— Sphere Intersect in Maya/MEL

global proc intersectSphereY()
{
	print(". . . . . go go go\n");

	int $iter = 50;
	float $start[3] = {0, -0.5, 0};
	float $limit[3] = {0, 5.0, 0};
    	$mesh = "test_mesh";
	$tmpCN = "cpom";


	$obj = "rod1";
    	float $radius = 0.5;
    	float $curPos[3] = {0, 0, 0};

	for ($i = 0; $i <= $iter; $i++)
	{
       	$mesh = "test_mesh";
		$shape = `listRelatives -shapes $mesh`;

		createNode -n $tmpCN closestPointOnMesh;
       	connectAttr -f ($shape[0] + ".outMesh") ($tmpCN + ".inMesh");
       	setAttr ($tmpCN + ".inPosition") $curPos[0] $curPos[1] $curPos[2];

		$cpom = `getAttr ($tmpCN + ".position")`;

        if ( pointDist($curPos, $cpom) <= $radius ) {
		   	return ". . bonk\n";
        }

       	$curPos[1] = ($limit.y) / $iter * $i;
       	setAttr ($obj + ".translateY") $curPos[1];

       	delete $tmpCN;
   	}
	return ". nope\n";
}

global proc float pointDist(float $p1[], float $p2[])
{
    return sqrt(
	(($p1[0] - $p2[0]) * ($p1[0] - $p2[0])) +
	(($p1[1] - $p2[1]) * ($p1[1] - $p2[1])) +
	(($p1[2] - $p2[2]) * ($p1[2] - $p2[2])));
}

intersectSphereY;