Maya BillboardZ
by Lee Murray · in General Discussion · 06/01/2005 (11:46 am) · 11 replies
I am trying to make a one poly tree that will face the camera at all times but can't figure out how to do it with Maya. If anyone knows what to do, any help will be greatly appreciated.
#2
06/01/2005 (12:03 pm)
I looked there but there was nothing about billboards. I was hoping someone who has already done this would see this post. Thanks
#3
06/01/2005 (12:07 pm)
Well if you are trying to do it inside maya, why dont you simple put the polygon facing the camera and then constrain the rotation(it might be translation or orientation) of the camera to the polygon, that way wherever the camera is moving, it will be followed by the tree.
#4
I'm new to this and am more on the artist side than programmer.
06/01/2005 (12:22 pm)
That will carry over to Torque? I'm not sure how to tell torque that it needs to always face the camera. I'm new to this and am more on the artist side than programmer.
#5
06/01/2005 (12:57 pm)
Try prefixing the name with BBZ:: in maya.
#6
So, add BB_ before the mesh name in Maya and voila! Use BBZ_ for Z-aligned billboards. Ah, seems sort_ works too (but not for skinned meshes - it's a limitation of the DTS format).
06/01/2005 (1:40 pm)
The naming tricks for the MAX exporter works in the Maya exporter too, but since you can't use ":" in node names in Maya, use "_" isntead.So, add BB_ before the mesh name in Maya and voila! Use BBZ_ for Z-aligned billboards. Ah, seems sort_ works too (but not for skinned meshes - it's a limitation of the DTS format).
#7
06/01/2005 (2:03 pm)
Well, these aren't tricks, per se. I just never got around to adding them to the docs. ;)
#8
First let me tell you I am very grateful for all the work you have done on the exporter.
The BB_ worked but my tree was laying flat on the ground.
BBZ_ didn't seem to do anything.
Any help would be awesome.
Thanks
06/01/2005 (2:10 pm)
Danny you are just the person I need reading this post. First let me tell you I am very grateful for all the work you have done on the exporter.
The BB_ worked but my tree was laying flat on the ground.
BBZ_ didn't seem to do anything.
Any help would be awesome.
Thanks
#9
The collision problem was my fault for not having the number after the name of the mesh.
Thanks everyone.
06/01/2005 (2:32 pm)
OK I got it all working except for the Z billboards.The collision problem was my fault for not having the number after the name of the mesh.
Thanks everyone.
#10
06/21/2006 (9:47 am)
Any progress on the Billboard Z front with Maya? I'm using the latest release of the Maya2DTS exporter for 6.5 and billboards work fine but not Z billboards. I know this thread is over a year old, but has anybody got this to work in Maya?
#11
Is this functionally broken in the exporter, or am I doing something wrong?
03/07/2007 (1:44 pm)
Hey, I have a mesh in Maya that I want to be a billboard. It's named BB_spec, and no matter what I do when I export it it will not orientate towards the camera. I am using Maya 8.0Is this functionally broken in the exporter, or am I doing something wrong?
Torque Owner Chris Labombard
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