Save and reuse attribute presets

User Guide > General > Basics > Nodes and attributes > View and edit attributes >

The Attribute Editor lets you save and re-apply presets. A preset is a collection of attribute settings you can save from one node and reapply to any number of other nodes.

This lets you store complex node setups, such as a library of lights set up with the attribute values you want.

Maya comes with a variety of presets for various nodes, such as fluids.

To create a preset

Open the node you want to take presets from in the Attribute Editor.
In the Attribute Editor, press on the Presets button (to the right of the node name) to show a pop-up menu and select Save (preset type) Preset.
Type a name for the new preset and click Save Attribute Preset.

If the preset already exists, you are prompted to overwrite it or save it with a different name.

To apply a preset to another node

Open the node you want to apply a preset to in the Attribute Editor.
In the Attribute Editor, press on the Presets button (to the right of the node name) to show a pop-up menu.
Point to the name of the preset to show another submenu with options for applying the preset to this node. You can replace the current attribute values with the values in the preset, or blend the preset values together with the current values.

Notes

Presets do not save connections to other nodes (such as texture maps). Applying a preset does not overwrite connections to other nodes.
Maya saves presets as editable MEL scripts in a presets folder inside the main Maya application folder. Presets for each node type are in separate folders inside the presets folder.

Troubleshoot when the Presets button is grayed out

Some node types cannot be saved as presets. Shape nodes, for example, would be meaningful as presets.