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Synopsis

sets [-addElement name] [-afterFilters boolean] [-clear name] [-color int] [-copy name] [-edges boolean] [-editPoints boolean] [-empty] [-facets boolean] [-flatten name] [-forceElement name] [-include name] [-intersection name] [-isIntersecting name] [-isMember name] [-layer boolean] [-name string] [-noSurfaceShader boolean] [-noWarnings] [-nodesOnly] [-remove name] [-renderable boolean] [-size] [-split name] [-subtract name] [-text string] [-union name] [-vertices boolean] selectionList

sets is undoable, queryable, and editable.

This command is used to create a set, query some state of a set, or perform operations to update the membership of a set. A set is a logical grouping of an arbitrary collection of objects, attributes, or components of objects. Sets are dependency nodes. Connections from objects to a set define membership in the set. Sets are used throughout Maya in a multitude of ways. They are used to define an association of material properties to objects, to define an association of lights to objects, to define a bookmark or named collection of objects, to define a character, and to define the components to be deformed by some deformation operation. Sets can be connected to any number of partitions. A partition is a node which enforces mutual exclusivity amoung the sets in the partition. That is, if an object is in a set which is in a partition, that object cannot be a member of any other set that is in the partition. Without any flags, the sets command will create a set with a default name of "set#" (where # is an integer). If no items are specified on the command line, the currently selected items are added to the set. The -em/empty flag can be used to create an empty set and not have the selected items added to the set. Sets can be created to have certain restrictions on membership. There can be "renderable" sets which only allow renderable objects (such as nurbs geometry or polymesh faces) to be members of the set. There can also be vertex (or control point), edit point, edge, or face sets which only allow those types of components to be members of a set. Note that for these sets, if an object with a valid type of component is to be added to a set, the components of the object are added to the set instead. Sets can have an associated color which is only of use when creating vertex sets. The color can be one of the eight user defined colors defined in the color preferences. This color can be used, for example to distinguish which vertices are being deformed by a particular deformation. Objects, components, or attributes can be added to a set using one of three flags. The -add/addElement flag will add the objects to a set as long as this won't break any mutual exclusivity constraints. If there are any items which can't be added, the command will fail. The -in/include flag will only add those items which can be added and warn of those which can't. The -fe/forceElement flag will add all the items to the set but will also remove any of those items that are in any other set which is in the same partition as the set. There are several operations on sets that can be performed with the sets command. Membership can be queried. Tests for whether an item is in a set or whether two sets share the same item can be performed. Also, the union, intersection and difference of sets can be performed which returns a list of members of the sets which are a result of the operation.

Return value

string For creation operations (name of the set that was created or edited)
string[] For query operation (names of items in the set)
boolean For isIntersecting and isMember operations

In query mode, return type is based on queried flag.

Related

character, listSets, partition

Flags

addElement, afterFilters, clear, color, copy, edges, editPoints, empty, facets, flatten, forceElement, include, intersection, isIntersecting, isMember, layer, name, noSurfaceShader, noWarnings, nodesOnly, remove, renderable, size, split, subtract, text, union, vertices
Long name (short name) Argument types Properties
-name(-n) string create
Assigns string as the name for a new set. This flag is only valid for operations that create a new set.
-text(-t) string createqueryedit
Defines an annotation string to be stored with the set.
-empty(-em) create
Indicates that the set to be created should be empty. That is, it ignores any arguments identifying objects to be added to the set. This flag is only valid for operations that create a new set.
-color(-co) int createqueryedit
Defines the hilite color of the set. Must be a value in range [-1, 7] (one of the user defined colors). -1 marks the color has being undefined and therefore not having any affect. Only the vertices of a vertex set will be displayed in this color.
-layer(-l) boolean create
OBSOLETE. DO NOT USE.
-vertices(-v) boolean createquery
Indicates the new set can contain vertices only. This flag is for use in creation or query mode only. The default value is false.
-edges(-eg) boolean createquery
Indicates the new set can contain edges only. This flag is for use in creation or query mode only. The default value is false.
-facets(-fc) boolean createquery
Indicates the new set can contain facets only. This flag is for use in creation or query mode only. The default value is false.
-editPoints(-ep) boolean createquery
Indicates the new set can contain editPoints only. This flag is for use in creation or query mode only. The default value is false.
-renderable(-r) boolean createquery
This flag indicates that a special type of set should be created. This type of set (shadingEngine as opposed to objectSet) has certain restrictions on its membership in that it can only contain renderable elements such as lights and geometry. These sets are referred to as shading groups and are automatically connected to the "renderPartition" node when created (to ensure mutual exclusivity of the set's members with the other sets in the partition). This flag is for use in creation or query mode only. The default value is false which means a normal set is created.
-noSurfaceShader(-nss) boolean create
If set is renderable, do not connect it to the default surface shader. Flag has no meaning or effect for non renderable sets. This flag is for use in creation mode only. The default value is false.
-copy(-cp) name create
Copies the members of the given set to a new set. This flag is for use in creation mode only.
-size(-s) query
Use the size flag to query the length of the set.
-subtract(-sub) name create
An operation between two sets which returns the members of the first set that are not in the second set.
-union(-un) name create
An operation that returns a list of all the members of all sets listed.
-intersection(-int) name create
An operation that returns a list of items which are members of all the sets in the list.
-clear(-cl) name edit
An operation which removes all items from the given set making the set empty.
-flatten(-fl) name edit
An operation that flattens the structure of the given set. That is, any sets contained by the given set will be replaced by its members so that the set no longer contains other sets but contains the other sets' members.
-nodesOnly(-no) query
This flag is usable with the -q/query flag but is ignored if used with another queryable flags. This flag modifies the results of the set membership query such that when there are attributes (e.g. sphere1.tx) or components of nodes included in the set, only the nodes will be listed. Each node will only be listed once, even if more than one attribute or component of the node exists in the set.
-isIntersecting(-ii) name create
An operation which tests whether the sets in the list have common members.
-isMember(-im) name create
An operation which tests whether all the given items are members of the given set.
-split(-sp) name create
Produces a new set with the list of items and removes each item in the list of items from the given set.
-noWarnings(-nw) create
Indicates that warning messages should not be reported such as when trying to add an invalid item to a set. (used by UI)
-addElement(-add) name edit
Adds the list of items to the given set. If some of the items cannot be added to the set because they are in another set which is in the same partition as the set to edit, the command will fail.
-include(-in) name edit
Adds the list of items to the given set. If some of the items cannot be added to the set, a warning will be issued. This is a less strict version of the -add/addElement operation.
-remove(-rm) name edit
Removes the list of items from the given set.
-forceElement(-fe) name edit
For use in edit mode only. Forces addition of the items to the set. If the items are in another set which is in the same partition as the given set, the items will be removed from the other set in order to keep the sets in the partition mutually exclusive with respect to membership.
-afterFilters(-af) boolean edit
Default state is false. This flag is valid in edit mode only. This flag is for use on sets that are acted on by deformers such as sculpt, lattice, blendShape. The default edit mode is to edit the membership of the group acted on by the deformer. If you want to edit the group but not change the membership of the deformer, set the flag to true.
Flag can appear in Create mode of command Flag can appear in Edit mode of command
Flag can appear in Query mode of command Flag can be used more than once in a command.

MEL examples

// create some objects
sphere -n sphere1;
cone -n cone1;

// create a set with whatever is currently active
select sphere1;
string $newSet1 = `sets`;
select cone1;
string $newSet2 = `sets`;

// Query the members of a set
sets -q $newSet1;

// create a set which contains two sets
sets -n setOfSets $newSet1 $newSet2;

// To select a set, the -noExpand flag must be used. Otherwise
// the members of a set are selected instead.
select -noExpand $newSet1;
ls -selection;

// Select the members of a set
select $newSet1;
ls -selection;

// Create a vertex set named ballVertices. This will contain
// all the vertices of the sphere.
sets -n ballVertices -v 1 sphere1;
select ballVertices;

// Return the union of two sets
sets -un $newSet1 $newSet2;

// Test whether a list of sets have common members
sets -ii $newSet1 ball;

// Test whether the sphere is a member of the set
sets -im $newSet1 sphere1;

// Remove the sphere from a set
sets -rm $newSet1 sphere1;

// Test again whether the sphere is a member of the set
sets -im $newSet1 sphere1;