Python
1 Jun 2019

Creating User Interface in Maya

Table of Contents

1. Creating a Simple Window UI in Maya

2. Creating a Maya WorkSpaceControl Window

3. Creating UI elements in Maya (Through maya.cmds)

4. Creating UI elements in Maya (Through PyQt5/PySide2)





1. Creating a Simple Window UI in Maya


Creating a Window through MEL

string $win = `window "Simple Window"`;
showWindow $win;

Creating a Window through maya.cmd

from maya import cmds

win = cmds.window(title = "Simple Window",widthHeight = (300,200))
cmds.showWindow(win)

Creating a Window through OpenMaya API & PySide2

from PySide2 import QtCore, QtWidgets
from shiboken2 import wrapInstance

import maya.OpenMayaUI as omui

def mayaWindow():
	main_window_ptr = omui.MQtUtil.mainWindow()
	return wrapInstance(long(main_window_ptr),QtWidgets.QWidget)
	
class TestWindow(QtWidgets.QDialog):
	def __init__(self,parent=mayaWindow()):
		super(TestWindow,self).__init__(parent)
		
		self.setWindowTitle("Test Dialog")
		self.resize(400, 250)
		# make sure the window is overlay the maya
		self.setWindowFlags(self.windowFlags() | QtCore.Qt.WindowStaysOnTopHint)
		
		
# make sure the code will only run when this is the main file
if __name__=="__main__":
	d = TestWindow()
	d.show()





2. Creating a Maya WorkSpaceControl Window


from PySide2 import QtCore, QtWidgets
from shiboken2 import wrapInstance

import maya.OpenMayaUI as omui

from maya import cmds


def getDock(name='TestWorkspace'):
    deleteDock(name) # firstly, delete the Dock
    # Create a tab window(dock) in maya
    ctrl = cmds.workspaceControl(name,label = "Window Test")

    qtCtrl = omui.MQtUtil_findControl(ctrl)
    ptr = wrapInstance(long(qtCtrl),QtWidgets.QWidget)
    return ptr
    
def deleteDock(name = "LightingManagerDock"):
    if cmds.workspaceControl(name,query = True, exists = True):
        cmds.deleteUI(name)
        
        
# Run function to get the window
getDock()





3. Creating UI elements in Maya (Through maya.cmds)


Creating a Simple Button

from maya import cmds

def buttonAction(args):
  print("Button is pressed")
  
def showUI():
  win = cmds.window(title="Button Event", widthHeight = (200,200))
  cmds.columnLayout()
  cmds.button(label="My Button", command = buttonAction)
  cmds.showWindow(win)
  
showUI()



Retrieve Input from intField | floatField

Sometimes we also need to grab input from field controls, in both integet and float varieties.

The below script is to create spheres by grabing the input field.

class SpheresClass():
  def __init__(self):
    self.win = cmds.window(title="Make Spheres",widthHeight=(300,200))
    cmds.columnLayout()
    self.numSpheres = cmds.intField(minValue=1)
    cmds.button(label="Make Spheres",command = self.makeSpheres)
    cmds.showWindow(self.win)
  def makeSpheres(self,*args):
    number = cmds.intField(self.numSpheres,query=True,value=True)
    for i in range(0,number):
      cmds.polySphere()
      cmds.move(i*2.2,0,0)
      
SpheresClass()



Using Nested Layout to Add text Before the Input Field

Many times, we will want to create organized UI Layout, we need to nest layouts inside each other.

The following example shows using rowLayouts within a single columnLayout to add label before the input field.


from maya import cmds

class NestedLayouts():
  def __init__(self):
    self.win = cmds.window(title="Nested Layouts", widthHeight=(300,200))
    cmds.columnLayout()
    cmds.rowLayout(numberOfColumns=2)
    cmds.text(label="input One:")
    self.inputOne = cmds.intField()
    
    # in order to continue to add out UI, we have you use `cmds.setParent("..")`  
    # to back to the previous layout, which is the column layout
    cmds.setParent("..")
    cmds.rowLayout(numberOfColumns=2)
    cmds.text(label="Input Two:")
    self.inputTwo = cmds.intField()
    cmds.setParent("..")
    cmds.showWindow(self.win)

NestedLayouts()



Using Tabs and Scrolling


from maya import cmds

class TabExample():
  def __init__(self):
    self.win = cmds.window(title = "Tabbed Layout",widthHeight = (300,300))
    self.tabs = cmds.tabLayout()
    
    # add first tab
    firstTab = cmds.columnLayout()
    cmds.tabLayout(self.tabs,edit=True,tabLabel=[firstTab,'Simple Tab'])
    cmds.button(label="Button")
    cmds.setParent("..")
    
    # add the second tab, and setup scrolling
    scroll = cmds.scrollLayout()
    cmds.tabLayout(self.tabs,edit=True,tabLabel=[scroll,'Scrolling Tab'])
    cmds.columnLayout()
    for i in range(20):
      cmds.button(label='Button '+str(i+1))
    cmds.setParent("..")
    cmds.setParent("..")
    cmds.showWindow(self.win)
TabExample()

selectTabIndex can help you get the info of the currently selected tab

currTab = cmds.tabLayout(self.tabs,query=True,selectTabIndex = True)

Use selectTabIndex to set which tab is currently actice

cmds.tabLayout(self.tabs,edit = True,selectTabIndex=2)



Working with Menu and MenuItem


from maya import cmds

class CustomMenu:
  def __init__(self):
    self.win = cmds.window(title="Menu Example", menuBar = True, widthHeight =(300,200))
    fileMenu = cmds.menu(label ="File")
    loadOption = cmds.menuItem(label="Load")
    saveOption = cmds.menuItem(label="Save")
    cmds.setParent("..")
    
    objectsMenu = cmds.menu(label="Objects")
    sphereMI = cmds.menuItem(label="Make Sphere", command = self.sphereCommand)
    sphereOption = cmds.menuItem(optionBox = True,command = self.sphereCommandOptions)
    cubeOption = cmds.menuItem(label = "Make Cube",command = "cmds.headsUpMessage('Lets make cube')")
    cmds.setParent("..")
    
    cmds.columnLayout()
    cmds.text(label = "Put the rest of yout interface here")
    
    cmds.showWindow(self.win)
  
  def sphereCommand(self,*args):
    self.makeSphere(1)
  def sphereCommandOptions(self,*args):
    promptInput = cmds.promptDialog(title = "SphereRadius",message="Specify Radius: ", button=['OK','CANCEL'], defaultButton = 'OK',cancelButton = 'CANCEL',dismissString='CANCEL')
    
    if(promptInput == 'OK'):
      radiusInput = cmds.promptDialog(query=True,text=True)
      self.makeSphere(radiusInput)
  
  def makeSphere(self,r):
    cmds.polySphere(radius = r)
  def makeCube(self,*args):
    cmds.polyCube()
    
CustomMenu()





4. Creating UI elements in Maya (Through PyQt5/PySide2)


PushButton

from PySide2 import QtCore, QtWidgets
from shiboken2 import wrapInstance

import maya.OpenMayaUI as omui

def mayaWindow():
	main_window_ptr = omui.MQtUtil.mainWindow()
	return wrapInstance(long(main_window_ptr),QtWidgets.QWidget)
	
class TestWindow(QtWidgets.QDialog):
	def __init__(self,parent=mayaWindow()):
		super(TestWindow,self).__init__(parent)
		
		self.setWindowTitle("Test Dialog")
		self.resize(400, 250)
		# make sure the window is overlay the maya
		self.setWindowFlags(self.windowFlags() | QtCore.Qt.WindowStaysOnTopHint)
		self.buildUI()
		
	def buildUI(self):
		btn = QtWidgets.QPushButton("Test Button",self)
		btn.clicked.connect(self.buttonAction)
		
		
	def buttonAction(args):
		print("Test Btn")
# make sure the code will only run when this is the main file
if __name__=="__main__":
	d = TestWindow()
	d.show()





End –Cheng Gu

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