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Synopsis

loft [-autoReverse boolean] [-caching boolean] [-close boolean] [-constructionHistory boolean] [-createCusp boolean] [-degree int] [-name string] [-nodeState int] [-object boolean] [-polygon int] [-range boolean] [-rebuild boolean] [-reverse boolean] [-reverseSurfaceNormals boolean] [-sectionSpans int] [-uniform boolean] curve curve [curve...]

loft is undoable, queryable, and editable.

This command computes a skinned (lofted) surface passing through a number of NURBS curves. There must be at least two curves present. The NURBS curves may be surface isoparms, curve on surfaces, trimmed edges or polygon edges.

Return value

string[]Object name and node name

In query mode, return type is based on queried flag.

Related

multiProfileBirailSurface

Flags

autoReverse, caching, close, constructionHistory, createCusp, degree, name, nodeState, object, polygon, range, rebuild, reverse, reverseSurfaceNormals, sectionSpans, uniform
Long name (short name) Argument types Properties
-autoReverse(-ar) boolean createqueryedit
If set to true, the direction of the curves for the loft is computed automatically. If set to false, the values of the multi-use reverse flag are used instead.
Default: true
-caching(-cch) boolean createqueryedit
Toggle caching for all attributes so that no recomputation is needed
-close(-c) boolean createqueryedit
If set to true, the resulting surface will be closed (periodic) with the start (end) at the first curve. If set to false, the surface will remain open.
Default: false
-createCusp(-cc) boolean createqueryeditmultiuse
Multi-use flag; each occurence of the flag refers to the matching curve in the loft operation; if the flag is set the particular profile will have a cusp (tangent break) in the resulting surface.
Default: false
-degree(-d) int createqueryedit
The degree of the resulting surface
Default: 3
-nodeState(-nds) int createqueryedit

Maya dependency nodes have 6 possible states. The Normal (0), HasNoEffect (1), and Blocking (2) states can be used to alter how the graph is evaluated.

The Waiting-Normal (3), Waiting-HasNoEffect (4), Waiting-Blocking (5) are for internal use only. They temporarily shut off parts of the graph during interaction (e.g., manipulation). The understanding is that once the operation is done, the state will be reset appropriately, e.g. Waiting-Blocking will reset back to Blocking.

The Normal and Blocking cases apply to all nodes, while HasNoEffect is node specific; many nodes do not support this option. Plug-ins store state in the MPxNode::state attribute. Anyone can set it or check this attribute. Additional details about each of these 3 states follow.

State Description
Normal The normal node state. This is the default.
HasNoEffect

The HasNoEffect option (a.k.a. pass-through), is used in cases where there is an operation on an input producing an output of the same data type. Nearly all deformers support this state, as do a few other nodes. As stated earlier, it is not supported by all nodes.

It’s typical to implement support for the HasNoEffect state in the node’s compute method and to perform appropriate operations. Plug-ins can also support HasNoEffect.

The usual implementation of this state is to copy the input directly to the matching output without applying the algorithm in the node. For deformers, applying this state leaves the input geometry undeformed on the output.

Blocking

This is implemented in the depend node base class and applies to all nodes. Blocking is applied during the evaluation phase to connections. An evaluation request to a blocked connection will return as failures, causing the destination plug to retain its current value. Dirty propagation is indirectly affected by this state since blocked connections are never cleaned.

When a node is set to Blocking the behavior is supposed to be the same as if all outgoing connections were broken. As long as nobody requests evaluation of the blocked node directly it won’t evaluate after that. Note that a blocked node will still respond to getAttr requests but a getAttr on a downstream node will not reevaluate the blocked node.

Setting the root transform of a hierarchy to Blocking won’t automatically influence child transforms in the hierarchy. To do this, you’d need to explicitly set all child nodes to the Blocking state.

For example, to set all child transforms to Blocking, you could use the following script.


import maya.cmds as cmds
def blockTree(root):
nodesToBlock = []
for node in {child:1 for child in cmds.listRelatives( root, path=True, allDescendents=True )}.keys():
nodesToBlock += cmds.listConnections(node, source=True, destination=True )
for node in {source:1 for source in nodesToBlock}.keys():
cmds.setAttr( '%s.nodeState' % node, 2 )

Applying this script would continue to draw objects but things would not be animated.


Default: kdnNormal
-reverse(-r) boolean createqueryeditmultiuse
Multi-use flag; each occurence of the flag refers to the matching curve in the loft operation; if the flag is set the particular curve will be reversed before being used in the loft operation.
Default: false
-reverseSurfaceNormals(-rsn) boolean createqueryedit
If set, the surface normals on the output NURBS surface will be reversed. This is accomplished by swapping the U and V parametric directions.
Default: false
-sectionSpans(-ss) int createqueryedit
The number of surface spans between consecutive curves in the loft.
Default: 1
-uniform(-u) boolean createqueryedit
If set to true, the resulting surface will have uniform parameterization in the loft direction. If set to false, the parameterization will be chord length.
Default: false
Common flags
-constructionHistory(-ch) boolean create
Turn the construction history on or off.
-name(-n) string create
Sets the name of the newly-created node. If it contains namespace path, the new node will be created under the specified namespace; if the namespace does not exist, it will be created.
-object(-o) boolean create
Create the result, or just the dependency node.
-polygon(-po) int create
The value of this argument controls the type of the object created by this operation
  • 0: nurbs surface
  • 1: polygon (use nurbsToPolygonsPref to set the parameters for the conversion)
  • 2: subdivision surface (use nurbsToSubdivPref to set the parameters for the conversion)
  • 3: Bezier surface
  • 4: subdivision surface solid (use nurbsToSubdivPref to set the parameters for the conversion)
-range(-rn) boolean create
Force a curve range on complete input curve.
-rebuild(-rb) boolean create
Rebuild the input curve(s) before using them in the operation. Use nurbsCurveRebuildPref to set the parameters for the conversion.

Flag can appear in Create mode of command Flag can appear in Edit mode of command
Flag can appear in Query mode of command Flag can be used more than once in a command.

MEL examples

// A loft across at least two curves. Curve ranges
// have been enabled on the curves. The curves will be reversed
// internally if needed to avoid a bowtie looking surface.
curve -d 3 -p -11 0 0 -p -13 0 -4 -p -17 0 -15 -p -4.7 0 -10 -p 1 0 -8;
// Result: curve1 //
curve -d 3 -p -2 0 5 -p -2 0 3 -p -2 0 -1 -p 4 0 0 -p 7 0 0;
// Result: curve2 //
loft -ch true -rn true -ar true curve1 curve2 ;