Namespace in MG-Picker Studio

Picker Namespace

A namespace is a naming prefix for the current picker, changing of namespace enables you to use the picker on different rigs as long as they have similar naming conversions.

Two ways to set the picker namespace in designer mode:

Select any part of the rig you want to switch the namespace to and use the Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S hotkey, to bring up the set namespace dialog for namespace editing!
Select any part of the rig you want to switch the namespace to, and click on the top right button / Set Namespace..

💡 It is a good idea to set the initial namespace to the most likely used namespace so that it is ready to use for animators right after load.

💡 You can also turn off the use of picker namespace on item level.

Sub-Namespace

For most types of picker items (Select-button, command button, attr-Button, slider), you are also able to set up a sub-namespace during the designing process.

A sub-namespace is an addition to the picker namespace.

Say your picker namespace is set to myCharacter, and there is a select-button has the sub-namespace bodyRig:chestRig, the select-button contains a member called chest_ctl, then the final Maya control will turn out to be this:

 myCharacter:bodyRig:chestRig:chest_ctl;

This means when you click this select-button in animator mode, the tool will try to select myCharacter:bodyRig:chestRig:chest_ctl in the Maya scene.

The sub-namespace is for supporting the reference-based rig architecture. An asset with this kind of architecture may references another shared asset inside, such as facial rigs, or body rigs, which means there will be a layered namespace within that rig. With the sub-namespace property, all these controls can still be organized within one picker file/node.

Namespace & Sub-Namespace Separator

Starting from v2.3, user can customise the separator characters with namespace and sub-namespace. An empty separator means restore to DCC default, e.g. for Maya, it is :.

With both separators set to _, the example above will be like: myCharacter_bodyRig:chestRig_chest_ctl