mesh

Go to: Related nodes. Attributes.

 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.

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

Attributes (157)

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

Long name (short name)	Type	Default	Flags
inMesh (i)	mesh	NULL
The input (creation) mesh.
outMesh (o)	mesh	NULL
The output (local space) mesh.
outGeometryClean (ogc)	Message	n/a
Tells if aOutMesh is only dirty due to tweak change.
cachedInMesh (ci)	mesh	NULL
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
The world space meshes.
outSmoothMesh (os)	mesh	NULL
The smoothed output (local space) mesh.
cachedSmoothMesh (cs)	mesh	NULL
The cached smoothed mesh, that holds all the meshes from different levels of subdivision
smoothWarn (sw)	bool	true
Check for reasonable face count before smoothing.
smoothLevel (lev)	short	2
The level of smoothing to perform on the mesh.
continuity (co)	float	1
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
If true: UVs as well as geometry will be smoothed
keepBorder (kb)	bool	false
If true: border edges will not be smoothed.
keepHardEdge (khe)	bool	false
If true: hard edges will not be smoothed.
propagateEdgeHardness (peh)	bool	false
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
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
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 Offset in x.
sofy (sy) float 0 Offset in y.
sofz (sz) float 0 Offset in z.
displaySubdComps (dsc)	bool	false
Controls if the subdivided components should be displayed or not.
useSmoothPreviewForRender (uspr)	bool	true
If true: use the preview smooth level for rendering. smooth render level
renderSmoothLevel (rsl)	short	2
The level of smoothing to perform when rendering the mesh.
useMaxEdgeLength (uxe)	bool	false
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the maximum triangle edge length value.
useMinEdgeLength (uie)	bool	false
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the minimum triangle edge length value.
useMaxSubdivisions (uxs)	bool	false
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the maximum subdivision level value.
useMaxUV (uxu)	bool	false
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the maximum UV quad size value.
useMinScreen (uns)	bool	true
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the minimum triangle screen size.
useNumTriangles (unp)	bool	false
Specifies if the decision to continue tessellation should be based on the number of triangles to produce.
numTriangles (nt)	integer	100
Specifies the maximum number of triangles for the entire tessellation.
maxEdgeLength (mxe)	float	0.1
Specifies the maximum length of a triangle edge for the tessellation.
minEdgeLength (mne)	float	0.01
Specifies the minimum length of a triangle edge for the tessellation.
maxSubd (mxs)	integer	5
Specifies the maximum subdivision level for the tessellation.
maxUv (xuv)	float	0.5
Specifies the maximum UV rectangle size in parametric space for the tessellation.
minScreen (mns)	float	14
Specifies the maximum screen size (in pixels) a triangle can be for tessellation.
maxTriangles (tsl)	integer	60000
Maximum numbers of triangles generated from an initial triangle.
pnts (pt)	float3
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 Vertex position tweak in x.
pnty (py) distance (float) 0.0cm Vertex position tweak in y.
pntz (pz) distance (float) 0.0cm Vertex position tweak in z.
vrts (vt)	float3
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 Vertex position in x.
vrty (vy) float 0.0 Vertex position in y.
vrtz (vz) float 0.0 Vertex position in z.
edge (ed)	long3
Polygon Edges.
edg1 (e1) integer 0 Polygon first point of edge.
edg2 (e2) integer 0 Polygon second point of edge.
edgh (eh) integer 0 Polygon the hard or smooth information of edge.
uvpt (uv)	float2
Polygon uvPoints.
uvpx (ux) float 0.0 Polygon uvPointX.
uvpy (uy) float 0.0 Polygon uvPointY.
colors (clr)	compound	n/a
Special Attribute to specify the color - For file I/O only.
colorR (clrr) float 0.0 Special Attribute to specify color - Red channel - For file I/O only.
colorG (clrg) float 0.0 Special Attribute to specify color - Green channel - For file I/O only.
colorB (clrb) float 0.0 Special Attribute to specify color - Blue channel - For file I/O only.
colorA (clra) float 0.0 Special Attribute to specify color - Alpha channel - For file I/O only.
normals (n)	float3
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 Special Attribute for file i/o of user specified normals - value in x.
normaly (ny) float 1e20 Special Attribute for file i/o of user specified normals - value in y.
normalz (nz) float 1e20 Special Attribute for file i/o of user specified normals - value in z.
face (fc)	polyFaces	NULL
Polygon Faces.
creaseData (cd)	polyComponent	NULL
Polygon Edge Crease Data
creaseVertexData (cvd)	polyComponent	NULL
Polygon Vertex Crease Data
colorPerVertex (cpvx)	compound	n/a
Attribute to specify the color of a vertex, either on the entire vertex or on a per face basis.
vertexColor (vclr) compound n/a 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 Vertex color. RGB channels. vertexColorR (vxcr) float 0 Vertex color - R channel. vertexColorG (vxcg) float 0 Vertex color - G channel. vertexColorB (vxcb) float 0 Vertex color - B channel. vertexAlpha (vxal) float 1 Vertex color - Alpha channel. vertexFaceColor (vfcl) compound n/a 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 RGB channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face. vertexFaceColorR (vfcr) float 0 R channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face. vertexFaceColorG (vfcg) float 0 G channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face. vertexFaceColorB (vfcb) float 0 B channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face. vertexFaceAlpha (vfal) float 1 Alpha channel of Color of a vertex attached to a particular face.
normalPerVertex (npvx)	compound	n/a
Attribute to specify the normal of a vertex, either on the entire vertex or on a per face basis.
vertexNormal (vn) compound n/a 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 Vertex normal - XYZ values. vertexNormalX (vxnx) float 1e20 Vertex normal x value vertexNormalY (vxny) float 1e20 Vertex normal y value vertexNormalZ (vxnz) float 1e20 Vertex normal z value vertexFaceNormal (vfnl) compound n/a 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 VertexFace normal - XYZ. vertexFaceNormalX (vfnx) float 1e20 Vertex face normal x value vertexFaceNormalY (vfny) float 1e20 Vertex face normal y value vertexFaceNormalZ (vfnz) float 1e20 Vertex face normal z value
displayVertices (dv)	bool	false
Controls explicit vertices display.
displayBorders (db)	bool	false
Controls explicit edge border display.
displayEdges (de)	enum	0
Controls explicit edge style display.
displayFacesWithGroupId (dfgi)	integer	-2
Overrides which faces are drawn on the UV Texture Editor. Has no effect on the 3d modeling view
displayCenter (dc)	bool	false
Controls explicit face center display.
displayTriangles (dt)	bool	false
Controls explicit face triangles display.
displayUVs (duv)	bool	false
Controls explicit uvs display.
displayItemNumbers (din)	integer	0
Controls explicit item numbers display.
displayNonPlanar (dnp)	bool	false
Controls explicit warped (non-planar) faces display
backfaceCulling (bck)	enum	0
Controls explicit backculling.
vertexBackfaceCulling (vbc)	bool	true
Controls explicit vertices backculling.
vertexSize (vs)	double	3.0
Controls explicit vertex display size.
uvSize (usz)	double	4.0
Controls explicit UV display size.
borderWidth (bw)	double	2.0
Controls explicit border width .
normalSize (ns)	double	0.4
Controls explicit normal size.
normalType (ndt)	enum	0
Controls explicit normal type.
displayNormal (dn)	bool	false
Controls explicit normal display.
displayTangent (dtn)	bool	false
Controls explicit tangents display.
tangentSpace (tgsp)	enum	0
"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
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
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
Allow commands to modify the surface topology
materialBlend (matb)	enum	0
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
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
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
Controls resolution at which surface is displayed
vertexIdMap (vmap)	bool	false
Should the API watch for the vertex ID modification?
edgeIdMap (emap)	bool	false
Should the API watch for the edge ID modification?
faceIdMap (fmap)	bool	false
Should the API watch for the face ID modification?
displaySmoothMesh (dsm)	enum	0
Display mode for the smooth mesh
smoothMeshSelectionMode (ssm)	enum	0
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
Dirty this attribute to trigger a UV update to the shape.
outForceNodeUVUpdate (ofuv)	bool	false
Output attribute that will force a compute to update the shape UVs when dirtied.
reuseTriangles (rtri)	bool	false
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
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.
perInstanceIndex (pii)	integer	-1
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
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.
mentalRayControls (mrc)	compound	n/a
This is a root of following mental ray attributes.
miOverrideCaustics (oca) bool false Enable caustic settings override for this shape. If this parameter is set, the following caustics settings will override the renddr global settings for this shape node.
miCausticAccuracy (caa) short 64 Caustic accuracy for this shape if miOverrideCaustics is on.
miCausticRadius (car) float 0 Caustic radius for this shape if miOverrideCaustics is on.
miOverrideGlobalIllumination (ogi) bool false Enable global illumination settings override for this shape. If this parameter is set, the following global illumination settings will override the renddr global settings for this shape node.
miGlobillumAccuracy (gia) short 64 Global illumination accuracy for this shape if miOverrideGlobalIllumination is on.
miGlobillumRadius (gir) float 0 Global illumination radius for this shape if miOverrideGlobalIllumination is on.
miOverrideFinalGather (ofg) bool false Enable final gather settings override for this shape. If this parameter is set, the following final gather settings will override the renddr global settings for this shape node.
miFinalGatherRays (fry) integer 1000 Final gather rays for this shape if miOverrideFinalGather is on.
miFinalGatherMinRadius (fmn) float 0 Final gather min radius for this shape if miOverrideFinalGather is on.
miFinalGatherMaxRadius (fmx) float 0 Final gather max radius for this shape if miOverrideFinalGather is on.
miFinalGatherFilter (ffi) short 1 Final gather filter for this shape if miOverrideFinalGather is on.
miFinalGatherView (fgv) bool false Final gather view flag for this shape if miOverrideFinalGather is on.
miOverrideSamples (oos) bool false Override global object sample settings. In addition to global sample settings mental ray supports per-object sample settings. The global mental ray default for all objects in the scene can be set by minObjectSamples and maxObjectSamples on the mental ray options node (miDefaultOptions). Similar attributes on individual shape nodes miMinSamples and miMaxSamples are overriding the global default, within global samples range.
miMinSamples (mins) short 0 Specifies min sample settings for the shape. For all pixels that touch this object, at least pow(2, miMinSamples) samples are taken. miMinSamples lower than the global min samples is ignored.
miMaxSamples (maxs) short 2 Specifies max sample settings for the shape. For all pixels that touch this object, at most pow(2, miMaxSamples) samples are taken. miMaxSamples higher than the global max samples is ignored.
miFinalGatherCast (fgc) bool true The object casts final gather rays if miFinalGatherCast is on, which means that the object participates in final gather.
miFinalGatherReceive (fge) bool true The object receives final gather rays if miFinalGatherReceive is on, which means that the object is not affected by final gathering.
miTransparencyCast (tpc) bool true The object casts transparent rays if miTransparencyCast is on. thus shown through transparent object if ray depth has not been reached the limit.
miTransparencyReceive (tpr) bool true The object receives transparent rays if miTransparencyReceive is on.
miReflectionReceive (rflr) bool true The object receives reflection rays if miReflectionReceive is on. This flag controls reflection of other objects on this object. If disabled, this object will not show any reflection, as if the surface is not reflective. The casting behaviour is ruled by visibleInReflections flag, which controls reflection of this object on other objects. Disabling visibleInReflections will make this object disappera from reflection.
miRefractionReceive (rfrr) bool true The object receives refraction rays if miRefractionReceive is on. This flag contols refraction of other objects through this object. Disabling this value will make this object non-refractive. The casting behaviour is ruled by visibleInRefractions flag, which controls refraction of this object showing through other objects. Disabling visibleInRefractions will make this object disappear from refraction.
miProxyFile (mof) string NULL When rendering with mental ray, replace this object with the mental ray assembly file referenced by this attribute.
miUpdateProxyBoundingBoxMode (upbm) enum 0 Controls how the bounding box attributes for the render proxy are updated when the render proxy file changes. Choices are: Proxy and geometry bounding boxes: both the proxy bounding box and geometry are updated Proxy bounding box only: only the proxy bounding box is updated, the geometry remains the same in the scene Geometry bounding box only: only the geometry changes in the scene, the proxy bounding box attributes are untouched None: Neither proxy bounding box or geometry is changed
miProxyBoundingBox (mbb) compound n/a Root for the bounding box attribute of the proxy object miProxyBoundingBoxMin (mbmn) double3 Minimum value of bounding box for proxy object miProxyBoundingBoxMinX (mbnx) double 0.0 X value of minimum bounding box for proxy object miProxyBoundingBoxMinY (mbny) double 0.0 Y value of minimum bounding box for proxy object miProxyBoundingBoxMinZ (mbnz) double 0.0 Z value of minimum bounding box for proxy object miProxyBoundingBoxMax (mbmx) double3 Maximum value of bounding box for proxy object miProxyBoundingBoxMaxX (mbxx) double 0.0 X value of maximum bounding box for proxy object miProxyBoundingBoxMaxY (mbxy) double 0.0 Y value of maximum bounding box for proxy object miProxyBoundingBoxMaxZ (mbxz) double 0.0 Z value of maximum bounding box for proxy object
displayAlphaAsGreyScale (dags)	bool	false
Display alpha as grey scale If color set only contains alpha.