Mixing PyQt4 widgets and Maya UI objects

Nov 21, 2011

A question came up in the Maya-Python mailing list that I thought was a really good topic, and should be reposted.

Someone asked how you can create maya UI objects and embed them within your main PyQt application. Specifically he wanted to create a modelPanel and embed it so that he would have a camera view within his own PyQt window.

Here is my example of how to achieve this…

Update: Instructions for Maya 2017+, using PySide2 and Qt5, are available via this blog post by Lidia Martínez

Update: A port of the older PyQt4 example for Maya 2017+ using Qt5 and PySide2

from PySide2 import QtCore, QtWidgets
import shiboken2

import maya.cmds as cmds
import maya.OpenMayaUI as mui


class MyDialog(QtWidgets.QDialog):

    def __init__(self, parent, **kwargs):
        super(MyDialog, self).__init__(parent, **kwargs)
        
        self.setObjectName("MyWindow")
        self.resize(800, 600)
        self.setWindowTitle("PyQt ModelPanel Test")

        self.verticalLayout = QtWidgets.QVBoxLayout(self)
        self.verticalLayout.setContentsMargins(0,0,0,0)

        # need to set a name so it can be referenced by maya node path
        self.verticalLayout.setObjectName("mainLayout")
        
        # First use SIP to unwrap the layout into a pointer
        # Then get the full path to the UI in maya as a string
        layout = mui.MQtUtil.fullName(long(shiboken2.getCppPointer(self.verticalLayout)[0]))
        cmds.setParent(layout)

        paneLayoutName = cmds.paneLayout()
        
        # Find a pointer to the paneLayout that we just created
        ptr = mui.MQtUtil.findControl(paneLayoutName)
        
        # Wrap the pointer into a python QObject
        self.paneLayout = shiboken2.wrapInstance(long(ptr), QtWidgets.QWidget)

        self.cameraName = cmds.camera()[0]
        self.modelPanelName = cmds.modelPanel("customModelPanel", label="ModelPanel Test", cam=self.cameraName)
        
        # Find a pointer to the modelPanel that we just created
        ptr = mui.MQtUtil.findControl(self.modelPanelName)
        
        # Wrap the pointer into a python QObject
        self.modelPanel = shiboken2.wrapInstance(long(ptr), QtWidgets.QWidget)

        # add our QObject reference to the paneLayout to our layout
        self.verticalLayout.addWidget(self.paneLayout)

    def showEvent(self, event):
        super(MyDialog, self).showEvent(event)

        # maya can lag in how it repaints UI. Force it to repaint
        # when we show the window.
        self.modelPanel.repaint()
                    

def show():
    # get a pointer to the maya main window
    ptr = mui.MQtUtil.mainWindow()
    # use sip to wrap the pointer into a QObject
    win = shiboken2.wrapInstance(long(ptr), QtWidgets.QWidget)
    d = MyDialog(win)
    d.show()

    return d


try:
    dialog.deleteLater()
except:
    pass    
dialog = show()

Older Maya < 2017 using Qt4 and PyQt4

from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui

import maya.cmds as cmds
import maya.OpenMayaUI as mui

import sip

class MyDialog(QtGui.QDialog):

    def __init__(self, parent, **kwargs):
        super(MyDialog, self).__init__(parent, **kwargs)
        
        self.setObjectName("MyWindow")
        self.resize(800, 600)
        self.setWindowTitle("PyQt ModelPanel Test")
    
        self.verticalLayout = QtGui.QVBoxLayout(self)
        self.verticalLayout.setContentsMargins(0,0,0,0)
    
        # need to set a name so it can be referenced by maya node path
        self.verticalLayout.setObjectName("mainLayout")
        
        # First use SIP to unwrap the layout into a pointer
        # Then get the full path to the UI in maya as a string
        layout = mui.MQtUtil.fullName(long(sip.unwrapinstance(self.verticalLayout)))
        cmds.setParent(layout)
    
        paneLayoutName = cmds.paneLayout()
        
        # Find a pointer to the paneLayout that we just created
        ptr = mui.MQtUtil.findControl(paneLayoutName)
        
        # Wrap the pointer into a python QObject
        self.paneLayout = sip.wrapinstance(long(ptr), QtCore.QObject)
    
        self.cameraName = cmds.camera()[0]
        self.modelPanelName = cmds.modelPanel("customModelPanel", label="ModelPanel Test", cam=self.cameraName)
        
        # Find a pointer to the modelPanel that we just created
        ptr = mui.MQtUtil.findControl(self.modelPanelName)
        
        # Wrap the pointer into a python QObject
        self.modelPanel = sip.wrapinstance(long(ptr), QtCore.QObject)
    
        # add our QObject reference to the paneLayout to our layout
        self.verticalLayout.addWidget(self.paneLayout)
    
    def showEvent(self, event):
        super(MyDialog, self).showEvent(event)
    
        # maya can lag in how it repaints UI. Force it to repaint
        # when we show the window.
        self.modelPanel.repaint()

def show():
    # get a pointer to the maya main window
    ptr = mui.MQtUtil.mainWindow()
    # use sip to wrap the pointer into a QObject
    win = sip.wrapinstance(long(ptr), QtCore.QObject)
    d = MyDialog(win)
    d.show()

    return d

try:
    dialog.deleteLater()
except:
    pass  
dialog = show()

You need sip and the MQtUtil functions to convert between maya node paths and python Qbjects. Its the same idea as having to use those functions to get a reference to the maya MainWindow, in order to parent your dialog.

JustinFX.com

Mixing PyQt4 widgets and Maya UI objects