Astrolabe Custom UI

I wrote a Python user-interface in Maya to generate a custom astrolabe, or armillary sphere. I then textured it in Substance Painter, animated it, and rendered the animation using Renderman.

Scripting

Below is the layout of the UI I wrote using Python. I also included a few examples of astrolabes I generated, which show how customizable the script is. The script requires a star model and a sun model to be placed in the scene, but everything else is generated from scratch. The delete button is only activated when the astrolabe exists in the scene.

Demo

Wireframe

Texturing

I used Substance Painter to texture the Astrolabe I generated. Here are a few of the texture maps, specifically for the sun model. I used alpha maps to add intricate patterns to the simple models.

Animation

Instructions for Use

If you want to try out the code, download all the files from the link below. Create a "qt_dev" folder in the Documents/Maya/Scripts location and copy the armillarySphere.py file and the matrix_ui folder into that location. Launch Maya. Import the star.fbx and sun.fbx files into your maya scene, and do not rename them. The stars tab will not work if these models are not in the scene and properly named.

Open the script editor using either Windows/ General Editors/ Script Editor, or clicking the shortcut in the bottom right of the screen. Add the following code into the Python tab. Make sure to edit the file path accurately with your username. Run the code using the button outlined below in red.