This turned out to be a great way to use Maya and our UI in Virtual Reality.
- Download and install Windows Speech Recognition Macros
- Launch Maya and create a new hotkey with the hotkey editor (Window menu, Settings Preferences Hotkey Editor)
- In the Categories frame in the Hotkey Editor (it is on the left) Scroll down and click User
- Click the New button. Give your hotkey a Name (and a Description if you like). Then under language, type in a Mel (or Python) command i.e.. HypershadeWindow; without the quotes. Then click the Accept button.
- Give it a hotkey (make sure your new Command Name is selected in the Commands frame of the Hotkey Editor). Under Assign New Hotkey, type in a key in the Key: field. Anything on your keyboard will do. ie the letter q. In the Modifier fields, make sure to tick Ctrl and Alt (as most shortcut keys in
Maya do not have anything assigned to a Ctrl-Alt combination. (You can click the Query button to see if it is already assigned, but if you use a Ctrl-Alt combination, it probably isn’t). Then when you are happy with your hotkey, click the Assign button. - In the taskbar (bottom right), double-click the, Windows Speech Recognition Macros icon.
- In the New Speech Macro window, select, Send keystrokes. In the first field, enter a phrase you would like to say to evoke the keystroke via speech recognition i.e.. hypershade. In the second field, enter your Hotkey in the following manner: {{CTRL}}{{ALT}}q (or whatever your hotkey happens to be) and click the Next button. At some point it will ask you to Sign Speech Macros, I recommend you do so. So really, all you have to remember is that a ctrl click or an alt click needs to have double curly brackets before and after it. (They show you that though so you won’t forget.)
- Close the Hotkey Editor window in Maya, ensure you have speech recognition turned on and test it by saying the word you typed.
