diff --git a/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_rendersettings.py b/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_rendersettings.py
index 08ecc0d149..25674effa8 100644
--- a/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_rendersettings.py
+++ b/openpype/hosts/maya/plugins/publish/validate_rendersettings.py
@@ -257,14 +257,18 @@ class ValidateRenderSettings(pyblish.api.InstancePlugin):
         # go through definitions and test if such node.attribute exists.
         # if so, compare its value from the one required.
         for attr, value in OrderedDict(validation_settings).items():
-            # first get node of that type
             cls.log.debug("{}: {}".format(attr, value))
-            node_type = attr.split(".")[0]
-            attribute_name = ".".join(attr.split(".")[1:])
+            if "." not in attr:
+                cls.log.warning("Skipping invalid attribute defined in "
+                                "validation settings: '{}'".format(attr))
+
+            node_type, attribute_name = attr.split(".", 1)
+
+            # first get node of that type
             nodes = cmds.ls(type=node_type)
 
-            if not isinstance(nodes, list):
-                cls.log.warning("No nodes of '{}' found.".format(node_type))
+            if not nodes:
+                cls.log.info("No nodes of type '{}' found.".format(node_type))
                 continue
 
             for node in nodes: