Publish or unpublish attributes

Publish attributes

You can publish attributes from an encapsulated node to its asset making it appear as though they are attributes of the asset itself.

Changes to either the published attribute or the corresponding internal node attribute update each other accordingly.

For more information on published attributes, see Published Attributes and Nodes.

Note: You can also publish an asset’s own attributes to the asset itself. For example, you can publish an asset’s View Mode so that even after you lock the asset’s unpublished attributes, artists can still switch between views.

To publish attributes to the asset using the Channel Box

Select the encapsulated object whose attributes you want to publish.
Select the attributes you want to publish in the Channel Box.
Ctrl + right-click in the Channel Box and select Publish to Asset from the pop-up menu.

Maya creates a published name(s) on the asset and binds it to the selected attribute(s) in the Channel Box.

Published attributes appear in the Attribute Editor in the Published Attributes section or at the top of the Channel Box under the asset they are published to.

You can use the Asset Editor or Attribute Editor to publish attributes that don’t appear in the Channel Box.

To publish an attribute using the Attribute Editor

Select the encapsulated object with the attribute you want to publish.
Open the Attribute Editor.
Right-click the attribute and select the asset you want to publish to from the menu that appears.
Maya publishes the attribute to the selected asset.

If the selected object is stored in a hierarchy of assets, all the assets above it appear in the menu. However, you can only publish attributes to higher level assets if they are also published to intermediate level assets.

For example, in the case below you can publish pCylinder1’s att1 to asset2 since it is published to asset1. On the other hand, you cannot publish any of pSphere1’s attributes to asset2.

To publish an attribute using the Asset Editor

Open the Asset Editor.
Select the asset to which you want to publish the attribute and click the Pin Asset icon .
Find the node whose attribute(s) you want to publish in the left panel.
Expand the node using to view the attributes.
Select the attribute name and do one of the following:
- Click the Publish Attribute icon .
- Select Assets > Publish Attributes > , set Publish to Selected Attributes, and click the Apply and Close button.
The attribute is published to the asset.

Note: If no attributes appear in the left panel, select Display > Attributes (Channels).

You can publish attributes with a custom name or publish sets of related attributes with the Publish Attributes Option window.

To publish attributes with a custom name or publish sets of related attributes

In the Hypergraph Connections editor, expand the asset with the node whose attribute you want to publish.
Select the node.
Select Assets > Publish Attributes > . You can also select Edit > Publish to Asset > in the Channel Box.
The Publish Attribute Options window appears.
Select which related attributes you want to publish.
Selected channel box attributes publishes any attributes you currently have highlighted in the Channel Box.

All keyable publishes any attributes that can be keyed for animation.

Incoming connections publishes any attributes that are defined by incoming values from other nodes.

Selected Attributes publishes any attributes selected in any editor.
Select an Attribute Name naming convention.
Click Apply and Close.

Note: You cannot publish an attribute with the name “note” or with a “.” as they are a reserved keyword and reserved symbol respectively.

Unpublish attributes

To unpublish attributes

Select the attribute(s) you want to unpublish in the Channel Box.
Select Assets > Unpublish Attributes or Ctrl + right-click the Channel Box and select Unpublish from Asset from the pop-up menu.
The attributes are unpublished from the asset and no longer appears under the asset’s name in the Channel Box.