The Undeclared Variable

With the release of Maya 2011 on the horizon (though my stubborn ass skipped 2010) comes with many much needed improvements which includes PyMEL, fluids updates, updated script editor (that took WAY too long), and QT UI support which brings up an important questions I should be asking:

Should the future of 'Array for Maya' (AfM) become a community effort?

With the drag-and-drop customizable QT abilities coming to Maya could that mean a QT interface for AfM to reposition frames so that a user can control a layout that is more suitable to him or her? Also with people requesting features that I simply don't have a time for I would like to open up development so other Maya nerds can contribute. Granted AfM is a MEL script and can easily be modified but with nearly 10,000 lines of codes jumping right in can be daunting. Even this re-write is kicking my ass and this is my script!

However, I think a support forum under the direction of myself and a select few and some sort of version control system (SVN) could open up many possibilities.

An SVN for a MEL script?

Yes, it's not an issue of overkill as you may think. While developing AfM I have found it to be much easier to give each procedure its own script. This has made life soooooo much easier to locate and edit procs. Before distributing I use a small shell script to combine all scripts into one.

Since Maya will probably never be open source (at least in any foreseeable future) I think a community effort to continue to build and distribute quality tools should be launched. Let's face it, Autodesk will never get around to building all the tools that us users would like to see (or need) so it comes down to what we are willing to do ourselves. I can speak from experience that taking on a large project like AfM as a solo developer is daunting with patches and updates few and far between, which is something I am not proud of.

Many AfM users have request many interesting features, but honestly there have been more requests than I can reasonably keep up with. Some have tried to go into the script but have quickly become lost due to a combination of the size and my eccentric coding style.

With all this said I have some questions for you:

Are you a serious/professional Maya user?
Are you in need of more and better tools?
Would you be willing to contribute and collaborate?
Do you believe that initiative of a few could change things for everyone?

If so, let's talk...

- Ed