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Manage the grouping : components group.

Manage the tweak, used for moving points (translate, rotate, scale), the tweak attributes can be animated.Manage all display options (normal, center, border, edge style, ...).Manage partial attributes used for ascii I/O : aPoints aVertex aEdges aUvpoints aFaces.Manage the tesselation's criterions for the polygonal's displacement : aUseMaxEdgeLength aUseMinEdgeLength aUseMaxSubd aUseMaxUv aUseMinScreen aUseNumTriangles aNumTriangles aMaxEdgeLength aMinEdgeLength aMaxSubd aMaxUvaMinScreen.
Node name Parents Classification MFn type Compatible function sets
mesh surfaceShape drawdb/geometry/mesh kMesh kBase
kNamedObject
kDependencyNode
kDagNode
kShape
kGeometric
kSurface
kMesh

Related nodes

polyCreator, polyCreateFace, polyPrimitive, polyTorus, polyPlane, polyCube, polyCone, polySphere, polyCylinder, polyUnite, polyBoolOp, polyBlindData

Attributes (130)

Attribute quick index omitted (too many attributes to show them all).

Long name (short name) Type Default Flags
inMesh (i) mesh NULL outputinputconnectable
The input (creation) mesh.
outMesh (o) mesh NULL outputinputconnectablestorable
The output (local space) mesh.
outGeometryClean (ogc) Message n/a outputinputconnectablehidden
Tells if aOutMesh is only dirty due to tweak change.
cachedInMesh (ci) mesh NULL outputinputstorable
Internal cached input mesh used only for file I/O. This attribute is for internal use and should never be directly manipulated by the user. If it is modified the results will be unpredictable.
worldMesh (w) mesh NULL arrayoutputconnectable
The world space meshes.
outSmoothMesh (os) mesh NULL outputinputconnectablehidden
The smoothed output (local space) mesh.
cachedSmoothMesh (cs) mesh NULL outputinputconnectablehidden
The cached smoothed mesh, that holds all the meshes from different levels of subdivision
smoothWarn (sw) bool true outputinputconnectablestorablehidden
Check for reasonable face count before smoothing.
smoothLevel (lev) short 2 outputinputconnectablestorable
The level of smoothing to perform on the mesh.
continuity (co) float 1 outputinputconnectablestorable
The smoothness parameter. Range is [0,1]. Default value of 1 smooths the faces as much as possible. Value of 0 subdivides faces only.
smoothUVs (suv) bool true outputinputconnectablestorable
If true: UVs as well as geometry will be smoothed
keepBorder (kb) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
If true: border edges will not be smoothed.
boundaryRule (bnr) enum 1 outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls how boundary edges and vertices are creased. By default, creases are automatically applied to all boundary edges and all vertices that have only 2 incident edges prior to converted to a smooth mesh. Users can control this behavior by modifying this enum. The options are 0 - use the original legacy algorithm which did not automatically crease boundary edges and vertices. 1 - default setting, apply creasing 2 - apply creasing to edges only
keepHardEdge (khe) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
If true: hard edges will not be smoothed.
propagateEdgeHardness (peh) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
If true: The smooth mesh preview edges which are a result of edges from the base cage will share the same hardness value.
keepMapBorders (kmb) enum 1 outputinputconnectablestorable
Treatment of UV map borders 0 - all map border edges will be smoothed 1 - map borders that are also geometry borders will be smoothed 2 - no map borders will be smoothed
smoothOffset (so) float3 outputinputconnectablestorable
The offset that will be added to the smoothed mesh. By default, no offset will be added. Leaving this to default will improve performance.
sofx (sx) float 0 outputinputconnectablehidden
Offset in x.
sofy (sy) float 0 outputinputconnectablehidden
Offset in y.
sofz (sz) float 0 outputinputconnectablehidden
Offset in z.
displaySubdComps (dsc) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls if the subdivided components should be displayed or not.
useSmoothPreviewForRender (uspr) bool true outputinputconnectablestorable
If true: use the preview smooth level for rendering. smooth render level
renderSmoothLevel (rsl) short 2 outputinputconnectablestorable
The level of smoothing to perform when rendering the mesh.
useMaxEdgeLength (uxe) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the maximum triangle edge length value.
useMinEdgeLength (uie) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the minimum triangle edge length value.
useMaxSubdivisions (uxs) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the maximum subdivision level value.
useMaxUV (uxu) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the maximum UV quad size value.
useMinScreen (uns) bool true outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the minimum triangle screen size.
useNumTriangles (unp) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the number of triangles to produce.
numTriangles (nt) integer 100 outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the maximum number of triangles for the entire tessellation.
maxEdgeLength (mxe) float 0.1 outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the maximum length of a triangle edge for the tessellation.
minEdgeLength (mne) float 0.01 outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the minimum length of a triangle edge for the tessellation.
maxSubd (mxs) integer 5 outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the maximum subdivision level for the tessellation.
maxUv (xuv) float 0.5 outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the maximum UV rectangle size in parametric space for the tessellation.
minScreen (mns) float 14 outputinputconnectablestorable
Specifies the maximum screen size (in pixels) a triangle can be for tessellation.
maxTriangles (tsl) integer 60000 outputinputconnectablestorable
Maximum numbers of triangles generated from an initial triangle.
pnts (pt) float3 arrayoutputinputconnectablestorable
This attribute is the array of vertex tweaks (relative movements). The attribute values are always significant regardless of whether the object has history or not.
pntx (px) distance (float) 0.0cm outputinputconnectablekeyable
Vertex position tweak in x.
pnty (py) distance (float) 0.0cm outputinputconnectablekeyable
Vertex position tweak in y.
pntz (pz) distance (float) 0.0cm outputinputconnectablekeyable
Vertex position tweak in z.
vrts (vt) float3 arrayoutputinputstorablehidden
This is an internal attribute representing local space vertex position, used for file I/O. It should never be directly manipulated by the user. If it is modified, the results will be unpredictable.
vrtx (vx) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
Vertex position in x.
vrty (vy) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
Vertex position in y.
vrtz (vz) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
Vertex position in z.
edge (ed) long3 arrayoutputinputstorablehidden
Polygon Edges.
edg1 (e1) integer 0 outputinputconnectablehidden
Polygon first point of edge.
edg2 (e2) integer 0 outputinputconnectablehidden
Polygon second point of edge.
edgh (eh) integer 0 outputinputconnectablehidden
Polygon the hard or smooth information of edge.
uvpt (uv) float2 arrayoutputinputstorablehidden
Polygon uvPoints.
uvpx (ux) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
Polygon uvPointX.
uvpy (uy) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
Polygon uvPointY.
colors (clr) compound n/a arrayoutputinputstorable
Special Attribute to specify the color - For file I/O only.
colorR (clrr) float 0.0 outputinputstorable
Special Attribute to specify color - Red channel - For file I/O only.
colorG (clrg) float 0.0 outputinputstorable
Special Attribute to specify color - Green channel - For file I/O only.
colorB (clrb) float 0.0 outputinputstorable
Special Attribute to specify color - Blue channel - For file I/O only.
colorA (clra) float 0.0 outputinputstorable
Special Attribute to specify color - Alpha channel - For file I/O only.
normals (n) float3 arrayoutputinputstorable
Special Attribute for file i/o of user specified normals. Gets written if there are any user specified normals on the object. If the default value which is 1e+20 is written out, then it means that system defined normal values are used.
normalx (nx) float 1e20 outputinputstorable
Special Attribute for file i/o of user specified normals - value in x.
normaly (ny) float 1e20 outputinputstorable
Special Attribute for file i/o of user specified normals - value in y.
normalz (nz) float 1e20 outputinputstorable
Special Attribute for file i/o of user specified normals - value in z.
face (fc) polyFaces NULL arrayoutputinputstorablehidden
Polygon Faces.
creaseData (cd) polyComponent NULL outputinputstorablehidden
Polygon Edge Crease Data
creaseVertexData (cvd) polyComponent NULL outputinputstorablehidden
Polygon Vertex Crease Data
holeFaceData (hfd) polyComponent NULL outputinputstorablehidden
Polygon Face Hole Data
colorPerVertex (cpvx) compound n/a outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Attribute to specify the color of a vertex, either on the entire vertex or on a per face basis.
vertexColor (vclr) compound n/a arrayoutputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
A compound attribute that corresponds to the color of the vertex. The attribute is a multi with the index of the multi identifying the vertex that the color applies to.
vertexColorRGB (vrgb) float3 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Vertex color. RGB channels.
vertexColorR (vxcr) float 0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Vertex color - R channel.
vertexColorG (vxcg) float 0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Vertex color - G channel.
vertexColorB (vxcb) float 0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Vertex color - B channel.
vertexAlpha (vxal) float 1 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Vertex color - Alpha channel.
vertexFaceColor (vfcl) compound n/a arrayoutputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
A compound attribute that corresponds to the color of the vertex attached to a particular face. It is a multi attribute and the index of the multi identifies the face that the color applies to. The index of the parent attribute (aVertexColor) already identifies the vertex that color is being attached to.
vertexFaceColorRGB (frgb) float3 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
RGB channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face.
vertexFaceColorR (vfcr) float 0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
R channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face.
vertexFaceColorG (vfcg) float 0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
G channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face.
vertexFaceColorB (vfcb) float 0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
B channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face.
vertexFaceAlpha (vfal) float 1 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Alpha channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face.
normalPerVertex (npvx) compound n/a outputinputstorable
Attribute to specify the normal of a vertex, either on the entire vertex or on a per face basis.
vertexNormal (vn) compound n/a arrayoutputinputstorable
A compound attribute that corresponds to the normal of the vertex. It is a multi attribute with the index of the multi identifying the vertex that the normal value applies to.
vertexNormalXYZ (nxyz) float3 outputinputstorable
Vertex normal - XYZ values.
vertexNormalX (vxnx) float 1e20 outputinputstorable
Vertex normal x value
vertexNormalY (vxny) float 1e20 outputinputstorable
Vertex normal y value
vertexNormalZ (vxnz) float 1e20 outputinputstorable
Vertex normal z value
vertexFaceNormal (vfnl) compound n/a arrayoutputinputstorable
A compound attribute that represents the normal of the vertex attached to a particular face. It is a multi attribute and the index of the multi identifies the face that the normal applies to. The index of the parent attribute (aVertexNormal) already identifies the vertex that normal value applies to.
vertexFaceNormalXYZ (fnxy) float3 outputinputstorable
VertexFace normal - XYZ.
vertexFaceNormalX (vfnx) float 1e20 outputinputstorable
Vertex face normal x value
vertexFaceNormalY (vfny) float 1e20 outputinputstorable
Vertex face normal y value
vertexFaceNormalZ (vfnz) float 1e20 outputinputstorable
Vertex face normal z value
displayVertices (dv) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit vertices display.
displayBorders (db) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit edge border display.
displayEdges (de) enum 0 outputinputconnectable
Controls explicit edge style display.
displayFacesWithGroupId (dfgi) integer -2 outputinputconnectablestorable
Overrides which faces are drawn on the UV Texture Editor. Has no effect on the 3d modeling view
displayCenter (dc) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit face center display.
displayTriangles (dt) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit face triangles display.
displayUVs (duv) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit uvs display.
displayItemNumbers (din) integer 0 outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit item numbers display.
displayNonPlanar (dnp) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit warped (non-planar) faces display
backfaceCulling (bck) enum 0 outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit backculling.
vertexBackfaceCulling (vbc) bool true outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit vertices backculling.
vertexSize (vs) double 3.0 outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit vertex display size.
uvSize (usz) double 4.0 outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit UV display size.
borderWidth (bw) double 2.0 outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit border width .
normalSize (ns) double 0.4 outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit normal size.
normalType (ndt) enum 0 outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit normal type.
displayNormal (dn) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit normal display.
displayTangent (dtn) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit tangents display.
tangentSpace (tgsp) enum 0 outputinputconnectablestorable
"Right Handed" tangent spaces are calculated so that the normal, the tangent, and the binormal always form a right handed coordinate system. In cases where the UV winding order has been reversed (either manually or as part of a mirroring workflow) this will cause the binormal components of normal and bump maps to be inverted (matching the behaviour of shaders which manually calculate the binormal from the tangent and normal). This is the default behaviour for pre-8.0 files. "Detect Winding Right Handed" tangent spaces calculate binormal values in a right handed coordinate system taking into account the UV winding order of the face. This ensures the binormal aligns with the V direction of the texture, and so enables the correct display of normal and bump maps on faces with reverse wound or mirrored UV mappings. This is the default value newly created meshes. "Left Handed" tangent spaces are calculated so that the normal, the tangent, and the binormal always form a left handed coordinate system. In cases where the UV winding order has been reversed (either manually or as part of a mirroring workflow) this will cause the binormal components of normal and bump maps to be inverted (matching the behaviour of shaders which manually calculate the binormal from the tangent and normal). "Detect Winding Left Handed" tangent spaces calculate binormal values in a left handed coordinate system taking into account the UV winding order of the face. This ensures the binormal aligns with the -V direction of the texture, and so enables the correct display of left handed normal maps on faces with reverse wound or mirrored UV mappings.
tangentSmoothingAngle (tsa) angle (double) 0.0deg outputinputconnectablestorable
Angle below which tangents will be smoothed. A value of 0 ensures that all UV seams (both UV borders and mirrored edges) create tangents space seams. Increase this value to remove undesired tangent space seams caused by UV borders or UV mirroring.
tangentNormalThreshold (tnt) angle (double) 0.0deg outputinputconnectablestorable
Angle below which normals are considered equal when calculating tangent space. A value of 0 ensures that all hard edges create tangents space seams. Increase this value to remove undesired tangent space seams caused by hard edges.
allowTopologyMod (atm) bool true outputinputconnectablestorable
Allow commands to modify the surface topology
materialBlend (matb) enum 0 outputinputconnectablestorable
Determines how to blend any stored color per vertex values with the current material, when in color display mode when blending is enabled. The default is to overwrite the material color.
uvTweakLocation (uvtl) generic typed data NULL inputconnectablehidden
While there is an input connection to this attribute, uv tweaks on this shape are placed on the node connected to this attribute rather than in the standard uv tweak (aUVPoints) attribute.
userTrg (utrg) string NULL outputinputconnectablestorable
The name of the user defined face triangulation function. By defualt, it is an empty string, which means Maya face triangulation will be used. Users can override the default triangulation by setting this attribute to the name of their own function registered with Maya through the API.
dispResolution (dr) enum 0 outputinputconnectablestorablehidden
Controls resolution at which surface is displayed
vertexIdMap (vmap) bool false outputinputhidden
Should the API watch for the vertex ID modification?
edgeIdMap (emap) bool false outputinputhidden
Should the API watch for the edge ID modification?
faceIdMap (fmap) bool false outputinputhidden
Should the API watch for the face ID modification?
displaySmoothMesh (dsm) enum 0 outputinputstorablehidden
Display mode for the smooth mesh
smoothMeshSelectionMode (ssm) enum 0 outputinputstorablehidden
When in the Smooth Mesh Preview display mode where you can see both the base cage as well as the smooth preview, this will set which components you want to select from.
inForceNodeUVUpdate (ifuv) bool false outputinputhidden
Dirty this attribute to trigger a UV update to the shape.
outForceNodeUVUpdate (ofuv) bool false outputinputhidden
Output attribute that will force a compute to update the shape UVs when dirtied.
reuseTriangles (rtri) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Should the triangles be reused. If set to ON, the triangulation that existed before the tweaking, or deformation will be re-used. Setting this to true helps interactive tweaking and deforming of objects. This setting helps objects with N-sided faces. This setting is meant for display modes that require triangles, as in the case of shaded mode display, or when the displayTriangles attribute is turned on. Note that the displayed triangles may not be accurate, since the pre-deformed, pre-tweaked triangles are re-used.
quadSplit (qsp) enum 2 outputinputconnectablestorable
This determines how quads (four sided faces) are split into two triangles. If "Left" is selected then the new edge will be between vertex 1 and 3, while "Right" splits between vertex 2 and 4. "Best Shape" attempts to pick the best split based on the shape of the quad. Note that this can cause flickering during animation of a deforming surface due to the split switching between the two modes. If one wishes to have best shape on a deforming surface then selecting reuse triangles will lock the triangulation so that the tessellation is constant across the animation.
vertexNormalMethod (vnm) enum 3 outputinputconnectablestorable
This determines how vertex normals are calculated. In all cases, the vertex normals are calculated by combining the face normals of the adjacent faces. "Unweighted" simply averages the normals of the adjacent faces. "Angle Weighted" uses a weighted sum, using the angle subtended by the edges of the face that meet at the vertex. "Area Weighted" similarly uses a weighted sum, using the areas of the adjacent faces. "Angle And Area Weighted" (the default) uses both angle and area, as defined above, in the weighted sum.
perInstanceIndex (pii) integer -1 arrayoutputinputconnectablestorable
When the mesh has per-instance data, this attribute can be used to determine the unique tag value for a given dagPath. The array index of this attribute corresponds to the dagPath instance number.
perInstanceTag (pit) integer -1 arrayoutputinputconnectablestorable
When the mesh has per-instance data, this attribute is used in conjunction with the perInstanceIndex to maintain a unique per-instance tag for a given dagPath.
displayAlphaAsGreyScale (dags) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Display alpha as grey scale If color set only contains alpha.
displayInvisibleFaces (difs) bool false outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls explicit hole face display.
motionVectorColorSet (mvcs) string NULL outputinputconnectablestorable
This is a string which identifies a color set to use for motion blur vectors. Normally motion blur vectors are computed by evaluating the mesh at different points in time then taking the difference of the positions. However for meshes that change topology over time this method will not work. Some nodes, such as the nParticle node, can create a color set that contains the motion vectors which are computed at the same time the mesh is constructed. The particle velocities are used to generate the list of motion vectors rather than the difference of meshes. If the motionVectorColorSet is not specified then the default method of generating motion blur from multiple mesh evaluations will be used.
vertexColorSource (vcs) enum 0 outputinputstorable
Display mode for the color of vertices