Select every other edge loop on your model (maya)

1. Make sure your script panel in the bottom is set to MEL

2. Select your edge selection tool and highlight one edge in your object. Double click to get the entire loop.

3. Once that loop is selected drop this code snippet in your script editor and hit enter

polySelectEdgesEveryN "edgeRing" 2;

It should select every other loop in your model.

Create a geodesic dome in maya

I recently had a project where I needed to create a dome in maya with precise angles and what not. Here is how to quickly make Geodesic domes in maya.

In the Maya menus

create>polygon primative>platonic solids

To make a 36 foot dome set radius to 18
set to icosahedron
choose collectively


smooth linearly
devision levels 1
divisions per face 3
push strength 0
roundness 10

Merge multiple scan point clouds from Faro Scene into one using Mesh Lab and Cloud Compare

Sometimes when you have done your LIDAR scans and need to merge them The best way to do it is with third party free tools after.

Let's start by saying you have your lidar scans in faro SCENE

1. Export .E57 files from Faro SCENE

2. Import into Cloud Compare

3. Select all scans holding control and selecting them in the DB tree of cloud compare. Then goto edit>merge.

4. Save the merge out as a PLY file.


Now depending on how you are going to use the point clouds they may need normals for them to display properly. To compute those:

1. Import the PLY into meshlab

2. Goto filters>normals Compute normals for point sets

3. set neighbor number to 1000 for 5 million point  cloud

4. Then save the cloud back out. With _normals in the name so you know what happend.

Tips for working with Maya goleam 3.4

1. how to "fix" goleam character alpha channel when using a dome light. (appears that crowd has no alpha channel. You are actually seeing the dome alpha.

If you are using a vray dome light then it will appear that the alpha isn't working with the crowd. Make the dome invisible and then you will see it was just getting filled in with white.


2. Vray maya fix the hair issue in goleam material (hair has strange super bright highlights)

select the hair blinn shader. in attributes editor fold out "raytrace options"  and set Reflection limit to 0 or in the vray shader under reflections turn off trace reflections


3. Set goleam to matching scale in maya 
leave maya set to cm

set goleam to cm from the meters it defaults to in crowdmanagernode

then go to your crowd field node and set simulation scale to 100.

This is what you would do in the case of scanning a stadium with a lidar.
exporting from SCENE to e57>

4. IF trying to use nav mesh these settings MAY be helpful. Per face population works better for stadiums

.1Settings for navmesh

combine, delete history for object

trianglulate

Rasterization Voxel

Length2.0mu

Height 2. mu

.66
.16
1.54
45

uncheck "Keep Only greatest Connex Zone" in the advanced perameters tab

and delete


5. Setting up vray and goleam on Backburner

If you want BB to see vray you have to do a full install of vray on each slave. not just a standalone install.


BAT to run BB

@echo off

rem ################## Golaem Crowd
set GLM_CROWD_HOME=C:\Golaem\GolaemCrowd_351_Maya2015

rem ################## Autodesk Maya
set MAYA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2015
set MAYA_VERSION=2015
set MAYA_MODULE_PATH=%GLM_CROWD_HOME%;%MAYA_MODULE_PATH%

rem ################## System
set PATH=%GLM_CROWD_HOME%\bin;%PATH%;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\system;

rem ################## V-Ray
set VRAY_PLUGINS_x64=%GLM_CROWD_HOME%\procedurals;%VRAY_PLUGINS_x64%
set VRAY_FOR_MAYA2015_PLUGINS_x64=%GLM_CROWD_HOME%\procedurals;%VRAY_FOR_MAYA2015_PLUGINS_x64%
set VRAY_FOR_MAYA_SHADERS=%GLM_CROWD_HOME%\shaders;%VRAY_FOR_MAYA_SHADERS%

rem ################## Launch Maya with the right configuration
start /d "C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Backburner" server.exe



6. populate per face seating in goleam
First create your entity type node (icon of orange and white guy)

select your crowdman.gskm

select your object , select to choose faces, select all faces

then ctrl click the population tool in the tools attributes panel select create particles on selected components

set crowd manager node to cm

goto pop tool and set reius again you should now see the green particle indicators.