I started using ART version 4.1 a while back and now I’m trying to upgrade to the version that came with 4.3 as well as move the MayaTools folder to another location.
I have copied everything to the correct places and Maya knows to use the new folder (I added some code the .py scripts that produce popus so I know it’s calling the new code). The problem is that when I try to do things like add a character for animation it is sill looking in the old directories. I took a look at the code and that seems to be doing all the right things so I’m not sure why I’m having issues. The error I’m getting is a Reference File Error telling me that it can’t find the file in the old 4.1 directory.
My guess is there is a cache somewhere or something that I need to reset/change but I don’t know where.
So far I have:
- Made sure that mayaTools.txt has the right path in it
- Checked the python scripts to make sure they are using the right paths (It looks like they are)
- Tried to uninstall/reinstall ART
- Deleted the maya folder in my documents and let maya rebuild it and then added the setup script back.
- I also made sure the MayaTools folder is named correctly because it seems to be case sensitive
Any thoughts?
So this issue appears to be a problem with how Maya functions and not an issue with A.R.T. Maya doesn’t support relative reference paths in files and it seems that A.R.T. needs to reference other files (which makes sense).
I ran into this issue because my team and I are trying to commit A.R.T. assets to git and it seems the easiest way to set that up is to simply add the MayaTools folder to your project directory and commit it and configure A.R.T. within Maya to point to that directory. That part is easy enough but if various team members have different folder structures then you run into issues. Our solution is to all just make a virtual partition with the same drive letter and folder structure and use that.
There are some others I have seen but this is by far the simplest. Some others are 1: just set an environment var per machine and use that in the path. This presents a problem because it seems that Max/Motion Builder/Mudbox don’t know what env vars are so that would be a headache. 2: write a script that will handle updating references for you on Maya start. This one I really like but I’m too lazy at this time to go ahead and write this.
There is one more thing that I am wondering as a result of all this. How do the folks at Epic deal with this?
hey man! You are correct, it is a maya issue and it has been one for ages that makes me curse the skies 
Your second suggestion is the way to go. Or I’ve written a batcher in the past that will loop through a given directory and fix them all up. Definitely a pain in the butt.
Referencing is just useful enough to have to occasionally deal with it though