Viewport Snapshot

Capture Maya viewport images for AI visual feedback, review workflows, or automation pipelines.

MCP Tool

The maya_render__playblast tool captures the active viewport as a base64-encoded PNG.

# Called by an MCP host internally — no Python code needed
# Just ask your AI: "Take a screenshot of the current viewport"

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
width	int	960	Image width in pixels
height	int	540	Image height in pixels
camera	str	(active)	Camera to render from (e.g. "persp", "top")
display_mode	str	"smoothShaded"	Display mode: smoothShaded, wireframe, flatShaded

Usage Examples

Via MCP Host (Natural Language)

"Take a screenshot of the scene"

"Capture the front view at 1920×1080"

"Show me what the scene looks like from the persp camera"

Direct Python (Maya Script Editor)

import dcc_mcp_maya
handle = dcc_mcp_maya.start_server()

# The capture happens via MCP tool call — AI agent calls it automatically
# To test manually from Python:
from dcc_mcp_maya.skills.maya_render.scripts import playblast

result = playblast.main(width=1280, height=720, camera="persp")
print(result["image"])   # base64-encoded PNG string

Return Value

The tool returns a JSON object:

{
  "image": "iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgA...",
  "width": 960,
  "height": 540,
  "camera": "persp",
  "format": "png",
  "encoding": "base64"
}

Playblast vs Full Render

Feature	maya_render__playblast	maya_render__set_render_settings + render
Speed	Instant (viewport grab)	Slow (full render)
Quality	Hardware viewport	Production quality
Requires Arnold/etc.	No	Depends on renderer
Use case	AI feedback, previews	Final output

Multi-Viewport Capture

To capture a specific panel, set the active camera first:

"Set the active viewport camera to 'front', then take a screenshot"

This will call:

1. maya_cameras__set_active_camera with camera="front"
2. maya_render__playblast

Practical AI Workflow

You: "Create a red sphere, place it at (0, 1, 0), then show me what it looks like"

Claude:
  1. calls maya_primitives__create_sphere
  2. calls maya_primitives__set_transform (translate to 0,1,0)
  3. calls maya_materials__create_material (red Lambert)
  4. calls maya_materials__assign_material
  5. calls maya_render__playblast
  → shows you the resulting image