a result of edges from the base cage will share the same hardness value.
quadSplit (qsp) enum2outputinputconnectablestorable
This determines how quads (four sided faces) are split into two triangles. If "Left" is selected then the new edge will be between vertex 1 and 3, while "Right" splits between vertex 2 and 4. "Best Shape" attempts to pick the best split based on the shape of the quad. Note that this can cause flickering during animation of a deforming surface due to the split switching between the two modes. If one wishes to have best shape on a deforming surface then selecting reuse triangles will lock the triangulation so that the tessellation is constant across the animation.
renderSmoothLevel (rsl) short2outputinputconnectablestorable
The level of smoothing to perform when rendering the mesh.
reuseTriangles (rtri) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Should the triangles be reused. If set to ON, the triangulation that existed before the tweaking, or deformation will be re-used. Setting this to true helps interactive tweaking and deforming of objects. This setting helps objects with N-sided faces. This setting is meant for display modes that require triangles, as in the case of shaded mode display, or when the displayTriangles attribute is turned on. Note that the displayed triangles may not be accurate, since the pre-deformed, pre-tweaked triangles are re-used.
smoothLevel (lev) short2outputinputconnectablestorable
The level of smoothing to perform on the mesh.
smoothMeshSelectionMode (ssm) enum0outputinputstorablehidden
When in the Smooth Mesh Preview display mode where you can see both the base cage as well as the smooth preview, this will set which components you want to select from.
smoothOffset (so) float3outputinputconnectablestorable
The offset that will be added to the smoothed mesh. By default, no offset will be added. Leaving this to default will improve performance.
sofx (sx) float0outputinputconnectablehidden
Offset in x.
sofy (sy) float0outputinputconnectablehidden
Offset in y.
sofz (sz) float0outputinputconnectablehidden
Offset in z.
smoothUVs (suv) booltrueoutputinputconnectablestorable
If true: UVs as well as geometry will be smoothed
smoothWarn (sw) booltrueoutputinputconnectablestorablehidden
Check for reasonable face count before smoothing.
tangentNormalThreshold (tnt) angle (double)0.0degoutputinputconnectablestorable
Angle below which normals are considered equal when calculating tangent space. A value of 0 ensures that all hard edges create tangents space seams. Increase this value to remove undesired tangent space seams caused by hard edges.
tangentSmoothingAngle (tsa) angle (double)0.0degoutputinputconnectablestorable
Angle below which tangents will be smoothed. A value of 0 ensures that all UV seams (both UV borders and mirrored edges) create tangents space seams. Increase this value to remove undesired tangent space seams caused by UV borders or UV mirroring.
tangentSpace (tgsp) enum0outputinputconnectablestorable
"Right Handed" tangent spaces are calculated so that the normal, the tangent, and the binormal always form a right handed coordinate system. In cases where the UV winding order has been reversed (either manually or as part of a mirroring workflow) this will cause the binormal components of normal and bump maps to be inverted (matching the behaviour of shaders which manually calculate the binormal from the tangent and normal). This is the default behaviour for pre-8.0 files. "Detect Winding Right Handed" tangent spaces calculate binormal values in a right handed coordinate system taking into account the UV winding order of the face. This ensures the binormal aligns with the V direction of the texture, and so enables the correct display of normal and bump maps on faces with reverse wound or mirrored UV mappings. This is the default value newly created meshes. "Left Handed" tangent spaces are calculated so that the normal, the tangent, and the binormal always form a left handed coordinate system. In cases where the UV winding order has been reversed (either manually or as part of a mirroring workflow) this will cause the binormal components of normal and bump maps to be inverted (matching the behaviour of shaders which manually calculate the binormal from the tangent and normal). "Detect Winding Left Handed" tangent spaces calculate binormal values in a left handed coordinate system taking into account the UV winding order of the face. This ensures the binormal aligns with the -V direction of the texture, and so enables the correct display of left handed normal maps on faces with reverse wound or mirrored UV mappings.
uvSize (usz) doubledouble4.0outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit UV display size.
uvTweakLocation (uvtl) generic typed datanullptrinputconnectablehidden
While there is an input connection to this attribute, uv tweaks on this shape are placed on the node connected to this attribute rather than in the standard uv tweak (aUVPoints) attribute.
useMaxEdgeLength (uxe) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the maximum triangle edge length value.
useMaxSubdivisions (uxs) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the maximum subdivision level value.
useMaxUV (uxu) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the maximum UV quad size value.
useMinEdgeLength (uie) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the minimum triangle edge length value.
useMinScreen (uns) boolbooltrueoutputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the minimum triangle screen size.
useNumTriangles (unp) boolboolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the number of triangles to produce.
useSmoothPreviewForRender (uspr) booltrueoutputinputconnectablestorable
If true: use the preview smooth level for rendering. smooth render level
userTrg (utrg) stringnullptroutputinputconnectablestorable
The name of the user defined face triangulation function. By defualt, it is an empty string, which means Maya face triangulation will be used. Users can override the default triangulation by setting this attribute to the name of their own function registered with Maya through the API.
uvpt (uv) float2arrayoutputinputstorablehidden
Polygon uvPoints.
uvpx (ux) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
Polygon uvPointX.
uvpy (uy) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
Polygon uvPointY.
vertexBackfaceCulling (vbc) boolbooltrueoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit vertices backculling.
vrts (vt) float3arrayoutputinputstorablehidden
This is an internal attribute representing local space vertex position, used for file I/O. It should never be directly manipulated by the user. If it is modified, the results will be unpredictable.
vrtx (vx) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
Vertex position in x.
vrty (vy) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
Vertex position in y.
vrtz (vz) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
Vertex position in z.
vertexColorSource (vcs) enum0outputinputstorable
Display mode for the color of vertices
vertexIdMap (vmap) boolfalseoutputinputhidden
Should the API watch for the vertex ID modification?
vertexNormalMethod (vnm) enum3outputinputconnectablestorable
This determines how vertex normals are calculated. In all cases, the vertex normals are calculated by combining the face normals of the adjacent faces. "Unweighted" simply averages the normals of the adjacent faces. "Angle Weighted" uses a weighted sum, using the angle subtended by the edges of the face that meet at the vertex. "Area Weighted" similarly uses a weighted sum, using the areas of the adjacent faces. "Angle And Area Weighted" (the default) uses both angle and area, as defined above, in the weighted sum.
vertexSize (vs) doubledouble3.0outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit vertex display size.
worldMesh (w) meshnullptrarrayoutputconnectable
The world space meshes.