Publish attributes

You can publish attributes from an internal node to its container making it appear as though they are attributes of the container itself. This simplifies workflows by limiting the number of attributes presented to you.

Changes to either the published attribute or the corresponding internal node attribute update each other accordingly.

For more information on Published Attributes, see Published attributes and nodes.

To publish attributes to the container using the Channel Box

1. Select the encapsulated object whose attributes you want to publish to its container.
2. Select the attributes you want to publish from the Channel Box.
3. + -click in the Channel Box and select Publish to Container from the pop-up menu.

Maya creates a published name(s) on the container and binds it to the selected attribute(s) in the Channel Box.

Published attributes appear in the Attribute Editor in the Published Attributes section or at the top of the Channel Box under the container they are published to.

You can use the Asset Editor or Attribute Editor to publish attributes that don’t appear in the Channel Box.

To publish an attribute using the Attribute Editor

1. Select the encapsulated object with the attribute you want to publish.
2. Open the Attribute Editor.
3. -click the attribute and select the container you want to publish to from the marking menu that appears.

   Maya publishes the attribute to the selected container.

   If the selected object is stored in a hierarchy of containers, all the containers above it appear in the marking menu. However, you can only publish attributes to higher containers if they are also published to intermediate level containers.

   For example, in this following example you can publish pCylinder1’s att1 to container2 since it is published to container1. On the other hand, you cannot publish any of pSphere1’s attributes to container2.

   

To publish an attribute using the Asset Editor

1. Open the Asset Editor.
2. Select the container to which you want to publish the attribute.
3. Click the Pin icon .
4. Find the node whose attribute(s) you want to publish in the left panel.
5. Select the attribute name and click the Publish Attribute icon .

   The attribute is published to the container.

   If no attributes appear in the left panel, select Display > Attributes (Channels). Note that you can also publish container attributes to itself.

You can publish attributes with a custom name or publish sets of related attributes with the Publish Attributes Option window.

To publish attributes with a custom name or publish sets of related attributes

1. In the Hypergraph Connections editor, expand the container with the node whose attribute you want to publish.
2. Select the node.
3. Select Assets > Publish to Container > . You can also press + -click the Channel Box and select Publish to Container > from the pop-up menu.

   The Publish to Container Options window appears.

4. Select which related attributes you want to publish.

   Selected channel box attributes publishes any attributes you currently have highlighted in the Channel Box.

   All keyable publishes any attributes that can be keyed for animation.

   Incoming connections publishes any attributes that are defined by incoming values from other nodes.

5. Select an Attribute Name naming convention.
6. Click Apply and Close.

Unpublish attributes

To unpublish attributes

1. Select the attribute(s) you want to unpublish in the Channel Box.
2. + -click the Channel Box and select Unpublish from Container from the pop-up menu.

   The attributes are unpublished from the container and no longer appears under the container’s name in the Channel Box.