MEL Scripting for Maya Animators, 2nd Edition

Chapter 22. Examples Using MEL in Character Rigging

Using MEL does not revolutionize character setup, but it can make animating your characters easier by giving you useful tools for working with features of your character setup. Expressions can simplify animation; user interfaces can make manipulating the character easier, and other tools can be developed that will automate common tasks.

In production, many of the most useful MEL scripts and expressions perform simple tasks, such as managing animation curve data, selecting parts of the character, and so on. Almost everything that character-related MEL scripts do can be done by hand in the interface; the advantage of using MEL is that by scripting these tasks they can be repeated and in many cases ...