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1. C c The number of light points to be created n c The node name to be created p c The parent group transform node OpenFlight workflow considerations 29 nt c If specified then no parent transform is created In this case a parent must also be specified with the p flag clr ce The RGB color value to be applied to all created light points Each value should be in the range from 0 0 1 0 In edit mode if no light points are selected then the light point shape name must be specified using n nml ce The Normal to be applied to all created light points In edit mode if no light points are selected then the light point shape name must be specified using n dt ce Type must be one of OMNIDIRECTIONAL UNIDIRECTIONAL or BIDIRECTIONAL By default light points are omnidirectional dnml ce Enable or Disable the display of normals true false Example Create 3 light points spaced 0 5 UI units apart fltLightPoints c 3 d 0 5 this creates a light point string with 5 light points and visible normals fltLightPoints c 5 dnml true this makes the normals of the selected light points string in visible and changes the light type to be Unidirectional fltLightPoints e dnml false dt UNIDIRECTIONAL fltLightsOnCurve Script Synopsis fltLightsOnCurve arguments Return Value None Description This script uses an existing curve and creates a given number of Light Points using the currently selec
2. are going to convert it FBX acts as an interchange hub between most 3D software regardless of software vendor or computer platform This lets you exchange complex data between Maya Autodesk MotionBuilder Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Mudbox while preserving the data s overall behavior making it easier to integrate all these products into a single pipeline For example with FBX you can exchange animation data and character rigs between Maya and MotionBuilder or point data between Maya and new versions of MotionBuilder and 3ds Max The FBX plug in is installed automatically with Maya and is loaded by default on startup If you have previously unloaded this plug in you can load it by doing the following 1 Select Window gt Settings Preferences gt Plug in Manager 2 Click the Load button for foxmaya mll NOTE Development of the FBX plug in is an ongoing process in order to provide you with seamless interoperability between all FBX supporting products The support for Maya functions and features is ever growing and improving You should therefore check for the latest version of the FBX plug in from the Autodesk website www autodesk com fbx or by clicking the Check for web updates button in the FBX Importer or Exporter windows The Maya FBX Plug in is available for free download FBX plug in documentation For more information on the version of FBX installed with Maya select Help gt Autodesk FBX Help from
3. attributes Name Long Short Type Default Flags outputVis out Tint32 0 R curMask in Tint32 0 RWSK maskWidth mkw Tint32 0 RWS numMasks nmk Tint32 0 RWS masks mks Tint32 0 ARWS fltSwitch Command Synopsis FltSwitch flags Return Value string object name or node name on create Description This command is used to create edit or query Switch Nodes from within Maya Flags p c The parent group transform node cm eq Set or query the current switch node mask n ceq The name of the node to be operated on am e Append a mask based on the current object selection em e Edit the currently active mask based on the current object selection dm e Delete the current mask 24 Chapter 6 Maya OpenFlight Importer Exporter Example Create a Switch node fltSwitch n swl After some geometry has been added under swl masks maybe cre ated by selecting the geometry to be visible under the switch for the mask and and then using the fltSwitch command as follows fltSwitch e am n swl Setting the current mask to the desired switch will enable that mask fltSwitch e cm 0 n swl When using Light Points Support has been added to Maya for OpenFlight Light Points Light Points allow for an array of lights to be created that have no render properties They can be imported amp exported into OpenFlight files with the following restrictions Import m Modeling lights are
4. shapes translate as Maya surfaces Poly sets lose texture coordinates on translation to Maya Area and Linear lights are not transferred correctly DOF camera settings are different in Maya after translation When Maya renders or raytraces light fog on a light with a colored texture channel the fog receives that texture whereas in Studio it does not Importing Studio files with lights that have colored texture channels can cause confusing results because the default sampling rate is 1 Try using 20 to 30 samples m Ortho Cameras are not fully supported in Studiolmport Change Include cameras to false for import or adjust the translation of ortho cameras manually after import m No refraction jitter in Maya renders after import from Studiolmport m Only the simplest forms of Environment fog are translated correctly m Working with shells from Studio can cause problems with light linking and rendering Unstitch in Studio before importing wire file into Maya 14 Chapter 4 Studiolmport Plug in and Translator Export plug ins MayaToAlias export plug in MayaToAlias is a Maya plug in for Windows 32 bit that uses OpenMaya API to get the scene information from Maya and then exports it using OpenModel to one of the following depending on which export file format is chosen m a wire file version 9 7 3 m IGES file MayaToAlias exports the following from Maya to wire files transform nodes hierarchy instanced objects NU
5. 16 texture palette 35 track planes 36 transform nodes conversion in MayaToAlias 15 tolGES 15 transformation matrix 34 trimmed surfaces conversion in MayaToAlias 15 tolGES 16 U UV List 35 V vertex list 35 palette 35 palette header with color 35 with color and normal 35 36 with Color Normal and UV 36 with Normal and UV 36 WwW Wavefront exporting in OBJ format 17 exporting in RIB format 18 Index 41 42
6. 17 Maya OpenFlight Importer Exporter 19 Overview OF OpEREISRE nn an E OR keg 19 Import export OpenFlight files gt rv ooo N 19 Mr A E 20 iv Contents Openthght gt Create Light Poms e ca N cese s 20 OpenPlight gt Create Lights on Curve ooo coco risas 21 OpenFlight gt Edit Light Point Colors o o ne 21 OpenFlight gt Edit Light Point Normals 22 OpenFlight workflow considerations 22 supported OpenPlight Beads lt s 252 u 0 8 2 2 20 wie nen 32 Sie OE AK ME es saa re a AR ED 36 MAE 2 ERR EE EE EEG 39 Introduction to Translators Maya Translators In addition to the translators provided in plug in format with Maya IGES FBX DXF Alias wire OpenFlight and so on Maya also supports a range of translation formats through the Autodesk DirectConnect plug in For more information see the Autodesk DirectConnect Help option in the Help menu of Maya Updates to the certain Maya translator plug ins may be available See the Autodesk support pages for Maya FBX file translator FBX file translator The Autodesk FBX translator plug in allows Autodesk Maya to read and write the latest version of FBX files FBX allows all types of data to be packaged into one file format that can be used by most of today s 3D authoring software With FBX you don t have to worry about which supported software application the data came from or how you
7. Autodesk Maya Autodesk Translators Copyright Notice Autodesk Maya 2011 Software O 2010 Autodesk Inc All rights reserved Except as otherwise permitted by Autodesk Inc this publication or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form by any method for any purpose Certain materials included in this publication are reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder The following are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk Inc and or its subsidiaries and or affiliates in the USA and other countries 3DEC design logo 3December 3December com 3ds Max Algor Alias Alias swirl design logo AliasStudio AliaslWavefront design logo ATC AUGI AutoCAD AutoCAD Learning Assistance AutoCAD LT AutoCAD Simulator AutoCAD SQL Extension AutoCAD SQL Interface Autodesk Autodesk Envision Autodesk Intent Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Map Autodesk MapGuide Autodesk Streamline AutoLISP AutoSnap AutoSketch AutoTrack Backburner Backdraft Built with ObjectARX logo Burn Buzzsaw CAiCE Civil 3D Cleaner Cleaner Central ClearScale Colour Warper Combustion Communication Specification Constructware Content Explorer Dancing Baby image DesignCenter Design Doctor Designer s Toolkit DesignKids DesignProf DesignServer DesignStudio Design Web Format Discreet DWF DWG DWG logo DWG Extreme DWG TrueConvert DWG TrueView DXF Ecotect Exposure Extending the Design Team Face Robot FBX Fempro Fire F
8. Featureld fid Tint16 0 RWS BackColor bc Tint32 0 RWS DisplayMode dm Enum 0 RWS Intensity ity Float 0 RWS BackIntensity bit Float 0 RWS MinimumDefocus Float 0 RWS mnaf MaximumDefocus Float 0 RWS mxdf FadingMode fm Tint32 0 RWS FogPunchMode Tint32 0 RWS fem 26 Chapter 6 Maya OpenFlight Importer Exporter DirectionalMode Tint32 0 RWS drm RangeMode rm Tint32 0 RWS MinimumPixelSize Float 0 RWS mnps MaximumPixelSize Float 0 RWS mxps ActualSize aps Float 0 RWS TransparentFal Float 0 RWS loffPixelSize tfps TransparentFalloffEx Float 0 RWS ponent tfe TransparentFalloffS Float 0 RWS calar tfs TransparentFal Float 0 RWS loffClamp tfc FogScalar fs Float 0 RWS SizeDifferen Float 0 RWS ceThreshold sdt DirectionalType Enum 0 RWS drt HorizontalLo Float 0 RWS beAngle hla VerticallobeAngle Float 0 RWS vla DirectionalFallofEx Float 0 RWS ponent dfe OpenFlight workflow considerations 27 DirectionalAmbi Float 0 RWS entIntensity dai AnimationPeriod Float 0 RWS ap Animation Float 0 RWS PhaseDelay apd AnimationEnabled Float 0 RWS Period aep Significance sig Float 0 RWS Calligraphic call Tint32 0 RWS Flags flgs Tint32 0 RWS XanimRotateAxis Float 0 RWS xra YanimRotateAxis Float 0 RWS yra ZanimRotateAxis Float 0 RWS zra LightColors Ic Doub
9. Maya s main menu Importing into or exporting from Maya to FBX In the Autodesk FBX Help refer to sections Exporting from Maya to an FBX file and Importing FBX files into Maya for instructions on how to import or export fbx files into or from Maya Limitations of FBX When importing files into and exporting files from Maya limitations may apply Visit the Autodesk FBX Help for the most updated list of limitations as well as the list of new functionalities that are supported in the latest version FBX Mel Scripting Commands The following is a list of FBX Mel commands For more detail on what these commands do see the Maya FBX plug in documentation FBXExport f FBXExportAnimationOnly v FBXExportApplyConstantKeyReducer v FBXExportAxisConversionMethod Add FBX Root node FBXExportBakeComplexAnimation v FBXExportBakeComplexEnd v FBXExportBakeComplexStart v 4 Chapter 2 FBX file translator FBXExportBakeComplexStep v FBXExportCacheFile v FBXExportCameras v FBXExportCharacter v FBXExportColladaFrameRate FBXExportColladaSingleMatrix FBXExportColladaTriangulate FBXExportConstraints v FBXExportConvert2Tif v FBXExportDxfTriangulate FBXExportDxfDeformation FBXExportEdgeSmoothing v FBXExportEmbeddedTextures v FBXExportFileVersion FBXExportHardEdges v FBXExportInAscii v FBXExportLights v FBXExportQuaternion v FBXExportQuickSelectSetAsCache q FBXExportQuickSelectSetAsCache v FBXExportScaleFactor FBXExportSh
10. RBS curves NURBS surfaces trimmed surfaces meshes cameras MayaToAlias exports the following from Maya to IGES format E transform nodes M instanced objects become copied objects in IGES 15 NURBS curves NURBS surfaces trimmed surfaces meshes To load the MayaToAlias plug in 1 Open Maya and select Window gt Settings Preferences gt Plug in Manager 2 Click the loaded check box for the MayaToAlias plug in Now you can export Maya content to wire or IGES format through the usual export mechanism To export a Maya file to FBX or IGES 1 Select File gt Export All or File gt Export Selection 2 Select a file name and file type and then click Export All or Export Selection FBX and IGESexport are options in the File Type pull down menu Troubleshooting m Tf you get an error message when using MayatoAlias of the form Creating surface fails node nodename it is because Studio Tools and Maya have different requirements for a valid NURBS surface Valid NURBS surfaces in Maya may not be valid in Studio Tools hence they are not created Usually the problem can be fixed by changing Open to Periodic in either U or V direction this can be done by using the Edit NURBS gt Open Close Surfaces tool Ensure that the Surface direction is set correctly by opening the option box m If you want to export a Maya mesh to a wire file and this mesh contains a face which has hole s in it you need to triangulate this fa
11. all its faces Illumination The illumination flag of OpenFlight objects specifies whether the object is to be illuminated by nearby lights or whether it is exclusively self illuminating When importing a self illuminating object the following attributes of the corresponding Maya object are turned off Casts Shadows Receive Shadows Visible in Reflections and Visible in Refractions When the imported object is not self illuminating all these attributes are turned on When exporting a Maya object to OpenFlight the self illumination flag is set if and only if the Receive Shadows attribute of the Maya object is turned off When using Switch Nodes Support has been added to Maya for OpenFlight Switch nodes Switch nodes allow for an array of visibility masks to be applied to a group transform node OpenFlight workflow considerations 23 Each child node s visibility is represented by one bit in the visibility mask Current implementation only supports up to 32 children The switch node is implemented as a helper node that is applied to a group transform node and can be viewed and selected through the Hypergraph The currently selected mask can be modified through the Attribute Editor associated with the switch node Switch Nodes are created automatically when an OpenFlight database with Switch Nodes is read into Maya They may also be created using the fltSwitch command from within the Maya modeling environment Switch node
12. apes v FBXExportSkins v FBXExportUpAxis FBXImport f filename t FBXImportAxisConversionEnable v FBXImportCacheFile v FBXImportCameras v FBXImportCharacter v FBX file translator 5 FBXImportConstraints v FBXImportConvertDeformingNullsToJoint v FBXImportDxfWeldVertice FBXImportDxfReferenceNode FBXImportDxfObjectDerivation FBXImportEdgeSmoothing v FBXImportFillTimeline FBXImportHardEdges v FBXImportLights v FBXImportMergeBackNullPivots v FBXImportMergeAnimationLayers v FBXImportMode v FBXImportOverrideNormalsLock v FBXImportProtectDrivenKeys v FBXImportQuaternion v FBXImportResamplingRateSource v FBXImportScaleFactorEnable FBXImportScaleFactor FBXImportSetMayaFrameRate v FBXImportSetLockedAttribute v FBXImportShapes v FBXImportSkins v FBXImportUpAxis FBXConvertUnitString FBXGetTakeComment FBXGetTakeCount FBXGetTakeIndex FBXGetTakeLocalTimeSpan FBXGetTakeName 6 Chapter 2 FBX file translator FBXGetTakeReferenceTimeSpan FBXLoadExportPresetFile f FBXLoadImportPresetFile f FBXRead f FBXResetImport FBXResetExport FBXResamplingRate v FBX file translator 7 IGES Translator plug in IGES Translator plug in Overview of IGES Translator plug in The IGES file translator plug in extends Maya to help address the needs of those customers familiar with files in the IGES format This data translator is capable of both reading existing IGES files into Maya and exporting files from Maya t
13. ark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries mental ray is a registered trademark of mental images GmbH licensed for use by Autodesk Inc OpenGL is a trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc in the United States and other countries Python and the Python logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Python Software Foundation The Ravix logo is a trademark of Electric Rain Inc All other brand names product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders Disclaimer THIS PUBLICATION AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS MADE AVAILABLE BY AUTODESK INC AS IS AUTODESK INC DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE REGARDING THESE MATERIALS Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Introduction to Translators 1 Maya Translators e os roca ess ee ee ee GE 1 FBX file translator ss n ee EE Es EE RE ER EE EER 3 BEA Hle ft a d aag BEN DR N ole Gled bk ae ie ME 3 IGES Translator plug in o o 9 IGES Translator PEO ome a a GS 9 Studiolmport Plug in and Translator 13 SEUA NES den na A E Eg 13 Expert plugins sure 15 MayaToAlias export plug in ear rv onen 15 Wavefront OBJ export plug in o ee 16 RenderMan RIB export plug id o
14. ce first Wavefront OBJ export plug in The objExport plug in lets you export Maya polygon data to the Wavefront OBJ ASCII file format It successfully converts M Maya texture coordinate and vertex normal information 16 Chapter 5 Export plug ins m Maya renderable set information into material names m Maya component set information into groups For details on exporting to OBJ format see Basic Tools NOTE objExport does not export OB formatted curves surfaces smoothing groups or point group materials It also does not support NURBS Use the MayaToAlias plug in for scenes that contain NURBS surfaces NOTE Autodesk provides the source code for the objExport plug in as part of the Maya Developer s Toolkit Ensure that you have installed the Toolkit and you can find the source code in files devkit plug ins objExport cpp To load the objExport plug in 1 Open Maya and select Window gt Settings Preferences gt Plug in Manager 2 Click the loaded check box for the objExport plug in To export a file in OB format 1 Select File gt Export All or File gt Export Selection 2 Selectf OBJexport as the file type and then click Export RenderMan RIB export plug in The ribExport plug in adds the new file format RIBexport to the File gt Export All options menu This lets you export scenes created in Maya to the RIB Pixar RenderMan format NOTE This plug in only supports the Export All file acc
15. e connected to Eyepoint and Trackplane Palette Implemented as Cameras in Maya See Known Issues on page 36 Light Source Palette VERTEX PALETTE Vertices are part of a polymesh in Maya VERTEX LIST See Vertex Palette Vertex Palette Header Followed by vertex data Vertex with Color Polymesh vertex data Supported OpenFlight Beads 35 Vertex with Color and Normal Polymesh vertex data Vertex with Color Normal and UV Polymesh vertex data Vertex with Normal and UV Polymesh vertex data Unsupported Palette Records Key Table Linkage Palette Line Style Palette Maya has only 1 line style Name Table Sound Palette Texture Mapping Known Issues The following outlines the known issues in OpenFlight Version 1 1 36 Chapter 6 It is not possible to change the Maya display color of a unidirectional or bi directional light This color always defaults to red It is expected that future releases will have the ability to map back colors to RGB display Ul based tools are missing to support Switch nodes and LODs The only export type supported is OpenFlight 15 7 OpenFlight geometry will only accept textures assigned to the color channel Light Sources cannot be exported Currently a single ambient light is always exported An attempt is made to map Eye Points to Cameras in Maya however the mapping appears incorrect in some cases Eye poi
16. ess mode RIB file import is not supported NOTE This plug in is supported on 32 bit Windows and 64 bit Linux only The ribExport plug in supports ambient directional point and spot lights Simple non textured shaders are supported although only the shader color is exported All other shading attributes are ignored Phong and Blinn shaders are exported as plastic Lambert shaders are exported as matte Per face shading groups are not supported only shading groups that are assigned to objects or object instances are exported RenderMan RIB export plug in 17 When exporting Maya scenes into RIB note that the character is a special formatting character in RenderMan image names To include a real character in a RenderMan image name you must use See section 4 1 10 of the RenderMan user manual for information on formatting The image name constructed by the ribExport plug in includes the contents of the imageName attribute of the renderable cameras If you want to include the special RenderMan formatting characters in an image the imageName attribute is the place those characters should be placed NOTE Autodesk provides source code for the ribExport plug in as part of the Maya Developer s Toolkit If you install the Toolkit you can find the source code in files devkit plug ins ribExport cpp To load the ribExport plug in 1 Open Maya and select Window gt Settings Preferences gt Plu
17. ffset surface 141 0 boundary entity IGES Translator plug in 11 142 0 curve on surface 143 0 bounded surface 144 0 trimmed surface 308 0 subfigure definition 402 7 9 associativity instance 406 1 property definition levels 408 0 singular subfigure instance 406 15 name 12 Chapter 3 IGES Translator plug in Studiolmport Plug in and Translator Studiolmport Studiolmport is a translator for Alias Studio wire files previously known as Alias wire files NOTE Alias StudioTools v10 and later Autodesk AliasStudio uses a different file format for its wire files This file format should cause no change in your everyday use of StudioTools because the file provides all of the same capabilities as the old wire file This new file format is compatible with new releases of StudioTools so you won t need a translator to use Version 10 files in future releases To load the Studiolmport file Translator 1 Start Maya and select Window gt Settings Preferences gt Plug in Manager 2 Click the loaded check box for the Studiolmport plug in To open a Studio wire file m Select File gt Open Scene and select the Studio wire file you want to open from the file browser selection Studiolmport conversion issues The following are known issues for Studiolmport conversion m Studio SID data is not supported in the Studiolmport plug in 13 m Any paint data is not translated into Maya SID
18. frame your selection and if the geometry does not appear it is beyond the camera s rear clipping plane Select View gt Camera Attribute Editor and set the Far Clip Plane to a value sufficiently large such that the geometry is visible Level Mapping Controls whether layers from a IGES file are imported The default is to always import layers IGES export options To access these options the IGES translator plug in must be loaded and you must change the File Type drop down box to IGES Scale Factor Determines the factor by which the resulting geometry in the IGES file is scaled upon export default 1 0000 Known Issues m Tf there is IGES created geometry in the scene then the plugin cannot be unloaded Delete all data and unload plugin m The 500 Series BREP entities are unsupported IGES entity support IGES entities supported in Maya Type Form IGES Entity 10 Chapter 3 IGES Translator plug in 100 0 circular arc 102 0 composite curve 104 0 3 conic arc 106 1 copious data 106 2 copious data 106 11 copious data 106 12 copious data 106 63 closed area 108 0 plane 108 1 plane 110 0 line 112 0 parametric curve 114 0 parametric surface 118 0 1 ruled surface 120 0 surface of revolution 122 0 tabulated cylinder 124 0 transformation matrix 126 0 5 rational b spline curve 128 0 9 rational b spline surface 130 0 offset curve 140 0 o
19. g in Manager 2 Click the loaded check box for the ribExport plug in To export a file in RIB format 1 Select File gt Export All 2 In the Files of type field select RIBexport as the file type and then click Export All RIBexport Options Single File Output If Yes all frames is written to a single rib file If No all frames are written to separate rib files Extension Padding If the Single File Output option is off this option specifies whether the RIB file extensions is padded with O s Geometry Motion Blur Specifies if geometry motion blur information is written to the RIB file Pixel Samples Specifies the number of samples taken for each pixel This value is used for both the X and Y directions 18 Chapter 5 Export plug ins Maya OpenFlight Importer Exporter Overview of OpenFlight The OpenFlight file translator plug in provides extended functionality to Maya to help address the needs of the Visual Simulation customer This is done by providing a data translator to read the currently existing OpenFlight databases into Maya Accompanying the OpenFlight database importer is an OpenFlight Exporter Functionality that was found to be missing from Maya was added in the form of new node types that can be created and edited from within the Maya modeling environment OpenFlight is installed with Maya Import export OpenFlight files To load the OpenFlight file Translator 1 Open Maya and select Window gt Setti
20. ght data base FACE Shape node for a face Faces are part of a polymesh within Maya 32 Chapter 6 Maya OpenFlight Importer Exporter GROUP Group transform node HEADER Header record for an OpenFlight file Sets orientation field of view etc Sets the ap propriate orientation and UI units Level of Detail Level of detail group node Light Source A Light Light Point A special node type associated with the OpenFlight translator See When using Light Points on page 25 for more details OBJECT Transform node SWITCH A special node type associated with the OpenFlight translator See Switch Nodes under Work Flow Considerations for more details Unsupported Primary Records Binary Separating Plane Allows for the modeling of databases without Z information Curve B spline Cardinal also known as Catmull Rom and Bezier CAT Continuously Adaptive Terrain Skin A tri angle mesh for high fidelity real time viewing Clip Region Extension Node User defined node information MESH Poly mesh This is not widely supported and may not be available in the first re lease Supported OpenFlight Beads 33 Morph Vertex List Works in conjunction with LOD node to morph geometry depending on the dis tance from the camera Road Segment Road Construction Road Path Sound Sound emitter position Text Ancil
21. ht Point Normals on page 22 OpenFlight gt Create Light Points Invokes the fltLightPoints command to create a new set of light points in the scene OpenFlight gt Create Light Points gt O Number of Light Points Sets the number of light points Distance Between Light Points Set the distance between light points 20 Chapter 6 Maya OpenFlight Importer Exporter Light type Select one of Omnidirectional Unidirectional or Bidirectional Light Normal Only active when the light type is unidirectional or bidirectional Set the light normal Light Color Set the light color NOTE The light colors only appear in shaded mode Turn on Smooth Shading to see the colors OpenFlight gt Create Lights on Curve Invokes the fltLightsOnCurve script to create light points along a selected curve OpenFlight gt Create Lights on Curve gt O Number of Light Points Sets the number of light points Light type Select one of Omnidirectional Unidirectional or Bidirectional Light Color Set the light color NOTE The light colors only appear in shaded mode Turn on Smooth Shading to see the colors OpenFlight gt Edit Light Point Colors Used to change the color of selected light points To change the color of selected light points 1 Select the light points to modify 2 From the OpenFlight menu select Edit Light Point Colors The Light Point Color Editor appears 3 Select the color to apply to these light points in
22. l transform node can also be inserted before and or after the controlled LOD node to satisfy Maya s switch in switch out requirements NOTE Deleting these nodes cause the LOD to behave incorrectly Maya s LODs are also tied to a particular camera When importing an OpenFlight file a camera named fltLOD is created To activate the LOD behavior you must use this camera If new LOD nodes are created from within Maya they should likewise be associated with the LOD camera OpenFlight workflow considerations 31 Supported OpenFlight Beads The following table provides comparisons between OpenFlight and Maya OpenFlight Beads Maya equivalent comment Control Records Instance Definition Instanced geometry Instance Reference Instance group node POP Changes move up to the previous parent in the DAG PUSH Creates a child under the current parent Unsupported Control Records Extension POP Subface See PUSH Subface PUSH Subface Maya cannot support hierarchy on co planer surfaces Instead the next face to be created is offset by 1 mm in the direction of the normal Pop Attribute Reserved for MultiGen Push Attribute Reserved for MultiGen Primary Records Degree of Freedom Record Maya transforms are used to represent DOF s See OpenFlight workflow consider ations on page 22 for more information EXTERNAL REFERENCE File reference to another OpenFli
23. lame Flare Flint FMDesktop Freewheel GDX Driver Green Building Studio Heads up Design Heidi HumanIK IDEA Server i drop ImageModeler iMOUT Incinerator Inferno Inventor Inventor LT Kaydara Kaydara design logo Kynapse Kynogon LandXplorer Lustre MatchMover Maya Mechanical Desktop Moldflow Moonbox MotionBuilder Movimento MPA MPA design logo Moldflow Plastics Advisers MPI Moldflow Plastics Insight MPX MPX design logo Moldflow Plastics Xpert Mudbox Multi Master Editing Navisworks ObjectARX ObjectDBX Open Reality Opticore Opticore Opus Pipeplus PolarSnap PortfolioWall Powered with Autodesk Technology Productstream ProjectPoint ProMaterials RasterDWG RealDWG Real time Roto Recognize Render Queue Retimer Reveal Revit Showcase ShowMotion SketchBook Smoke Softimage SoftimagelXSI design logo Sparks SteeringWheels Stitcher Stone StudioTools ToolClip Topobase Toxik TrustedDWG ViewCube Visual Visual LISP Volo Vtour Wire Wiretap WiretapCentral XSI and XSI design logo ACE TAO CIAO and CoSMIC are copyrighted by Douglas C Schmidt and his research group at Washington University University of California Irvine and Vanderbilt University Copyright O 1993 2009 all rights reserved Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and or other countries Intel is a registered trademark or tradem
24. lary Records Continuation Not a node but simply a continuation of a vertex list Records are limited to 64K in size LONG ID A node name greater than 7 characters to be applied to the previously read node Maya node names do not have this restric tion so the name is applied directly to the node REPLICATE Multiple instances of the current transform node TRANSFORMATION MATRIX Transform matrix to be applied to the cur rent transform node Unsupported Ancillary Records Bounding Volume CAT Data Header CAT Data Key CAT Data Face Extension Attribute 3rd party support 34 Chapter 6 Maya OpenFlight Importer Exporter Local Vertex Pool MESH PRIMITIVE MultiTexture Allows support for up to 8 textures per vertex May not be in first release Road Zone Pointer to a file that contains grid eleva tion data UV List Follows Vertex List and contains texture layer information Vector Only used for light point faces Palette Records Color Palette A collection of color entries Maya does not use a color palette Each vertex holds the corresponding RGB color LIGHT PALETTE Lights are DAG node entries in Maya MATERIAL PALETTE Material become Shaders within Maya See Texture Palette TEXTURE PALETTE Textures are applied to shaders within Maya Shaders have an associated shading group that all nodes using this texture ar
25. le3 0 ARWS LightNormals In Double3 0 ARWS InputLightPoints 0x58000014 0 RW ilp OutputLightPoints 0x58000014 0 RS olp WorldLightPoints 0x58000014 0 ARS wip CachedLightPoints 0x58000014 0 RWS clp 28 Chapter 6 Maya OpenFlight Importer Exporter DisplayNormals dn Boolean false RWSK DisplayLobe dl Boolean false RWSK Light point functionality has been extended to display the effects of several more attributes of light point shapes Light Directionality gt Type Light Directionality gt Front Intensity Light Directionality gt Ambient Intensity Light Directionality gt Back Intensity a E E E m Lobe Angle gt Horizontal m Lobe Angle gt Vertical m Lobe Angle gt Roll m Display gt Normals a Display gt Lobe Both Display gt Normals and Display gt Lobe have no Creator equivalent They are used to control the visibility of the normal and lobe of light points as you develop your scene inside of Maya Note that you cannot display lobes of omni directional lights Currently the back color only displays as red regardless of the actual value set This default color does respond to the back and ambient intensities to enable more sophisticated simulation fltLightPoints Command Synopsis fltLightPoints flags Return Value string object name or node name Description This command is used to create Light Points from within Maya Flags d c The distance between light points
26. ngs Preferences gt Plug in Manager 2 Click the loaded check box for the Open Flight plug in fltTranslator OpenFlight is a 3D file format The file importer exporter is an OpenMaya plug in Any of the Beads that can be imported into Maya can also be exported see Supported OpenFlight Beads on page 32 The exported file contains a subset of the imported data External file or texture references point to the referenced files in their current directories Should it be necessary to move an exported file to a location that does not allow access to 19 the original file references these referenced files can be copied into the same directory as the target OpenFlight file and the references read correctly To open an OpenFlight file m Select File gt Open Scene and select the OpenFlight file you want to open from the file browser selection To export an OpenFlight file m Select File gt Export All or File gt Export Selection and select OpenFlight from File type drop down list Version compatibility You can read import versions from 14 2 up to 15 7 but only export 15 7 files User Interface OpenFlight Menu An OpenFlight menu is added to the main window when the OpenFlight plug in is installed The menu contains the following menu items m OpenFlight gt Create Light Points on page 20 m OpenFlight gt Create Lights on Curve on page 21 m OpenFlight gt Edit Light Point Colors on page 21 E OpenFlight gt Edit Lig
27. not supported m OpenFlight Infinite lights are imported into Maya as directional lights m OpenFlight Local lights are imported into Maya as ambient lights BE OpenFlight Spot lights are imported into Maya as spot lights Export m Directional lights are exported as infinite lights m Ambient lights are exported as local lights m Spot lights are exported as spot lights E Light types not supported by OpenFlight area lights point lights are exported as infinite lights m Modeling lights are not supported NOTE m One light palette is created for each light source m The orientation of the light palette is always Yaw 0 Pitch 0 OpenFlight workflow considerations 25 Light Points are implemented as a shape in Maya They are created automatically when an OpenFlight database with Light Points is read into Maya Additionally Light Points can be created from within Maya using the OpenFlight menu commands or the MEL command fltLightPoints Each LightPointShape can contain any number of Light Points By selecting a LightPointShape and opening its Attribute Editor all Light Points attributes are available Many of these attributes have no visible effect within Maya but can still be edited saved and exported Light Point attributes Name Long Short Type Default Flags LightPointsMin double3 0 RWS Ipmn LightPointsMax Ip double3 0 RWS mx SurfaceMaterial Tint16 0 RWS Code smc
28. nts are not exported from Maya Track Planes are not supported Maya OpenFlight Importer Exporter The only way to freeze a DOFs co ordinates from within Maya is to export the scene as an OpenFlight file and then read it back in Articulations on group nodes are not supported Maya s LODs need to be extended to better handle the flexibility of the OpenFlight LODs If you perform a Freeze Transformations on a translated Light Point Maya versions older than 4 0 3 will crash This can be fixed by updating to Maya 4 0 3 or higher File textures may only be applied to the color attribute of a Maya shader Textures applied to other attributes are ignored Normals on faces are ignored on import Maya regenerates the normals based on the vertex ordering However edge settings are preserved Known Issues 37 38 Index A Alias wire files importing 13 Alias wire format converting Maya filesto 15 articulations 37 beads import into Maya 19 C cameras conversion in MayaToAlias 15 Continuation of vertex list 34 converting Maya files to Alias wire format 15 D Degree of Freedom Record 32 E exporting Maya files to Alias format 16 OBJ files 17 RIB files 18 external reference 32 eye points 36 Eyepoint and Trackplane Palette 35 F face shape node 32 file textures 37 fltLightPoints command 29 fltLightsOnCurve script 30 fltSwitch command 24 Freeze Transformations 37 G groups conversion in objEx
29. o the IGES format Install IGES translator This translator is installed with Maya Import Export IGES files To load the IGES file translator 1 Open Maya and select Window gt Settings Preferences gt Plug in Manager 2 Click the loaded button for the IGES file translator To import a IGES file m Select File gt Import and select the IGES file you want to open from the file browser selection To export an IGES file m Select File gt Export All or File gt Export Selection and select IGESExport from File type drop down list IGES import options To access these options the IGES translator plug in must be loaded and you must change the File Type drop down box to IGES Default Trim Curves Select Parameter Space trimming curves defined in the parameter space of the surface or World Space trimming curves defined in world space of the model The default is to use parameter space trimming IGES Trim Flag In IGES a trimmed surface can specify its preferred trimming method either world space or parameter space Choosing this option tells Maya to use whatever method is preferred in the file Scale Factor Scales all imported geometry by a common factor This allows very large scenes to be viewed more easily NOTE IGES files often contain geometry that is very large In order to view this geometry properly the Scale Factor can be used to scale it down Otherwise in the viewing window select View gt Frame All to
30. port 17 transform node 33 H HEADER 33 hierarchy conversion in MayaToAlias 15 Instance Definition instanced geometry 32 Instance Reference instance group node 32 instanced objects conversion in MayaToAlias 15 toIGES 15 K known issues 36 L Level of Detail LOD 33 light palette 35 light point 37 Light Point 33 Light Source 33 Light Source Palette 35 light sources 36 LOD 37 39 Index long ID 34 M material names in objExport 17 material palette 35 Maya 4 0 3 37 MayaToAlias conversion cameras 15 export plug in 15 hierarchy 15 instanced objects 15 meshes 15 NURBS curves 15 NURBS surfaces 15 tolGES 15 transform nodes 15 trimmed surfaces 15 meshes conversion in MayaToAlias 15 primary record 33 tolGES 16 N normals 37 NURBS curves conversion in MayaToAlias 15 tolGES 16 NURBS surfaces conversion in MayaToAlias 15 to IGES 16 O OBJ format exporting to from Maya 17 OBJECT transform node 33 objExport conversion Maya component set information 17 Maya renderable set information 17 Maya texture coordinates 16 Maya vertex normals 16 40 Index plug in 16 OpenFlight description 19 export 20 P palette eyepoint trackplane 35 light source 35 plug ins ObjExport 16 POP 32 PUSH 32 R replicating multiple instances 34 RIB format exporting to from Maya 18 ribExport plug in 17 S Studio wire files importing 13 Studiolmport plug in 13 T texture conversion in objExport
31. tations to consider when exporting an OpenFlight file from Maya Models are always exported in color RGB mode The units are always meters No animation can be exported No cameras can be exported 22 Chapter 6 Maya OpenFlight Importer Exporter m The exporter only supports a single texture map per face Layered textures results in only the first texture being exported m 2D and 3D procedural textures are not exported m Many Maya rendering parameters have no direct equivalent in OpenFlight m Degree of Freedom Beads are only created when Limits are set on a Maya group transformation node m No transformations on externally referenced nodes are saved out to OpenFlight format To transform a referenced file from within the current scene the DAG root objects in the referenced file should be grouped and any transformations should be applied to the group node Shading Models Flat Shading OpenFlight objects have a flat shading flag which specifies whether the object is to be drawn with flat shading or Gouraud smooth shading This flag is now connected with the Smooth Shading attribute of polygons in Maya as found in the Render Stats tab of the Attribute Editor for the shape While OpenFlight supports the flat shading flag at the object level as well as at the face level Maya only supports the flag at the object level Thus the flat shading flag of any object imported into Maya must be set identically for the object and
32. ted curve as a placement guide The Light Points are evenly spaced along the curve Note The curve is used for construction purposes only and is modified by this script To use this script 1 Create a curve to use as a placement guide for the Light Points 2 Select the curve and then execute the script 30 Chapter 6 Maya OpenFlight Importer Exporter Example Create 3 Red Light Points equally spaced along the selected curve fltLightsOnCurve 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 Arguments Arg1 An integer that specifies the number of Light points to be created Arg2 A float that specifies the Red component of the assigned color for the Light Points 0 0 1 0 Arg3 A float that specifies the Green component of the assigned color for the Light Points 0 0 1 0 Arg4 A float that specifies the Blue component of the assigned color for the Light Points 0 0 1 0 Degree Of Freedom DOF Nodes All transform nodes in Maya can represent DOF nodes They each have limit information available and by default work within their own co ordinate space To create a DOF from a Maya transform node m Set a limit on a group transform node from the Attribute Editor Level Of Detail LOD Nodes Maya s LOD nodes work slightly differently from the OpenFlight LOD nodes To simulate the behavior of OpenFlight LOD nodes all children of an OpenFlight LOD node are grouped together under a single group transform node that is controlled by the LOD node A nul
33. the color slider 4 Press the Apply or Apply and Close buttons to apply the color to the selected light points This dialog box works with light points selected in object mode and with light points selected in component mode OpenFlight gt Create Lights on Curve 21 OpenFlight gt Edit Light Point Normals Allows you to change the normal of any selected light points To change the normal of any selected light points 1 Select the light points to modify 2 From the OpenFlight menu select Edit Light Point Normals The Light Point Normal Editor appears 3 Enter the value of the new normal to apply to these light points 4 Press the Apply or Apply and Close to apply set the normal of the selected light points This dialog box works with light points selected in object mode and with light points selected in component mode OpenFlight workflow considerations The following are workflow issues you should consider when working with OpenFlight files in Maya When importing files OpenFlight models are built with a Z up axis up orientation When a model is read into Maya using File gt Open Scene the default orientation in Maya is repositioned so that Z is the up vector normally Maya s Y axis is oriented as the up vector When files are read into Maya using File gt Import the orientation is not affected by the import You must correctly orient the imported data yourself When exporting files Here are some of the limi

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