Hey all, I’m finally about to start by final year at university in September and I have to come up with an idea for my final year project.
I want to do something with maya and python and most likely pyqt as well, but the ui isn’t that important at the moment.
The only thought I have had so far is to create a plugin/script that allows you to control maya using Microsoft Speech Recognition. Only reason I came up with this was due to the fact that had a hand operation not long ago so use of maya has had to stop.
My university dont teach any scripting so not sure on how complex it needs to be, but needs to be substantial enough to one keep me interested and two get a decent mark.
The only other thought I had was doing some sort of fracture script/plugin, I know there are a few out there but its something that has interested me.
As you probably know from my other posts, I’m fairly new to python and even newer to using python in maya lol.
Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the two ideas I have come up with or even any others ideas that you think would be a good project for me.
have you a more detailed design than what your currently have? Like what functions are you going to preform using speech? Is the goal to make maya a hands free program or just to assist with some general things like “undo”?? I think you need to have more of a goal than just making it interesting. Are you trying to use this to get a job as a tech artist when you graduate?
if you can post a more detailed design, (what functionality, has anyone done this before? , etc…) I think people will be able to give better feedback.
For me, the first thing that comes to my mind is how hard is it to use Microsoft speech recognition? Are you going to be spending all your time figuring out speech recognition? Are you interested in speech recognition? Cause you might end up doing 70% speech recognition, and only 30% maya functionality. Then again, the software might be as easy as importing some files and running methods. I’m haven’t used it, so I can’t really tell you.
Has anyone else used the speech recognition software?
The speech recognition was only an idea, I’m not sure if I am going to do this, thats why I made the thread to see if anyone had any other ideas.
I would like to include it in my reel for a TD job but I also plan on spending some time after uni creating more stuff for my reel.
The idea for the speech recognition would be to use it to control maya, due to the complexity of maya I would most likely stick to modelling and general work flow. For example you say create poly sphere and it does. Would like to transform objects, maybe extrudes and bevels just the basics. Component selection will be tricky but its all just an idea at the moment.
If im honest Im not interested in speech recognition at all, it was just an idea I came up with. The good thing is there are several python modules out there that plug directly into microsoft speech recognition, so that part I dont have to worry about too much.
My advice is if your not into it don’t waste your time because i think you will end up spending a lot of time doingn speech recognition. I think you shouldtakeacoupleof days to really think about what you want to do, because to be honest, i think this is the most important part. YOU are going to be spending the 400 hours making the project, and if your not really excited about every aspect, your going to become bored and burned out. Think about it, how long have you bitched about the assignments teachers made you do? that you never had time to do the “awesome” ideas you have in your head. you have complete control now. You choose your destiny, it would suck to get to the end and say, i just worked all these hours on a project I only debated up front for 2 hours…
I’m not knocking your speech recognition, I actuallydig it, I’d i could keep my fingerson my hot keys and say “undo”, “extrude”, etc… I think that would be awesome.
I’m just saying don’t half ass the design part. In my opinion it’s the best part.
uhm you can go to an artistsite and ask what they need. Or try observing your studentcollegues their progress to find processes that you can make faster …
I think personnaly it is strange to ask us about what you can do. You can do everything. Just have to find something that will motivate you enough to finish it. And off course finding a good reason why to make this.
Posted on a few other forums asking if anyone had any ideas or problems they would like a tool/script to help with.
Only really had one response and that was about using midi files to control animation, not a massive fan of working with audio but still something to consider.
Been thinking some more about this. The last module I did at uni was a module which involved creating an animation in sync with some music.
It is possible in maya to use a wav file to drive an animation but its not the greatest.
I was thinking about creating a tool kit for this sort of thing. One of the main features would be midi support if I can figure it out, and unlike the native wav support in maya it wouldnt be based on amplitude. I also would add support for using audio files with markers in multiple formats. So markers from Audio Sound Booth and also from Audacity.