MEL (Maya) - W-shaped cube arrangement won't intersect at points - maya

Question

Similar to a previous exercise, I am arranging cubes in a letter W. Again, if you're having trouble visualizing the end result, then think of every cube as a pixel, building a sprite of 'W'.
I created 4 sections of my code, 1 for each stroke making up the letter, but 2 of each have the same 'root point':
file -f -new;
//Specifies starting coordinates
int $xpnt1 = 5.5;
int $xpnt2 = -5.5;
//////////////////
for($i=1;$i<=25;$i++) { //BRANCH 1, POINT 1, DIR L
polyCube;
move -ws $xpnt1 0 0;
//select "pCube1";
move -r ($i*1) ($i*1) 0;
move -r $xpnt1 0 0 pCube1.scalePivot;
}
for($i=1;$i<=25;$i++) {//BRANCH 2, POINT 1, DIR R
polyCube;
move -ws $xpnt1 0 0;
//select "pCube26";
move -r ($i*-1) ($i*1) 0;
move -r $xpnt1 0 0 pCube26.scalePivot;
}
for($i=1;$i<=25;$i++) {//BRANCH 3, POINT 2, DIR L
polyCube;
move -ws $xpnt2 0 0;
//select "pCube51";
move -r ($i*1) ($i*1) 0;
move -r $xpnt2 0 0 pCube51.scalePivot;
}
for($i=1;$i<=25;$i++) { //BRANCH 4, POINT 2, DIR R
polyCube;
move -ws $xpnt2 0 0;
//select "pCube76";
move -r ($i*-1) ($i*1) 0;
move -r $xpnt2 0 0 pCube76.scalePivot;
}
So far, I've been able to get the cubes to spawn how I'd like. The main problem here is one that came up erroneously: despite having 2 of each share either 5.5 or -5.5 as starting coordinates, they end up being spaced apart by what appears to be the program:
this is the current result. What ever could I be missing or ignoring that's causing this problem?
KEEP IN MIND THAT I'M AWARE 5.5/-5.5 WILL NOT PRODUCE A CORRECT W. I'M USING THESE COORDS TO TEST SPAWNING BASE CUBES TO OCCUPY THE SAME SPACE.

Answer 1

Shifting the part in the for loops from for($i=1;$i<=25;$i++) to for($i=0;$i<25;$i++) will stop there being a gap.
Previously when the loops started with $i=1, it meant that, in the first iteration, the lines with move -r ($i*±1) ($i*±1) 0; would move the first block by 1 diagonal from the starting coordinate.
Since we would like the first block in each branch not to be shifted from the starting coordinate, we want the line move -r ($i*±1) ($i*±1) 0; to have no effect in the first iteration. To fix it, we can have $i equal to 0 in the first iteration so that the line becomes move -r 0 0 0; for the first block.
And at the end you still want there to be 25 blocks in each branch, so the ending condition for the For loop is changed from $i<=25 to $i<25 to account for there being a shift at the start.
Here is the code (the only thing that is changed is the conditions for each of the 4 For loops.)
file -f -new;
//Specifies starting coordinates
int $xpnt1 = 5.5;
int $xpnt2 = -5.5;
//////////////////
for($i=0;$i<25;$i++) { //BRANCH 1, POINT 1, DIR L
polyCube;
move -ws $xpnt1 0 0;
//select "pCube1";
move -r ($i*1) ($i*1) 0;
move -r $xpnt1 0 0 pCube1.scalePivot;
}
for($i=0;$i<25;$i++) {//BRANCH 2, POINT 1, DIR R
polyCube;
move -ws $xpnt1 0 0;
//select "pCube26";
move -r ($i*-1) ($i*1) 0;
move -r $xpnt1 0 0 pCube26.scalePivot;
}
for($i=0;$i<25;$i++) {//BRANCH 3, POINT 2, DIR L
polyCube;
move -ws $xpnt2 0 0;
//select "pCube51";
move -r ($i*1) ($i*1) 0;
move -r $xpnt2 0 0 pCube51.scalePivot;
}
for($i=0;$i<25;$i++) { //BRANCH 4, POINT 2, DIR R
polyCube;
move -ws $xpnt2 0 0;
//select "pCube76";
move -r ($i*-1) ($i*1) 0;
move -r $xpnt2 0 0 pCube76.scalePivot;
}
Here is an image of what it now looks like and there are two blocks in the starting coordinates as expected.