Python API 2.0 Reference
OpenMaya.MPxNode Class Reference
+ Inheritance diagram for OpenMaya.MPxNode:

Public Member Functions

def __init__ ()
 
def addExternalContentForFileAttr ()
 
def compute ()
 
def configCache ()
 
def connectionBroken ()
 
def connectionMade ()
 
def copyInternalData ()
 
def dependsOn ()
 
def doNotWrite ()
 
def existWithoutInConnections ()
 
def existWithoutOutConnections ()
 
def forceCache ()
 
def getCacheSetup ()
 
def getExternalContent ()
 
def getFilesToArchive ()
 
def getInternalValue ()
 
def getInternalValueInContext ()
 
def hasInvalidationRangeTransformation ()
 
def internalArrayCount ()
 
def isAbstractClass ()
 
def isPassiveOutput ()
 
def legalConnection ()
 
def legalDisconnection ()
 
def name ()
 
def passThroughToMany ()
 
def passThroughToOne ()
 
def postConstructor ()
 
def postEvaluation ()
 
def preEvaluation ()
 
def setDependentsDirty ()
 
def setDoNotWrite ()
 
def setExistWithoutInConnections ()
 
def setExistWithoutOutConnections ()
 
def setExternalContent ()
 
def setExternalContentForFileAttr ()
 
def setInternalValue ()
 
def setInternalValueInContext ()
 
def setMPSafe ()
 
def shouldSave ()
 
def thisMObject ()
 
def transformInvalidationRange ()
 
def type ()
 
def typeId ()
 
def typeName ()
 

Static Public Member Functions

def __new__ ()
 
def addAttribute ()
 
def attributeAffects ()
 
def inheritAttributesFrom ()
 

Static Public Attributes

int kAssembly = 22
 
int kBlendShape = 25
 
int kCameraSetNode = 16
 
int kClientDeviceNode = 20
 
int kConstraintNode = 17
 
int kDeformerNode = 2
 
int kDependNode = 0
 
int kEmitterNode = 6
 
int kEvaluatedDirectly = 1
 
int kEvaluatedIndirectly = 0
 
int kFieldNode = 5
 
int kFluidEmitterNode = 13
 
int kGeometryFilter = 24
 
int kHardwareShader = 9
 
int kHwShaderNode = 10
 
int kIkSolverNode = 8
 
int kImagePlaneNode = 14
 
int kLast = 26
 
int kLeaveDirty = 2
 
int kLocatorNode = 1
 
int kManipContainer = 3
 
int kManipulatorNode = 18
 
int kMotionPathNode = 19
 
int kObjectSet = 12
 
int kParticleAttributeMapperNode = 15
 
int kPostEvaluationTypeLast = 3
 
int kSkinCluster = 23
 
int kSpringNode = 7
 
int kSurfaceShape = 4
 
int kThreadedDeviceNode = 21
 
int kTransformNode = 11
 

Detailed Description

Base class for user defined dependency nodes.

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

def OpenMaya.MPxNode.__init__ ( )
Initialize self.  See help(type(self)) for accurate signature.

Member Function Documentation

def OpenMaya.MPxNode.__new__ ( )
static
Create and return a new object.  See help(type) for accurate signature.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.addAttribute ( )
static
addAttribute(attr) -> None

This method adds a new attribute to a user defined node type during the type's initialization.

This method will only work during the static initialization method of the user defined node class.  The initialization method is the one that is passed into  MFnPlugin.registerNode(). The attributes must first be created using one of the MFnAttribute classes, and can then be added using this method.

For compound attributes, the proper way to use this method is by calling it with the parent attribute. If a compound attribute is passed, this method will add all of its children.
NOTE: A failure will occur if you attempt to call addAttribute() on the children of a compound attribute.

* attr (MObject) - new attribute to add.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.addExternalContentForFileAttr ( )
addExternalContentForFileAttr(table, attr) -> bool

This method is a helper for derived clases implementing getExternalContent().  It augments the external content info table passed in with an entry describing external content whose location is described by the specified attribute.

The method will not overwrite existing items, i.e. items with the same key. (attribute name).  In this context, overwriting an item means the caller has called this function twice with the same attribute, or that two separate but identically named attributes were used.  If replacing an entry is the desired effect, it is the caller's responsibility to erase the previous item first.

* table [OUT] (MExternalContentInfoTable) - table The table in which the new entry will be added.
* attr (MObject) - The attribute for which the plug value will be queried for a location.

Returns True if an item was sucessfully added to the table.  False if the attribute does not describe a non-empty location, or an item with the same key was already present in the table.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.attributeAffects ( )
static
attributeAffects(whenChanges, isAffected) -> None

This method specifies that a particular input attribute affects a specific output attribute.  This is required to make evaluation efficient.  When an input changes, only the affected outputs will be computed. Output attributes cannot be keyable - if they are keyable, this method will fail.

This method must be called for every attribute dependency when initializing the node's attributes.  The attributes must first be added using the MPxNode.addAttribute() method.  Failing to call this method will cause the node not to update when its inputs change. If there are no calls to this method in a node's initialization, then the compute method will never be called.

This method will only work during the static initialization method of the user defined node class.  The initialization method is the one that is passed into MFnPlugin.registerNode().  As a result, it does not work with dynamic attributes. For an alternate solution which handles dynamic as well as non-dynamic attributes refer to MPxNode.setDependentsDirty.()

* whenChanges (MObject) - input attribute - MObject that points to an input attribute that has already been added.
* isAffected (MObject) - affected output attribute - MObject that points to an output attribute that has already been added.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.compute ( )
compute(plug, dataBlock) -> self

This method should be overridden in user defined nodes.

Recompute the given output based on the nodes inputs.  The plug represents the data value that needs to be recomputed, and the data block holds the storage for all of the node's attributes.

The MDataBlock will provide smart handles for reading and writing this node's attribute values.  Only these values should be used when performing computations.

When evaluating the dependency graph, Maya will first call the compute method for this node.  If the plug that is provided to the compute indicates that that the attribute was defined by the Maya parent node, the compute method should return None.  When this occurs, Maya will call the internal Maya node from which the user-defined node is derived to compute the plug's value. Returning any othervalue (including self) will tell Maya that this node successfully computed theplug. Raising an exception will tell Maya that this node failed at computingthe plug. Note that in most cases, Maya ignores node compute failures.

In other words, the compute method should return None to get the Maya parent class to compute the plug. It should return self (or any other value) to indicate that the plug was computed successfully.

This means that a user defined node does not need to be concerned with computing inherited output attributes.  However, if desired, these can be safely recomputed by this method to change the behaviour of the node.

* plug (MPlug) - plug representing the attribute that needs to be recomputed.
* block (MDataBlock) - data block containing storage for the node's attributes.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.configCache ( )
configCache(evalNode, schema) -> None

Defines the node's behavior when participating in Cached Playback.

This method will be called at EM partitioning time, after rules evaluation.

* evalNode (MEvaluationNode)  - This node's evaluation node, contains animated plug information
* schema (MCacheSchema)       - Specification about what attributes to cache
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.connectionBroken ( )
connectionBroken( plug, otherPlug, asSrc) -> self

This method gets called when connections are broken with attributes of this node.

* plug (MPlug) - attribute on this node.
* otherPlug (MPlug) - attribute on other node.
* asSrc (bool) - is this plug a source of the connection.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.connectionMade ( )
connectionMade(plug, otherPlug, asSrc) -> self

This method gets called when connections are made to attributes of this node.

* plug (MPlug) - attribute on this node.
* otherPlug (MPlug) - attribute on other node.
* asSrc (bool) - is this plug a source of the connection.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.copyInternalData ( )
copyInternalData(node) -> self

This method is overriden by nodes that store attribute data in some internal format.

On duplication this method is called on the duplicated node with the node being duplicated passed as the parameter.  Overriding this method gives your node a chance to duplicate any internal data you've been storing and manipulating outside of normal attribute data.

* node (MPxNode) - the node that is being duplicated.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.dependsOn ( )
dependsOn( plug, otherPlug) -> bool/None

This method may be overridden by the user defined node. It should only be required to override this on rare occasions.

This method determines whether a specific attribute depends on another attribute.

You should return None to specify that Maya should determines the dependency (default).

This is mainly to define dependency of dynamic attributes, since attributeAffects does not work with dynamic attributes.

* plug (MPlug) - attribute on this node.
* otherPlug (MPlug) - attribute on other node.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.doNotWrite ( )
doNotWrite() -> bool

use this method to query the "do not write" state of this proxy node. True is returned if this node will not be saved when the maya model is written out.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.existWithoutInConnections ( )
existWithoutInConnections() -> bool

Determines whether or not this node can exist without input connections.

If a node connected to this node is deleted resulting in no more input
connections and if this flag is false, then this node will be deleted.

Do not override this method.

Returns true if this node can exist without input connections, false otherwise
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.existWithoutOutConnections ( )
existWithoutOutConnections() -> bool

Determines whether or not this node can exist without output connections.

If a node connected to this node is deleted resulting in no more output
connections and if this flag is false, then this node will be deleted.

Do not override this method.

Returns true if this node can exist without output connections, false otherwise
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.forceCache ( )
forceCache(ctx=MDGContext::current()) -> MDataBlock

Get the datablock for this node. If there is no datablock then one will be created.
NOTE: This should be used only in places where fast access to the datablock outside of a compute is critical such as the transformUsing method of MPxSurfaceShape.

* ctx (MDGContext) - The context in which the datablock will be retrieved.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.getCacheSetup ( )
getCacheSetup(evalNode, disablingInfo, setupInfo, objectArray) -> None

Provide node-specific setup info for the Cached Playback system.

This method will be called at EM partitioning time.  It works in one of two ways.
- It can state that the node supports Cached Playback and background evaluation.  In this case it can use the cacheSetupInfo to configure preferences and requirements
- It can state that this node cannot work with Cached Playback enabled and will  therefore cause Cached Playback to be disabled.  In this case it can use the disablingInfo to provide additional info about why Cached Playback is disabled.

In case the answer depends on the value of attributes (for example, a node can have multiple modes, some of them working with caching and some of them not), the node can add the attributes to the monitored attribute list so they can be monitored in case the value changes.

By default, this method states that Cached Playback is supported, but does not request to be cached by default.

Note that regardless of the preferences expressed by a node, Caching Rules can always override the preferences from this method.  Caching Rules always have the last world.  This method simply indicates the built-in Evaluation Cache rule used by Maya's default Caching Modes that this node is to be cached.  Other rules can ignore or override this behavior.

* evalNode (MEvaluationNode)              - This node's evaluation node, contains animated plug information
* disablingInfo (MNodeCacheDisablingInfo) - Information about why the node disables Cached Playback to be reported to the user
* cacheSetupInfo (MNodeCacheSetupInfo)    - Preferences and requirements this node has for Cached Playback
* monitoredAttributes (MObjectArray)      - Attributes impacting the behavior of this method that will be monitored for change
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.getExternalContent ( )
getExternalContent(table) -> self

The table populated by this method must include the location of all the content (files) used by this node, including those that do not exist.  See MExternalContentInfoTable for details.

Keys used to add items to this table will be the same that get passed to setExternalContent through its MExternalContentLocationTable parameter to perform a batched change of content location.

When implementing getExternalContent, you are responsible for forwarding the call to the base class when it makes sense to do so, so that base classes  can also add their external content to the table.

The default implementation does nothing.

* table [OUT] (MExternalContentInfoTable) - Content information table that this method must populate.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.getFilesToArchive ( )
getFilesToArchive(shortName=False, unresolvedName=False, markCouldBeImageSequence=False) -> list of strings

Use this method to return all external files used by this node. This file list will be used by the File > Archive zip feature, maya.exe -archive and the `file -q -list` mel command.

Only include files that exist.

If shortName is True, return just the filename portion of the path. Otherwise, return a full path.

If unresolvedName is True, return the path before any resolution has been done (i.e leave it as a relative path, include unexpanded environment variables,  tildes, ".."s etc). Otherwise, resolve the file     path and return an absolute path (to resolve with standard Maya path resolution, use MFileObject.resolvedFullName()).

* shortName (bool) - If True, only add the filename of the path.
* unresolvedName (bool) - If True, add paths before any resolution, rather than absolute paths.
* markCouldBeImageSequence (bool) - If True, append an asterisk after any file path that could be an image sequence (note: only used by maya.exe -archive).
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.getInternalValue ( )
getInternalValue(plug, dataHandle) -> bool

This method is overridden by nodes that store attribute data in some internal format.

The internal state of attributes can be set or queried using the setInternal and internal methods of MFnAttribute.

When internal attribute values are queried via getAttr or MPlug.getValue() this method is called.

All internal data should respect the current context, which may be obtained from MDGContext::current()

* plug (MPlug) - the attribute that is being queried.
* dataHandle [OUT] (MDataHandle) - the dataHandle to store the attribute value.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.getInternalValueInContext ( )
getInternalValueInContext(plug, dataHandle, ctx) -> bool [OBSOLETE]

This method is obsolete. Override MPxNode.getInternalValue instead.

* plug (MPlug) - the attribute that is being queried.
* dataHandle [OUT] (MDataHandle) - the dataHandle to store the attribute value.
* ctx (MDGContext) - the context the method is being evaluated in.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.hasInvalidationRangeTransformation ( )
hasInvalidationRangeTransformation() -> bool

Checks if this MPxNode derived node overrides the MPxNode::transformInvalidationRange method
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.inheritAttributesFrom ( )
static
inheritAttributesFrom(parentClassName) -> None

This method allows a class of plugin node to inherit all of the attributes of a second class of plugin node.

This method will only work during the static initialization method of the user defined node class and must be called before any other attributes have been added.  The initialization method is the one that is passed into  MFnPlugin.registerNode().

A plugin node may only inherit attributes from one other class of plugin node. Attempting to call this method multiple times within a node's initialization method will result in an error.

Both node classes must be registered using the same MPxNode type, listed in MPxNode.type().

* parentClassName (string) - class of node to inherit attributes from.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.internalArrayCount ( )
internalArrayCount(plug) -> int
internalArrayCount(plug, ctx) -> int  [OBSOLETE]

This method is overridden by nodes that have internal array attributes which are not stored in Maya's datablock. This method is used by Maya to determine the non-sparse count of array elements during file IO. If the internal array is stored sparsely, you should return the maximum index of the array plus one. If the internal array is non-sparse then return the length of the array.

This method does not need to be implemented for attributes that are stored in the datablock since Maya will use the datablock size.

If this method is overridden, it should return -1 for attributes which it does not handle. Maya will use the datablock size to determine the array length when -1 is returned.

All internal data should respect the current context, which may be obtained from MDGContext.current()

* plug (MPlug) - the array plug.
* ctx (MDGContext) - the context, default to MDGContext.current().
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.isAbstractClass ( )
isAbstractClass() -> bool

Override this class to return True if this node is an abstract node. An abstract node can only be used as a base class.  It cannot be created using the 'createNode' command.

It is not necessary to override this method.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.isPassiveOutput ( )
isPassiveOutput(plug) -> bool

This method may be overridden by the user defined node if it wants to provide output attributes which do not prevent value modifications to the destination attribute. For example, output plugs on animation curve nodes are passive. This allows the attributes driven by the animation curves to be set to new values by the user.

* plug (MPlug) - plug representing output in question.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.legalConnection ( )
legalConnection(plug, otherPlug, asSrc) -> bool/None

This method allows you to check for legal connections being made to attributes of this node.

You should return None to specify that maya should handle this connection if you are unable to determine if it is legal.

* plug (MPlug) - attribute on this node.
* otherPlug (MPlug) - attribute on other node.
* asSrc (bool) - is this plug a source of the connection.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.legalDisconnection ( )
legalDisconnection(plug, otherPlug, arsSrc) -> bool/None

This method allows you to check for legal disconnections being made to attributes of this node.

You should return None to specify that maya should handle this disconnection if you are unable to determine if it is legal.

* plug (MPlug) - attribute on this node.
* otherPlug (MPlug) - attribute on other node.
* asSrc (boool) - is this plug a source of the connection.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.name ( )
name() -> string

Returns the name of this particular instance of this class.  Each objectin the dependency graph has a name.  This name will be used by the UIand by MEL.

It is not necessary to override this method.

Returns the name of the node
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.passThroughToMany ( )
passThroughToMany(plug, plugArray) -> bool

This method is overriden by nodes that want to control the traversal behavior of some Maya search algorithms which traverse the history/future of shape nodes looking for directly related nodes. In particular, the Artisan paint code uses this method when searching for paintable nodes, and the disk cache code uses this method when searching for upstream cacheFile nodes.

If this method is not implemented or returns False, the base class Maya implementation of this method calls passThroughToOne and returns the results of that call.

* plug (MPlug) - the plug.
* plugArray (MPlugArray) - the corresponding plugs.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.passThroughToOne ( )
passThroughToOne(plug) -> plug

This method may be overriden by nodes that have a one-to-one relationship between an input attribute and a corresponding output attribute. This method is used by Maya to perform the following capabilities:

- When this node is deleted, the delete command will rewire the source of the input attribute to the destination of the output attribute if the source and destination are connected to nodes that are not deleted.
- History traversal algorithms such as the bakePartialHistory command use this method to direct its traversal through a shape's construction history.
- The base class Maya implementation of passThroughToAll will call this method if passThroughToAll returns False.

* plug (MPlug) - the plug.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.postConstructor ( )
postConstructor() -> self

Internally maya creates two objects when a user defined node is created, the internal MObject and the user derived object.
The association between the these two objects is not made until after the MPxNode constructor is called. This implies that no MPxNode member function can be called from the MPxNode constructor.
The postConstructor will get called immediately after the constructor when it is safe to call any MPxNode member function.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.postEvaluation ( )
postEvaluation(context, evalNode, evalType) -> None

Clean up node's internal state after threaded evaluation.

After the evaluation graph execution, each node gets a chance to restore / update its internal states.For example, resetting draw state.

This code has to be thread safe, non - blocking and work only on data owned by the node.

This call will most likely happen from a worker thread.

* context (MDGContext) - Context in which the evaluation is happening.
             This should be respected and only internal state
             information pertaining to it should be modified.
* evaluationNode (MEvaluationNode) - Evaluation node which contains
                         information about the dirty plugs the
                         dirty plugs that were evaluated for this
                         context.
* evalType (PostEvaluationType)
  * kEvaluatedIndirectly : The node's compute function handled evaluation.
  * kEvaluatedDirectly   : Evaluation was performed externally and the results injected
               back into the node.  This would happen in situations such as
               extracting values from an external cache.The node needs to
               update any additional internal state based on the new values.
  * kLeaveDirty          : Evaluation was performed without updating this node. Internal
               state should be updated to reflect that the node is dirty.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.preEvaluation ( )
preEvaluation(context, evalNode) -> None

Prepare a node's internal state for threaded evaluation.

During the evaluation graph execution each node gets a chance to reset its internal states just before being evaluated.

This code has to be thread safe, non - blocking and work only on data owned by the node.

The timing of this callback is at the discretion of evaluation graph dependencies and individual evaluators.This means, it should be used purely to prepare this node for evaluation and no particular order should be assumed.

This call will most likely happen from a worker thread.

* context (MDGContext) - Context in which the evaluation is happening.
             This should be respected and only internal state
             information pertaining to it should be modified.
* evaluationNode (MEvaluationNode) - Evaluation node which contains
                         information about the dirty plugs that
                         are about to be evaluated for the context.
                         Should be only used to query information.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.setDependentsDirty ( )
setDependentsDirty(plug, plugArray) -> self

This method can be overridden in user defined nodes to specify which plugs should be set dirty based upon an input plug which Maya is marking dirty. The list of plugs for Maya to mark dirty is returned by the plug array. This method handles both dynamic as well as non-dynamic plugs and is useful in the following ways:



- Allows attributeAffects-style relationships to be handled for dynamically-added attributes. Since MPxNode.attributeAffects() can only be used with non-dynamic attributes, use of this method allows a way for all attributes of a node to affect one another, both dynamic and non-dynamic.

- Provides more flexible relationships than what is available with MPxNode.attributeAffects(). For example, you may wish to not dirty plugs when the current frame is one. However, as the routine is called during dirty propagation, there are restrictions on what can be done within the routine, most importantly you must not cause any dependency graph computation. For details, see the IMPORTANT NOTE below.



This method is designed to work harmoniously with MPxNode.attributeAffects() on the same node. Alternately, you can do all affects relationships within a yourNode.setDependentsDirty() implementation.

The body of a user-implemented setDependentsDirty() implementation might look like the following example, which causes the plug called "B" to be set dirty whever plug "A" is changed, i.e. A affects B.

* plug (MPlug) - plug which is being set dirty by Maya.
* plugArray the programmer should add any plugs which they want to set dirty to this list.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.setDoNotWrite ( )
setDoNotWrite(bool) -> self

Use this method to mark the "do not write" state of this proxy node.  If set, this node will not be saved when the Maya model is written out. 

NOTES:
1. Plug-in "requires" information will be written out with the model when saved.  But a subsequent reload and resave of the file will cause these to go away.
2. If this node is a DAG and has a parent or children, the "do not write" flag of the parent or children will not be set. It is the developer's responsibility to ensure that the resulting scene file is capable of being read in without errors due to unwritten nodes.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.setExistWithoutInConnections ( )
setExistWithoutInConnections(bool) -> bool

This method specifies whether or not the node can exist without input
connections.

If a node connected to this node is deleted resulting in no more input
connections and if this flag is false, then this node will be deleted.

Do not override this method.

* flag (bool) true if this node can exist without input connections, false otherwise
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.setExistWithoutOutConnections ( )
setExistWithoutOutConnections(bool) -> bool

This method specifies whether or not the node can exist without
output connections.

If a node connected to this node is deleted resulting in no more output
connections and if this flag is false, then this node will be deleted.

Do not override this method.

* flag (bool) true if this node can exist without output connections, false otherwise
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.setExternalContent ( )
setExternalContent(table) -> self

This is useful in the context of content relocation.  This will be called while the scene is being loaded to apply path changes performed externally. Consequently, interaction with the rest of the scene must be kept to a minimum.  It is however valid to call this method outside of scene loading contexts.

The keys in the map must be the same as the ones provided by the node in getExternalContent.  The values are the new locations.

When implementing setExternalContent, you are responsible for forwarding the call to the base class when it makes sense to do so, so that base classes  can also set their external content.

The default implementation does nothing.

* table Key->location table with new content locations.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.setExternalContentForFileAttr ( )
setExternalContentForFileAttr(attr, table) -> bool

This method is a helper for derived clases implementing setExternalContent().  It assigns a value to a plug with the one from the table whose key is the same as the passed in attribute name.

The method will not write to the plug if the attribute is not found in the  table.

* attr (MObject) - The attribute of the plug we want to write to.
* table (MExternalContentLocationTable) - A table which may hold or not the value for a given plug.

Returns True if the plug was successfully written to. False if no entry in the table was named after the attribute or if no plug was found.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.setInternalValue ( )
setInternalValue(plug, dataHandle) -> bool


This method is overriden by nodes that store attribute data in some internal format.

The internal state of attributes can be set or queried using the setInternal and internal methods of MFnAttribute.

When internal attribute values are set via setAttr or MPlug.setValue() this method is called.

Another use for this method is to impose attribute limits.

All internal data should respect the current context, which may be obtained from MDGContext::current()

* plug (MPlug) - the attribute that is being set.
* dataHandle (MDataHandle) - the dataHandle containing the value to set.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.setInternalValueInContext ( )
setInternalValueInContext(plug, dataHandle, ctx) -> bool  [OBSOLETE]

This method is obsolete. Override MPxNode.setInternalValue instead.

* plug (MPlug) - the attribute that is being set.
* dataHandle (MDataHandle) - the dataHandle containing the value to set.
* ctx (MDGContext) - the context the method is being evaluated in.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.setMPSafe ( )
setMPSafe(bool) -> self

This method is obsolete. Override MPxNode.setSchedulingType instead.

Set a flag to specify if a user defined shading node is safe for multi-processor rendering. For a shading node to be MP safe, it cannot access any shared global data and should only use attributes in the datablock to get input data and store output data. 

NOTE: This should be called from the postConstructor() method for shading node plug-ins only. If a shading node is non-safe, then it will only be useful during single processor rendering.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.shouldSave ( )
shouldSave(plug) -> bool/None

This method may be overridden by the user defined node.  It should only be required to override this on rare occasions.

This method determines whether a specific attribute of this node should be written out during a file save.  The default behavior is to only write the value if it differs from the default and is not being supplied by a connection.  This behavior should be sufficient in most cases.
This method is not called for ramp attributes since they should always be written.

* plug (MPlug) - plug representing the attribute to be saved.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.thisMObject ( )
thisMObject() -> MObject

Returns the MObject associated with this user defined node.  This makes it possible to use MFnDependencyNode or to construct plugs to this node's attributes.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.transformInvalidationRange ( )
transformInvalidationRange(plug, timeRange) -> timeRange

Override this method to register this node as an Invalidation-Range-Transformation kernel (IRT kernel) An IRT kernel node will change the invalidation time range for its downstream nodes For example, Dynamics-solver will transform invalidation time range [a,b] to [a,+inf) And Clip-Time-Editor will send out the invalidation range for each of the clip [a,b] to ( [t0+a,t0+b] U [t1+a,t1+b] U [t2+a,t2+b] U ... ) 

* source (MPlug)     - The source plug in this node where the dirty propagation comes from
* input (MTimeRange) - The incoming invalidation range


Returns The output invalidation range for all the dependents of plug 'source'

WARNING: You cannot do any evaluation in this function, because it can be called in dirty-propagation
WARNING: Do *not* call MPxNode::transformInvalidationRange from your override method
NOTE: If a plugin node have invalidation-range-transformation *conditionally* Only transform the invalidation range when attribute 'enableIRT' is set The plugin should call MPxNode::transformInvalidationRange to signal it does not perform any IRT.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.type ( )
type() -> int

Returns the type of node that this is.  This is used to differentiate user defined nodes that are derived off different MPx base classes.

It is not necessary to override this method.

  kDependNode                    Custom node derived from MPxNode
  kLocatorNode                   Custom locator derived from MPxLocatorNode
  kDeformerNode                  Custom deformer derived from MPxDeformerNode
  kManipContainer                Custom container derived from MPxManipContainer
  kSurfaceShape                  Custom shape derived from MPxSurfaceShape
  kFieldNode                     Custom field derived from MPxFieldNode
  kEmitterNode                   Custom emitter derived from MPxEmitterNode
  kSpringNode                    Custom spring derived from MPxSpringNode
  kIkSolverNode                  Custom IK solver derived from MPxIkSolverNode
  kHardwareShader                Custom shader derived from MPxHardwareShader
  kHwShaderNode                  Custom shader derived from MPxHwShaderNode
  kTransformNode                 Custom transform derived from MPxTransform
  kObjectSet                     Custom set derived from MPxObjectSet
  kFluidEmitterNode              Custom fluid emitter derived from MpxFluidEmitterNode
  kImagePlaneNode                Custom image plane derived from MPxImagePlane
  kParticleAttributeMapperNode   Custom particle attribute mapper derived from MPxParticleAttributeMapperNode
  kCameraSetNode                 Custom director derived from MPxCameraSet
  kConstraintNode                Custom constraint derived from MPxConstraint
  kManipulatorNode               Custom manipulator derived from MPxManipulatorNode
  kClientDeviceNode              Custom threaded device derived from MPxThreadedDeviceNode
  kThreadedDeviceNode            Custom threaded device node
  kAssembly                      Custom assembly derived from MPxAssembly
  kSkinCluster                                  Custom deformer derived from MPxSkinCluster
  kGeometryFilter                               Custom deformer derived from MPxGeometryFilter
         kBlendShape                                    Custom deformer derived from MPxBlendShape
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.typeId ( )
typeId() -> MTypeId

Returns the TYPEID of this node.
def OpenMaya.MPxNode.typeName ( )
typeName() -> string

Returns the type name of this node.  The type name identifies the node type to the ASCII file format