Publish or unpublish nodes

You can publish encapsulated nodes to an asset. This gives you access to whole nodes (rather than just their attributes), even when the asset is placed in Black Box mode. It also provides you with nodes whose parent/child relationships may be modified (provided those nodes are not locked).

To publish a generic node

Select the internal node you want to publish to the asset.
Select Assets > Publish Node
The Publish Node window appears.
Input the published name you want for the node and click OK.
Maya publishes the node to the asset under the published name you specified.

For advanced assets, you can also publish nodes directly from the Attribute Editor.

To publish a generic node from the Attribute Editor (Advanced Assets only)

Select the internal node you want to publish to the asset.
Open the Attribute Editor.
Navigate to the asset tab.
In the Published Nodes section, under the Nodes heading, click the Publish as node icon () next to the field marked Add Published Node.
The Publish Node window appears.
Enter a published name for the node and click OK.
A new entry appears with the published name and node name.

To unpublish a node

Select the node you want to unpublish from the asset.
Select Assets > Unpublish Node.

To unpublish a node from the Attribute Editor

Open the Attribute Editor.
Navigate to the asset tab.
In the Published Nodes section, under the Nodes heading, click the Unpublish as node icon () next to the node you want to unpublish.
The node and its published name are removed from the list of published nodes.

Note

When publishing shading groups, use the published name mainSG to denote which group Maya should use to shade the asset.

Publish or unpublish a selection transform, parent anchor, or child anchor (Advanced Assets only)

For advanced assets, you can also publish a node in an advanced asset as a parent anchor or child anchor to designate hierarchical attachment points between the asset and other nodes in the DAG hierarchy. Furthermore, when an asset is locked, Maya only allows parenting relationships to be made or broken on internal nodes that are published as anchors.

Parent Anchor - Allows children to be parented to this node.
Child Anchor - Allows this node to be parented to another node.
Selection Transform - Automatically selected when the asset is selected in an editor. Can also act as both a parent and child anchor.

For example, a node representing a character’s shoulder could be encapsulated in an asset representing a character’s arm. This shoulder node could then be set as the child of the character’s body node, which would be outside the arm asset. In this case, the shoulder is published as a child anchor.

While Maya does not require that you publish an encapsulated node as an anchor in order to parent it to an external node (unless the asset is locked), publishing a node as an anchor gives many benefits.

Tells Maya to use the published name when recording modifications to their parenting during file referencing, allowing you to change the name of the node in a referenced scene without breaking a parent scene.
Allows you to transfer parent/child relationships when using the Transfer Attribute Values option.
Allows you to see nodes when an asset is in Black Box mode. For more detailed information, see Published Nodes.

Like publishing generic nodes, you can publish a selection transform, parent anchors, or child anchors from the Assets menu or the Attribute Editor.

To publish a parent anchor or child anchor

Select the encapsulated node to be parented by or parented to an external node.
If you want multiple encapsulated nodes parented under a single external node, you can group those nodes and select the group instead.
Select Assets > Advanced Assets > Node Publishing > Publish Parent Anchor or Assets > Advanced Assets > Node Publishing > Publish Child Anchor.
or

In the Attribute Editor, under the Published Nodes section of the asset tab, click the publish button () next to the Add Parent Anchor or Add Child Anchor field respectively, and enter a published name.

Maya sets the node as a parent anchor or child anchor. You can now parent the node (in accordance with the type of anchor you chose) when the asset is locked.

You can also publish a node as an asset’s selection transform. The selection transform automatically acts as both a parent and child anchor and is selected automatically when any part of the asset is selected in Asset centric Selection. An asset can only have one selection transform.

To publish a selection transform

Select one object in the asset.
Select Assets > Advanced Assets > Node Publishing > Publish as Selection Transform.
or

In the Attribute Editor, under the Published Nodes section of the asset tab, click the publish button () next to the Selection Transform field and enter a published name.

The selected node is set as the asset’s selection transform.

You can also set a selection transform when you are creating an asset. For more information, see Create assets.

Note

You can view the published nodes for an asset at any time in the asset tab of the Attribute Editor. You can click the show button () next to any published node to quickly navigate to that node’s Attribute Editor tab. You can also view published nodes in the Asset Editor.

To unpublish a selection transform, parent anchor, or child anchor

Select the asset.
Select Assets > Advanced Assets > Node Unpublishing > Unpublish Selection Transform, Assets > Advanced Assets > Node Unpublishing > Unpublish Parent Anchor or Assets > Advanced Assets > Node Unpublishing > Unpublish Child Anchor.
or

In the Attribute Editor, under the Published Nodes section of the asset tab, click the unpublish button () next to the node you want to unpublish.