Python tool that acts like a parent constraint without creating a parent constraint node. Tested in Maya 2018, 2022 and 2023 with python 2 and python 3. It should work in Maya 2016 too. I created this tool as a 1 stop solution for all my foot snapping, constraint toggling and baking. It's simple to use and really fast. My favorite part about this tool is I can add the commands to hotkeys, marking menus, etc... I hope you find it as useful as I do!
place the fake_constraint.py file into your scripts folder
-Select 1 or more objects
-run this python command to copy the offset
import fake_constraint;fake_constraint.copy_offset()
-run this python command to paste the offset
import fake_constraint;fake_constraint.paste_offset()
Selecting 1 object copies the world position(world snap).
Selecting 2 or more objects copies the offset in relation to the first selected object and the other objects.
Pasting will occur on the current frame or across selected frames.
Since maya's marking menus only allow mel commands you'll need to run the python commands through mel with the python mel command.
python("import fake_constraint;fake_constraint.copy_offset()")
python("import fake_constraint;fake_constraint.paste_offset()")
The tool uses Mayas OpenMaya api to calculate the offset matrix between the objects. It saves the offset to a json file at the users scripts folder. The paste function reads in the json file and uses matrix math to set the positions of each object relative to the "parent"
If you have any bugs, questions or anything you can email me at alexgsmith800@gmail.com