Installation Instructions:

• Extract jagbot.zip into your scripts directory.  On my machine this is C:\Winnt\Profiles\s.jagan\maya\2.5\scripts\
• type source jagbot on the command line and press enter. 

Quick Start:

The UI looks like this:

Heres the explanation:

Get Jag Bot:

Select an object you want to be your Bot.  Then, click this button

Get Villains:

Select objects you want to be villains of your bot.  Then, click this button

I know what you are thinking now.  You want to select an object to be both your Bot and your Villain.  I am sorry, this version doesnt take care of multiple personality disorders ;-))  If you do, you get a division by zero error.  Nothing to worry, just re-select your Bot and Villains

Bot Influence:
Bot Influence defines the patrol radius of the Bot.  Drag the slider to higher values and see your bot defend its territory aggressively ;-))

Thats it!!

Notes:

Your Bot and your Bot's villains can be any object (joints, ikHandles, cvs...anything).  Try various combinations and see what you come up with.  This script was written under 2 hours (after office hours ;-)) and I leave it to you to explore the possibilities.  If you think its cool  e-mail (bugs, suggestions also welcome) me at sjagan@hotmail.com

Technical Notes:

For folks that are interested in writing their own MEL Bots, please see jagbot.mel for a starting point (If you are from ILM, please resist the urge to puke ;-))) For the rest, here is how it works:

Acknowledgments:

Special thanks to the folks at the Alias Mailing List for the day's inspiration!!