IconContexMenu (ICM)

IconContextMenus are evolution of the previous ContextMarkingMenus, the major improvement is the new menus made of icons, the fully customizable ToolMarkingMenus . and a new menu : pickMask ICM

If you are not familiar with the Context Marking menu , you can read Info about CMM first

Some ICM Examples

 

 

Action ICM
hotkey "a" or "q"
it is a menu compose of the type of action or Command you can use on the current selection , if there is nothing select the creation marking menu is shown
Selection ICM
hotkey "s"
  • leftButton :a Marking menu with selection command base on the type of selectedObjects
  • MiddleButton the universal pickWalk work on polygon components Too
Display ICM
hotkey "d"
  • leftButton : access to layout and window and to Some Xumi 2.0 feature
  • MiddleButton :menu to quickly show/hide or isolate Type of object (polygon ,nurbs,curves etc...)
PickMask ICM
hotkey "q" or "a"

a menu on each button (left &Middle) to change the pick mask

How to

*ICM = Icon Context Menu

How to read a Menu

when you move you mouse over an icon , a yellow border appear , and the label of the corresponding element is write at the center of the menu

the arrow on the bottom of the Icon mean that it is a subMenu

the "?" on the top right means It has an optionBox , hold the mouse above an icon with this sign and when the border become Red , release the button to open the OptionsWindow

 

edit an ICM*

when the menu has been displayed for 1sec a little bleu menu appear in the middle of the menu , from it you can select the Edit item and open the ICM Editor on the current menu
update the menu according to your needs
It Save and close and "voila" ,

create an ICM

some object type haven't a markingMenu yet , when you press the ICM Key on then , there is a specific menu with the item createICM , select It . and fill you menu with the item you need , don't forget to save to validate your choice .
link an ICM

for some element you might want to have the same menu , you can do that by linking menus .

to link the current menu , wait 1sec for the configMenu to appear then select Link , in the LinkEditor your current menu is selected on the "From" list look in the "TO" list and select the menu you would like instead ( you can see a preview of the menu on the right of the window )

then press the link button

Switch ICM mode

there is currently 3 mode of ICM

  • the default One "Action" is the main mode where you will find almost all you need here
  • "Animation" mode is as its name imply for animation , you have access to Key and Time Command
  • "Render" mode for render related command .

you can switch mode in the ICM config Menu ,-> nothingSelect +MMB

 

Edit the Command with the optionWindow

when your command has an optionWindow , you can press the "change Command" button above the command field , this launch the optionWindow , and create a popup menu on the window so you can apply the new value.

  1. Press the "change command" button
  2. in the optionWindow set the value you want for the command
  3. then rightClick anywhere and pick "set command to current value".

    the command now has the value you like ;)

 

    Tips

    you can still use the ICM when working in other view than the 3dView , Icon are not supported so you will have a classic CMM instead but like ICM , you can edit and like those menu ,

    Note : on some panel middle button menu are not supported by Maya , like renderView or hypershade so you have only a menu on leftMouseButton on those panel .

    I thinks the best way to learn about ICM is to play with then , each time you need to do something before to go to you shelf , or look into a menu or the hotbox , just press the ActionKey or SelectionKey if what you are looking for is not is the leftButton menu try the Middle button menu , if it still not there you can add the command to one of this menu , once you know where are the command in the menu , you will be able to call then without seeing the Menu and this go very fast ;)

    when you have a subMenu in a MM you can draw the path to the item without waiting for the menu to appear , a gesture like command system like in B&W ? because of that the best place in a subMenu is the one which is in the same direction than the subMenu , a fast stroke in the direction of the subMenu will call this action , always put the subMenuItem you use most here .

ICM Editor