paint soften edges

[HeavyMetalFox]

Hello,
Is there a way to paint edges so they are hard or soft instead of having to select each edge and apply soften or harden
I remember there is a marking menu for this, am I right?

[artfully3d]

Hi!

If you Shift+RightClick on your edge, there will be a marking menu for Soften/Hard edges

[HeavyMetalFox]

Yes, I know this tool, but its not a "paint" tool?

[brentmc]

You can use the Paint Selection Tool to select the edges and then run soften edges on the selection.

[HeavyMetalFox]

Isn't there a way to paint to "soften edge" action?

[brentmc · Accepted solution]

Hi,

The brushes in Maya can be scripted so it is possible to make a custom soften (or harden) edges brush.

Here is a script that will do the job and I just copied the shaderPaintTool.mel example in the installed Maya scripts and adapted it to soften edges.

Save this to a file called edgeSoftenPaintTool.mel in your script path. (or paste everything except the first line into the script editor and run it)

Note: The magic sauce is the -bsc/-beforeStrokeCmd and -asc/-afterStrokeCmd flags where you can define commands that get run before and after every brush stroke.

global proc edgeSoftenPaintTool()
{
	global string $gEdgeSoftenPaintTool;

	if ($gEdgeSoftenPaintTool == "") {
		$gEdgeSoftenPaintTool = `eval "artSelectCtx -i1 \"artSelect.png\" -ads false edgeSoftenPaintContext"`;
	}

    string	$cmd;
	$cmd  = "ArtPaintSelectTool; artSelectCtx -e";
	$cmd += " -bsc \"setComponentPickMask Edge true;\"";
	$cmd += " -asc \"polySoftEdge -a 180 -ch 1;";
	$cmd += "select -clear;\" ";
	$cmd +=	$gEdgeSoftenPaintTool;
	eval $cmd;
	setToolTo $gEdgeSoftenPaintTool;
}

[HeavyMetalFox]

Thanks alot man, works like a charm 🙂
When I paint it on edges, it  highlights them before applying the soften which is a bit distracting and not very smooth (even id "reselecting highlights" is turned off in the select menu)
Is there a way to paint directly without highlights things? 

[brentmc]

No, it is not possible to avoid selecting the edges while painting because the script uses the paint select tool and it softens the edges after each stroke. (and clears the selection)

[HeavyMetalFox]

ok thanks alot.