Maya2DTS problems... (Maya 6.5 OSX, anyone?)
by Sterling Ely · in Artist Corner · 12/02/2005 (11:05 pm) · 18 replies
Help! I'm having lots of trouble getting DTS export to work in Maya....
I've read the tutorials, and tried to follow the one at www.fluidimages.com/Community/Tutorials/Tutorial1Maya2DTS/tabid/96/Default.aspx but I don't know how to make that left panel appear.
I've installed Maya2DTS, created a simple object, named it correctly, used Danny's DTSUtility to create its bounding box, and registered the details..... but when i tell the utility to export the DTS, Maya crashes!!!
I have a feeling the cause for this might be because I'm using Maya 6.5 (Mac), and Maya2DTS only supports 6.0.... Does anyone know if/when there will be a Maya2DTS 6.5 for mac?... Or if that's even my problem? Any suggestions?
-Sterling
I've read the tutorials, and tried to follow the one at www.fluidimages.com/Community/Tutorials/Tutorial1Maya2DTS/tabid/96/Default.aspx but I don't know how to make that left panel appear.
I've installed Maya2DTS, created a simple object, named it correctly, used Danny's DTSUtility to create its bounding box, and registered the details..... but when i tell the utility to export the DTS, Maya crashes!!!
I have a feeling the cause for this might be because I'm using Maya 6.5 (Mac), and Maya2DTS only supports 6.0.... Does anyone know if/when there will be a Maya2DTS 6.5 for mac?... Or if that's even my problem? Any suggestions?
-Sterling
#2
I've found that I am unable to load the example files from Danny's download or any of the files I've created following the tutorials - they simply crash Maya. Not sure what's going on as I'm new to Maya and unable to decifer what the dump file is telling me.
Can anyone help out?
I'm going to keep trying but this is really going to put a crimp in building my proof of concept game.
Cheers!
12/09/2005 (9:02 am)
Okay, it crashed again but this time the dump file actually had something in it!!!Setting up for full export (dts) -- turning on optimized meshes Config file "/Users/is5821/Documents/maya/projects/torque/simpleShape.cfg" not found. Config file "/Users/is5821/Documents/maya/projects/torque/simpleShape.cfg" not found. Config file "/Users/is5821/Documents/maya/projects/torque/dtsScene.cfg" not found. First pass: enumerate scene... Processing Node groundPlane_transform with parent world Found subtree starting at Node "groundPlane_transform" Processing Node persp with parent world Found subtree starting at Node "persp" Processing Node top with parent world Found subtree starting at Node "top" Processing Node front with parent world Found subtree starting at Node "front" Processing Node side with parent world Found subtree starting at Node "side" Processing Node bounds with parent world Bounding box found Processing Node base01 with parent world Found subtree starting at Node "base01" Processing Node groundPlane with parent groundPlane_transform Processing Node perspSha
I've found that I am unable to load the example files from Danny's download or any of the files I've created following the tutorials - they simply crash Maya. Not sure what's going on as I'm new to Maya and unable to decifer what the dump file is telling me.
Can anyone help out?
I'm going to keep trying but this is really going to put a crimp in building my proof of concept game.
Cheers!
#3
12/10/2005 (10:34 am)
Try to attach camera, eye, and mount nodes on your rig. Parent them.
#4
This isn't a player model just a simple geometry test to export a *.dts file. From what I've seen of the example tutorials, I shouldn't need (nor would want for static shapes) a camera , mount, etc. Then again "never say never". I have some time this morning so I'm going to try again and will try your suggestion too - thanks for the feedback :)
Cheers!
12/12/2005 (4:04 am)
HI Sventhors,This isn't a player model just a simple geometry test to export a *.dts file. From what I've seen of the example tutorials, I shouldn't need (nor would want for static shapes) a camera , mount, etc. Then again "never say never". I have some time this morning so I'm going to try again and will try your suggestion too - thanks for the feedback :)
Cheers!
#6
12/18/2005 (10:56 am)
Hey guys, any luck getting a DTS out of Maya 6.5 on the Mac?
#7
12/19/2005 (4:58 am)
Hi Jake, I've had no luck using the 6.0 version (not compatible) but I've sent an email to Alex Swanson at GG and he indicated that they've been trying to put one together there based on the Win code. It will come down finding time on their part I suspect with all that's going. The best we might do is cross our fingers and let them know there's a demand for it out here. I plan on bugging him now and then just to let him know there's still interest :)
#8
01/19/2006 (10:26 am)
Thanks James - agreed. Hopefully they'll come up with something.
#9
I just posted this today in another thread but perhaps you guys, being Mac users, would be able to help me out.
I used the maya2dts code that comes with the 1.4 version of Torque and managed to compile it using the Maya7.0 SDK. It was a simple matter of changing the path from 6.0 to 7.0 and removing a CONST decleration from one of the function declerations. Loads of warning messages but no errors.
Thing is, I end up with a .dylib file. How do I use this? I am still new to Macs so forgive the silly question. As far as I know, .lib is the Mac version of windows's .dll right? and a .dylib is a derivitave thereof, yes/no?
Since I cannot load the .dylib in plugin manager, how do I use this file to export dts from maya 7?
04/05/2006 (7:52 am)
Hi guysI just posted this today in another thread but perhaps you guys, being Mac users, would be able to help me out.
I used the maya2dts code that comes with the 1.4 version of Torque and managed to compile it using the Maya7.0 SDK. It was a simple matter of changing the path from 6.0 to 7.0 and removing a CONST decleration from one of the function declerations. Loads of warning messages but no errors.
Thing is, I end up with a .dylib file. How do I use this? I am still new to Macs so forgive the silly question. As far as I know, .lib is the Mac version of windows's .dll right? and a .dylib is a derivitave thereof, yes/no?
Since I cannot load the .dylib in plugin manager, how do I use this file to export dts from maya 7?
#10
Perhaps someone from GG or community can answer your question.
Wish I could help :)
04/06/2006 (4:24 am)
You've got me Jacco. I'm an absolute nit when it comes to that (artist type ya know ;) ).Perhaps someone from GG or community can answer your question.
Wish I could help :)
#11
ps. the dump file shows nothing irregular.. it just seems to stop after the first animation sequence
07/28/2006 (4:28 pm)
I am also having problems with maya2dts im running maya 7 and it seems to be crashing if there is more than one animation sequence.. this is a huge problem especially when making cars and that sort....any help is appreciated.. ps. the dump file shows nothing irregular.. it just seems to stop after the first animation sequence
#12
Seems that if I animate the character and set the .cfg file to only export the upper or lower half of the nodes, whenever I leave out ANY of the animated nodes, the export doesn't even begin. It just says: "Could not save file"
07/28/2006 (11:11 pm)
I haven't tried multiple animations but I have another problem.Seems that if I animate the character and set the .cfg file to only export the upper or lower half of the nodes, whenever I leave out ANY of the animated nodes, the export doesn't even begin. It just says: "Could not save file"
#13
09/09/2006 (3:07 pm)
I have this same problem on a mac running maya 7, the dtsUtility is fine, it's just the maya2dts that crashes it. Logs apear to be of no help. Has this been solved yet?
#14
My pipeline was going to be: Maya(modeling) -> Motionbuilder (animation) -> Maya(exporting)
Problem is motionbuilder only saves as FBX so if I do not use 7 or 8 then i will have to forfeit Motionbuilder and I just bought it last week. Ouch from the money side.
Even i I install different versions of Maya on my system, past experience has taught me that 6 cannot open MB files from 7 so 8 is definately out also. This raises the question: what other format can Maya export that saves weighting and skeleton info? OBJ perhaps? So export from 7 or 8 into OBJ and then import into 6 to export...Wow, that sounds cumbersome....!!!!
This brings the question: Do you really want to do that?
Basically, I am sitting with two choices here and I am simply unable to choose one or the other:
a) Stick with 6. Neither 7 nor 8 works with Torque yet. (7 crashes so I don't count it as working)
b) Forget Torque and use Unity which doesn't require ANY conversions of any kind...
09/09/2006 (4:44 pm)
I just got Maya 8 yesterday and, to be honest, I don't use most of the features so I am considering going back to version 6. At least it works. i saw Maya 8 has some advanced UV mapping tools but I think Danny's UV tools should be good enough to warrant not going the 8 route. The only problem with Maya 6 is that I cannot seem to find a means of enabling FBX support.My pipeline was going to be: Maya(modeling) -> Motionbuilder (animation) -> Maya(exporting)
Problem is motionbuilder only saves as FBX so if I do not use 7 or 8 then i will have to forfeit Motionbuilder and I just bought it last week. Ouch from the money side.
Even i I install different versions of Maya on my system, past experience has taught me that 6 cannot open MB files from 7 so 8 is definately out also. This raises the question: what other format can Maya export that saves weighting and skeleton info? OBJ perhaps? So export from 7 or 8 into OBJ and then import into 6 to export...Wow, that sounds cumbersome....!!!!
This brings the question: Do you really want to do that?
Basically, I am sitting with two choices here and I am simply unable to choose one or the other:
a) Stick with 6. Neither 7 nor 8 works with Torque yet. (7 crashes so I don't count it as working)
b) Forget Torque and use Unity which doesn't require ANY conversions of any kind...
#15
I recently tried to use a profesionally made model for Torque and upon exporting I got the same problem you ran into. So I saved the file once for every animation, deleted all but one sequence from each file and tried buildign it that way. Some of them worked and some of them didn't.
It seemed that blended animations like HEAD don't work, although, to be honest I didn't mod the CFG file for the single node only so that may be the case there.
What I can say with some certaintly, is that after a few crashes on one file, I finally got it to work. What caused it to crash was if in one of the frames, even 1 single vertex was outside the bounds...in the words of Apu:
"Please, mister Simpson, get yourself out of my store and thank you, come again"
Simply scale your bounds box and scrub every frame looking at all view ports. This seems to solve that issue...but it takes forever with sequences where the character jumps and the bounds, constrained to the waist or whatever, now have feet dangling beneath it so you have to manually change the feet at every key frame and check it still looks good as an animation and then do the next frame etc... really annoying.
See my previous post. Either stick with Maya 6 or get Unity. 7 and 8 anr just not worth the hassle if you ask me. Otherwise, just et used to the idea of doing everything in separate files. Save yourself the grief. Do what I do. Make your bounds, animate your characters in place and make them conform to the space you have allocated for it to move in. constrained bounds that move...it is kind of a paradox, don't you think? Bounds that conform to YOU...?
09/09/2006 (4:57 pm)
Oh, jonathan, I think I found something that may be of interrest to you also.I recently tried to use a profesionally made model for Torque and upon exporting I got the same problem you ran into. So I saved the file once for every animation, deleted all but one sequence from each file and tried buildign it that way. Some of them worked and some of them didn't.
It seemed that blended animations like HEAD don't work, although, to be honest I didn't mod the CFG file for the single node only so that may be the case there.
What I can say with some certaintly, is that after a few crashes on one file, I finally got it to work. What caused it to crash was if in one of the frames, even 1 single vertex was outside the bounds...in the words of Apu:
"Please, mister Simpson, get yourself out of my store and thank you, come again"
Simply scale your bounds box and scrub every frame looking at all view ports. This seems to solve that issue...but it takes forever with sequences where the character jumps and the bounds, constrained to the waist or whatever, now have feet dangling beneath it so you have to manually change the feet at every key frame and check it still looks good as an animation and then do the next frame etc... really annoying.
See my previous post. Either stick with Maya 6 or get Unity. 7 and 8 anr just not worth the hassle if you ask me. Otherwise, just et used to the idea of doing everything in separate files. Save yourself the grief. Do what I do. Make your bounds, animate your characters in place and make them conform to the space you have allocated for it to move in. constrained bounds that move...it is kind of a paradox, don't you think? Bounds that conform to YOU...?
#16
I am 2 years into making my game, we're not at a point where switching to another engine is an option. We're making Visions with the TSE engine. We have over 2.5 gig of art assets in various stages of readiness waiting to be completed and imported into the game. I have a solid core of developers on my team, and a constant flux of new recruits. One of my new artists is using Maya 8. He is very talented and we would love to have his animation skills to help bring some of our models to completion so they can be ported into the game. However, we can't seem to find a way to make maya2DTS work with Maya 8. In any way shape fashion or form. And apparently models saved in or created with Maya 8 can not be saved in an earlier format - not even using the tools built in to the program. (At this point I'm thinking - no wonder they went out of business and Autodesk bought them! Their cross-platform support, even within their own format nevermind other formats, is virtually non-exitent.) Yet all the people who work with animation really seem to prefer Maya, and so we can't seem to get away from using Maya. Domes anyone have any suggestions of how to:
#1) import a .3DS model into Maya
and
#2) export a Maya model that is animated to either DTS or .3DS or any format that Milkshape (or blender) can support?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Blessings to you,
-Sparkling
http://www.visionsgame.com
09/21/2006 (9:28 am)
Hi Folks,I am 2 years into making my game, we're not at a point where switching to another engine is an option. We're making Visions with the TSE engine. We have over 2.5 gig of art assets in various stages of readiness waiting to be completed and imported into the game. I have a solid core of developers on my team, and a constant flux of new recruits. One of my new artists is using Maya 8. He is very talented and we would love to have his animation skills to help bring some of our models to completion so they can be ported into the game. However, we can't seem to find a way to make maya2DTS work with Maya 8. In any way shape fashion or form. And apparently models saved in or created with Maya 8 can not be saved in an earlier format - not even using the tools built in to the program. (At this point I'm thinking - no wonder they went out of business and Autodesk bought them! Their cross-platform support, even within their own format nevermind other formats, is virtually non-exitent.) Yet all the people who work with animation really seem to prefer Maya, and so we can't seem to get away from using Maya. Domes anyone have any suggestions of how to:
#1) import a .3DS model into Maya
and
#2) export a Maya model that is animated to either DTS or .3DS or any format that Milkshape (or blender) can support?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Blessings to you,
-Sparkling
http://www.visionsgame.com
#17
FBX.
i have not tried this personally, but FBX is supposed to be a cross platform, cross application format. Try exporting your Maya 8 MB file to .FBX then try to open it up in Maya 7. Then export like normal. If Maya 7 has a different version of FBX plugin, then try to open the file in motionbuilder and save as FBX again. Maya 7 can read Motionbuilder's FBX files.
If you are working on a Mac, then this is the best option I can give you, even though the exporter in 7 is really buggy.
if you are working on a PC, I have found that the net is literred with places where you can download FBX plugins for Maya 6. Maya 6's exporter works brilliantly, you see. Haven't looked for it in a LONG while so can't recall any off the top if my head, but then again, if you are on a PC, isn't the Maya 7 exporter stable on PC? If so, then stick with 7. if you are on a Mac, to the best of my knowledge using FBX to go from 8 to 7 is the only thing I can think off. only problem here is the fact that you will need to have 2 versions of Maya installed on your system...Silly, isn't it?
If there is a better way, please let me know also
09/21/2006 (4:13 pm)
Actually, this was my concern as well. It is not ideal but it should work for you if you are that desperate to stick to Maya 8.FBX.
i have not tried this personally, but FBX is supposed to be a cross platform, cross application format. Try exporting your Maya 8 MB file to .FBX then try to open it up in Maya 7. Then export like normal. If Maya 7 has a different version of FBX plugin, then try to open the file in motionbuilder and save as FBX again. Maya 7 can read Motionbuilder's FBX files.
If you are working on a Mac, then this is the best option I can give you, even though the exporter in 7 is really buggy.
if you are working on a PC, I have found that the net is literred with places where you can download FBX plugins for Maya 6. Maya 6's exporter works brilliantly, you see. Haven't looked for it in a LONG while so can't recall any off the top if my head, but then again, if you are on a PC, isn't the Maya 7 exporter stable on PC? If so, then stick with 7. if you are on a Mac, to the best of my knowledge using FBX to go from 8 to 7 is the only thing I can think off. only problem here is the fact that you will need to have 2 versions of Maya installed on your system...Silly, isn't it?
If there is a better way, please let me know also
#18
If you've got a scene created in Maya 7 or 8 that you need to get back into Maya 6, try saving in the Maya ascii (.ma) file format. Provided you didn't use new features that can't be translated to 6, then you can save as ascii, open it in a plain text editor and change all of the version references from 7.0.1 or 8.0 or whatever to 6.0. Then you can open up this scene in Maya 6.
Hope this helps,
Ben
10/24/2006 (12:18 pm)
Hi guys,If you've got a scene created in Maya 7 or 8 that you need to get back into Maya 6, try saving in the Maya ascii (.ma) file format. Provided you didn't use new features that can't be translated to 6, then you can save as ascii, open it in a plain text editor and change all of the version references from 7.0.1 or 8.0 or whatever to 6.0. Then you can open up this scene in Maya 6.
Hope this helps,
Ben
Torque 3D Owner James
I'm running Maya 6.5, OSX 10.3.9 - so it maybe a version thing. I'll let you know if I make any progress.
Window on the left - see the preset layout on the left handside of Maya, it's the 3rd from the top.
Cheers!