Attribute Editor templates

Attribute Editor templates

Attribute Editor templates determine how attributes are displayed in the Attribute Editor.

For example, you can create different views, such as Modeling, Animation, and Rendering, with each displaying a different subset of attributes. See Custom Attribute Editor templates and Parts of an Attribute Editor template.

Templates are in .xml format. You can create an Attribute Editor template for a specific node type, for example, phong; or, for a specific node; for example, phong1. You can customize the Attribute Editor for Maya nodes, or for your own custom nodes.

File names and locations

To create an Attribute Editor template for a node type, save the template as AE<NodeType>Template.xml.

To create an Attribute Editor template of a specific node, save the template as AE<NodeType>.<NodeName>Template.xml.

See Create an Attribute Editor template for a node type and Create an Attribute Editor template for a specific node.

By default, Attribute Editor templates are found in the ../scripts/AETemplates folder of your installation directory. You can also override this default location by setting MAYA_CUSTOM_TEMPLATE_PATH. You can set the environment variable to multiple paths.

Maya searches for AE templates in the following order. The first template found is used:

  1. MAYA_CUSTOM_TEMPLATE_PATH

  2. ../scripts/AETemplates

Attribute Editor and Property Editor in the Hypershade

In the Hypershade Property Editor, Maya shaders appear in a Lookdev view by default. This is because a Lookdev view definition exists in each Maya shading node's corresponding AE<NodeType>Template.xml.

See Viewing your attributes in the Hypershade Property Editor and Look development using the Hypershade.

To display your custom shading nodes in a similar Lookdev view in the Hypershade Property Editor, edit AE<NodeType>Template.xml to include a Lookdev view definition and save the .xml file in the ../scripts/AETemplates folder (or the folder set by MAYA_CUSTOM_TEMPLATE_PATH).

If no Lookdev view exists in AE<NodeType>Template.xml for the corresponding node, then its Attribute Editor layout is shown in the Property Editor.