Go to: Synopsis. Return value. Flags. Python examples.
projectTangent(
[curve] [[curve] [curve] | [surface]]
, [caching=boolean], [constructionHistory=boolean], [curvature=boolean], [curvatureScale=linear], [ignoreEdges=boolean], [name=string], [nodeState=int], [object=boolean], [replaceOriginal=boolean], [reverseTangent=boolean], [rotate=angle], [tangentDirection=int], [tangentScale=linear])
Note: Strings representing object names and arguments must be separated by commas. This is not depicted in the synopsis.
projectTangent is undoable, queryable, and editable.
The project tangent command is used to align (for tangents) a curve
to two other curves or a surface. A surface isoparm may be selected
to define the direction (U or V) to align to. The end of the curve
must intersect with these other objects. Curvature continuity may also
be applied if required.
Tangent continuity means the end of the curve is modified to be tangent
at the point it meets the other objects.
Curvature continuity means the end of the curve is modified to be
curvature continuous as well as tangent.
If the normal tangent direction is used, the curvature continuity
and rotation do not apply. Also, curvature continuity is only available
if align to a surface (not with 2 curves).
| string[] | Object name and node name |
In query mode, return type is based on queried flag.
caching, constructionHistory, curvature, curvatureScale, ignoreEdges, name, nodeState, object, replaceOriginal, reverseTangent, rotate, tangentDirection, tangentScale
| Long name (short name) |
Argument types |
Properties |
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caching(cch)
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boolean
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Toggle caching for all attributes so that no recomputation is needed
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curvature(c)
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boolean
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Curvature continuity is on if true and off otherwise.
Default: false
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curvatureScale(cs)
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linear
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Curvature scale applied to curvature of curve to align. Available if curvature option is true.
Default: 0.0
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ignoreEdges(ie)
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boolean
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If false, use the tangents of the trim edge curves if the surface is trimmed. If true, use the tangents of the underlying surface in the U/V directions.
Default: false
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nodeState(nds)
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int
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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.
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Default: kdnNormal
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reverseTangent(rt)
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boolean
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Reverse the tangent direction if true and leave it the way it is if false.
Default: false
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rotate(ro)
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angle
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Amount by which the tangent of the curve to align will be rotated. Available only if the normal direction (3) is not used for tangentDirection.
Default: 0.0
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tangentDirection(td)
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int
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Tangent align direction type legal values: 1=u direction (of surface or use first curve), 2=v direction (of surface or use second curve), 3=normal direction (at point of intersection).
Default: 1
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tangentScale(ts)
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linear
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Tangent scale applied to tangent of curve to align.
Default: 1.0
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| Common flags |
constructionHistory(ch)
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boolean
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Turn the construction history on or off.
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name(n)
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string
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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.
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object(o)
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boolean
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Create the result, or just the dependency node.
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replaceOriginal(rpo)
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boolean
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Create "in place" (i.e., replace).
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Flag can appear in Create mode of command
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Flag can appear in Edit mode of command
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Flag can appear in Query mode of command
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Flag can have multiple arguments, passed either as a tuple or a list.
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import maya.cmds as cmds
# Do project tangent with curvature continuity between a curve and a
# nurbs plane surface
cmds.projectTangent( 'curve1', 'nurbsPlane1', c=True )
# Do project tangent between the 3 curves and tangent align the curve
# with the reverse tangent of the second of the other 2 curves
# (i.e. with curve3)
cmds.projectTangent( 'curve1', 'curve2', 'curve3', td=2, rt=True )