As I continue through this weird field of employment, C++ is becoming less scary and more of a viable way to solve performance issues and extend core functionality - at the cost of a greater time investment than the equivalent in python or bifrost, where possible.
I still struggle with the compilation process for Maya - like I imagine many here did, I’ve followed Chad Vernon’s setup series once on every machine I’ve ever developed on, and then never touched it again (I’ve only ever worked on Windows). I still don’t fully grasp the effects of every setting in the CMake file, and how it links into Maya - I get the broad strokes of it, but I still wouldn’t be able to set it up from scratch.
Is this still the “pro” way to do it? Is everyone at Pixar and ILM still linking up their FINDMAYA CMake lists? Are there really no tools that can make it easier - just take a Maya bin folder, a plugin folder, and compile?
Something like RigPP suggests otherwise: Rigpp, C++ evaluation framework for rigging - YouTube
Please let me know if you have any advice, or any way to dull the pain