Vector Angle setup

For the past two days or so I've been thinking about vector math, trying to pull off a node setup like this one. I've got the concept in my head, but I'm still working on the details of the implementation, as far as the actual math goes. I've been studying the Maya API as well, and while I'm understanding how everything fits together (the general structure of API plugins), I just don't have enough experience with the API classes to know which MObjects and functions to use to get what's in my head into the code and onto the screen. So I figured I'd mock up a simple node network to see what I could do, albeit with a limited understanding of the math involved. I'd still like to get an API locator node implementation figured out, but I figured I'd share what I've come up with so far.

Ranged Vector Angle Setup from kyleMR on Vimeo.


Basically, I'm getting an aim vector from an object (in this case, the cone) by using a locator. I subtract the position of the cone from the position of the locator  to get the aim vector (which is a normalized vector, since the locator is one unit from the cone) and then I do the same for the target locator, which gives me a target vector. I take the dot product of those vectors and pipe them into a setRange node, which allows me to remap the value between 0 and 1, as well as change the high and low boundaries of the calculation. Pretty simple. Basically, this sort of setup can work as a pose space deformer, although I'm just driving the scale of a sphere for the sake of visualization. The process only takes a few minutes to set up by hand, but I scripted it out just for the hell of it. If anyone is interested in the code just let me know.

This problem has been churning in my mind for a few days now, and I'll definitely be taking the solution further.