A) Manage installation of python code and B) easily extend internal maya functionality.

1. As of Maya 2019, pip isn't support without a lot of effort. Additionally any compiled pip packages are unlikely to work (ex numpy scipy). Since Maya is really it's own ecosystem, this lets you easily install pure python packages.

2. Lots of Maya functionality is customizable because it is in mel script, but doing so can be a real pain.

This aims to be a non-destructive way to customize these scripts, allowing for distribution to people with unknown setups.

The Easy Way - Download mayaHooksInstaller.mel and drag it into Maya. This is self contained and will extract itself to the right place, letting you run the following python commands to open the gui

import mayaHooks
mayaHooks.main()

The Not As Easy Way - Download the source code. The mayaHooks folder that contains __init__.py needs to be placed in a folder where Maya searches for scripts.

1. It needs to be a package (for now) aka a folder with an __init__.py
2. Adjacent to the package needs to be info.json
   • "utc_build_time" is the only required key, and should be a str(datetime.utcnow()) of when the package was built
   • See the example on how to provide a shelf item. Currently it's up to you to manage placing images somewhere, or adding a new folder to the image search path
3. Optionally create userSetup_setup.py to have code that run on maya startup

{
    "utc_build_time": "2019-10-07 04:16:04.434000",
    "shelf_items": [
        {
            "command": "import mayaHooks.gui\nmayaHooks.gui.Gui()",
            "image": "",
            "annotation": "Hooks"
        }
    ]
}

You can then:

• Select the info.json and package folder and make a zip file
• Upload it to github

Here is an example of a hook (you can run this in the script editor and it will only be active for this session.

In a python tab of the script editor, run

import mayaHooks.dagMenuProc
mayaHooks.dagMenuProc.overrideDagMenuProc()

from pymel.core import Callback, menuItem, setParent

def showMessage(msg):
    print( msg )

def cubeFriend(objName):
    if 'cube' in objName.lower():
        menuItem(l='I love being a cube!')
    else:
        menuItem(l='Dang, I wish I was a cube', sm=True)
        menuItem(l='But I still keep it real', c=Callback(showMessage, 'True story'))
        menuItem(l='But I could become a cube if I really wanted to', c=Callback(showMessage, "Mighty Morphin' Targets!"))
        setParent('..', m=True)
    

mayaHooks.dagMenuProc.registerMenu(cubeFriend)

This will make it so right clicking anything with cube in the name will add one menuItem, otherwise different menuItems are added.