Best practices for auto-populating AYON rig sets in Maya

[Youssef_M_ElQadi]

I’ve developed a Python script that automatically populates the AYON rig sets (controls_SET, skeletonAnim_SET, skeletonMesh_SET, out_SET) based on our naming conventions and hierarchy patterns. The script runs after creating the rig instance and fills the sets that AYON generates automatically.​

Questions:

• Are there any AYON validators or publish checks that expect specific membership patterns in these sets?
• Should this auto-population script be integrated as a pre-publish hook, or is it fine to run it immediately after rig instance creation?
• Are there any gotcas or edge cases in AYON’s rig publishing workflow that might conflict with automated set population?
• Does AYON provide any helper functions or APIs specifically for managing rig set membership that I should use instead of standard Maya cmds.sets()?

I want to ensure my automation aligns with AYON’s expected workflow and doesn’t cause issues during validation or publishing stages.

[mustafa_jafar]

I believe @BigRoy can provide further info.
but, let me add my 2 cents.

@Youssef_M_ElQadi

Are there any AYON validators or publish checks that expect specific membership patterns in these sets?

Tip: you can check the publish plugins that run on "rig" publish instances. via searching ayon-maya/client/ayon_maya/plugins/publish

@Youssef_M_ElQadi

Should this auto-population script be integrated as a pre-publish hook, or is it fine to run it immediately after rig instance creation?

I think you can have it in two places:

1. On instance creation
2. And/OR as a validator repair action. where you implement a validator that checks if theses sets include the expected data.

Also, keep in mind, such logic can live in a custom studio addon, instead of modifying Maya addon.

@Youssef_M_ElQadi

Does AYON provide any helper functions or APIs specifically for managing rig set membership that I should use instead of standard Maya cmds.sets()?

I don’t think so.
For reference, you can always check the api directory. it’s where such functions are defined.

[BigRoy]

@Youssef_M_ElQadi

Does AYON provide any helper functions or APIs specifically for managing rig set membership that I should use instead of standard Maya cmds.sets()

We don’t - there’s little need for it because the usage is limited. Plus, not all containers MAY be object sets, even though currently the majority are.

@Youssef_M_ElQadi

Are there any gotcas or edge cases in AYON’s rig publishing workflow that might conflict with automated set population?

Not that I know. We just don’t do it because studios may have any naming convention or ‘structure’ of what is a control and whatnot. As such, very hard to generalize.

@Youssef_M_ElQadi

Should this auto-population script be integrated as a pre-publish hook, or is it fine to run it immediately after rig instance creation?

Fine to run immediately after. During publishing we tend to avoid ‘changing the scene state’ so fixing it automagically is something we avoid. Just the sake of publishing should not change your scene state. So if changes to the scene state are required, then either it’s not persistent with the scene and publish related only OR a validation must occur with a repair action.

@Youssef_M_ElQadi

Are there any AYON validators or publish checks that expect specific membership patterns in these sets?

Maybe only that a controller is a curve - or similar, but not much for rigs as far as I know.

[Youssef_M_ElQadi]

Thanks so much for the clarification!

Really appreciate the insights on how AYON handles rig set validation and the recommended workflow. This helps me ensure my auto-population script integrates properly with AYON’s publishing pipeline without causing any conflicts.
​

I’ll make sure to align the script with the expected patterns. Thanks again for the help!