4 ms·

This is one of the things I used to like about Maya. It appeared to be a command driven editor and everything you did in the UI translated to a command line com

This is one of the things I used to like about Maya. It appeared to be a command driven editor and everything you did in the UI translated to a command line command. You could set it to show the commands and even capture them and use them as a start for generating a script I don't know if it's still that way after the transition from Mel to Python. I haven't used Maya in 15 years Even more, Maya also was like a 3D editor OS/Engine. The UI itself was written in the scripting language (~1500 melscript files) using the primitives from the "engine".

TeMPOraL 4y ago
Never used Maya, but what you describe sounds like something that's common in CAD software. I imagine this was spearheaded by AutoCAD and is a natural consequence of using Lisp as the underlying command/extension language :). Two other applications that may be structured similarly are GIMP and Audacity (the audio editor). I say may, because I never looked under the hood to check on the internal architecture, but both also ship with an embedded Lisp interpreter for automation and extension, that integrates deeply with the tool's features.
breck 4y ago
Interesting! This is how I design all of my software. Do you know the term for this pattern? Is it simply the "Command pattern"? I called it "User Methods" once (https://breckyunits.com/user-methods.html https://breckyunits.com/user-methods.html), but was never crazy about that term.
- pronlover723 4y ago
  It is the command pattern with the added stipulation that there must be some way to represent every command as a simple command line like expression. MelScript commands look a lot like shell commands. Maybe that's not a requirement. Adobe products will export commands as JavaScript and you can (could?) script most of their tools. https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/scripting.html https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/scripting.html The difference there is it's an afterthought vs Maya where the UI you interact with is literally implemented in this scripting language, all of which is editable if you want to customize it.

TeMPOraL 4y ago

Never used Maya, but what you describe sounds like something that's common in CAD software. I imagine this was spearheaded by AutoCAD and is a natural consequence of using Lisp as the underlying command/extension language :). Two other applications that may be structured similarly are GIMP and Audacity (the audio editor). I say may, because I never looked under the hood to check on the internal architecture, but both also ship with an embedded Lisp interpreter for automation and extension, that integrates deeply with the tool's features.

breck 4y ago

Interesting! This is how I design all of my software. Do you know the term for this pattern? Is it simply the "Command pattern"? I called it "User Methods" once (https://breckyunits.com/user-methods.html https://breckyunits.com/user-methods.html), but was never crazy about that term.

pronlover723 4y ago
It is the command pattern with the added stipulation that there must be some way to represent every command as a simple command line like expression. MelScript commands look a lot like shell commands. Maybe that's not a requirement. Adobe products will export commands as JavaScript and you can (could?) script most of their tools. https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/scripting.html https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/scripting.html The difference there is it's an afterthought vs Maya where the UI you interact with is literally implemented in this scripting language, all of which is editable if you want to customize it.