Creating a module package

Modules are a way of packaging and distributing Maya plug-ins.

Maya modules can include files such as scripts and icons in addition to the plug-in file. To create a module, the module directory is zipped and packaged into a module along with a module file that describes how the files are to be used on different platforms.

To create a module:

  1. Create a directory for your module
  2. Create the icons, plug-ins, presets, and scripts subdirectories under your top-level module directory.

    These are the default directories that Maya expects to find in a module. You can choose to use different directories or multiple directories in your module, but you will need to specify these in the module description file.

  3. Add any icons used in your add-on to the icons directory
  4. Add C++ and Python plug-ins to the plug-ins directory
  5. Add presets to the presets directory
  6. Add any MEL or Python scripts to the scripts directory
  7. Create a module description file file with the .mod extension

Once your module directory is complete, compress it and the module description file together. This zipped file is your module file.