Maya to Max to Torque (Non-Modeller Viewpoint)
by Daniel M. Clark · in Artist Corner · 03/23/2003 (11:01 am) · 19 replies
Background: I'm on a four-man team at Full Sail, working on our Final Game Project and using Torque. We're having a bugger of a time trying to get our vehicle models into the game. We are none of us modellers, we are programmers. We have some folks working with us from the Animation program here, but they are not trained in Max, only Maya.
I have read all the tutorials here about conversion to Max, then using the DTS exporter to create DTS files that Torque needs. Not being familiar with Max, most of the walkthrough is very confusing. I figured out how to export to DTS, but the problem is that the models just aren't showing up. They are "in there" so to speak, because the particle effects (dust clouds) that the vehicles kick up are appearing. The model is just invisible. There has to be something that I'm missing. Can anyone recommend a good tutorial or walkthrough that someone who's barely used Max can work with? More than that, a tutorial that explains (in non-modeller speak) the process of beginning with Maya and finishing with a working model in Torque?
[Edit] The models are simple non-animated vehicles. They have no moving parts, but are textured. [/Edit]
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Daniel
I have read all the tutorials here about conversion to Max, then using the DTS exporter to create DTS files that Torque needs. Not being familiar with Max, most of the walkthrough is very confusing. I figured out how to export to DTS, but the problem is that the models just aren't showing up. They are "in there" so to speak, because the particle effects (dust clouds) that the vehicles kick up are appearing. The model is just invisible. There has to be something that I'm missing. Can anyone recommend a good tutorial or walkthrough that someone who's barely used Max can work with? More than that, a tutorial that explains (in non-modeller speak) the process of beginning with Maya and finishing with a working model in Torque?
[Edit] The models are simple non-animated vehicles. They have no moving parts, but are textured. [/Edit]
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Daniel
About the author
#2
I group here has been trying to get me to write a Maya exporter for DTS and I think tonight I will work on that instead of my book. As for your problem maybe the polys are wound the wrong way. I can't think of what else would cause this, unless there is some odd flag that your makes your object invisible? Well a good way to test this is by turning backface culling off in the engine. If you are confused about winding of polys talk to Shawn Kendal at Full Sail he will be able to fill you in. The only words of encouragement I can offer you is that I some how made it though my last 3 months of Full Sail with our project and I was in a similar situation you were in, except with the genesis3D engine. Yuck! Good luck.
- Ernie Booth
03/23/2003 (11:01 pm)
Daniel,I group here has been trying to get me to write a Maya exporter for DTS and I think tonight I will work on that instead of my book. As for your problem maybe the polys are wound the wrong way. I can't think of what else would cause this, unless there is some odd flag that your makes your object invisible? Well a good way to test this is by turning backface culling off in the engine. If you are confused about winding of polys talk to Shawn Kendal at Full Sail he will be able to fill you in. The only words of encouragement I can offer you is that I some how made it though my last 3 months of Full Sail with our project and I was in a similar situation you were in, except with the genesis3D engine. Yuck! Good luck.
- Ernie Booth
#3
Daniel
03/24/2003 (11:17 am)
Thanks guys... I found someone here who knows a bit about Max and Torque, and he got the model to display. It turns out the hierarchy was all wrong in the model. Now I just need to get it textured... and get the other 3 models straightened out :)Daniel
#4
mattie
04/10/2003 (12:54 pm)
Don't know if anyone is interested but I work with maya and had a similar problem with getting to know 3D studio. I did find a perfect conversion tool, "Deep Exploration" which can convert the maya .mb files to .obj files, which can then be imported into any version of max using a freeware importer plugin called obj2max. Just search for both on google. Once your model is in max, all you have to do is follow the tutorials for setting up a shape's heirarchy, and you're done.mattie
#5
Matt
04/10/2003 (1:55 pm)
Max and MAYA are both supported by "?" Filmbox(can't remember the company name). Max 5 comes with import and export for it. Both apps. will convert pretty seamlessly. Deep products costs money and for some of us we are conserned about liscensed software. Also that just seems like alot of work for the same thing.Matt
#6
04/11/2003 (8:08 am)
The company's name is Kaydara (www.kaydara.com). The plugins for Maya and Max are free. 
#7
04/23/2003 (11:44 am)
I am not sure if any of you guys have taken the plunge to see if Kaydara's Motion Builder (the new name for filmbox?) is a viable pipeline between Maya->Max->Torque. It looks promising though, so I just purchased their personal edition, $100 USD for a one year non commercial license. Once I see how this works out, I will post a new thread or bump this one unless someone else already knows this works and posts before me :D
#8
I modeled a quick character in Maya, setup UV maps, made a skeleton and bound the geometry to it, and finally weighted the vertices.
Next, I exported the model to Motion Builder's .fbx file format. You can even export a character with animation applied to it!
I opened it up in Motion Builder to check it out, although this is not even nessesary. You can even animate it in Motion Builder if you want.
Next, I opened up Max and did a file->import and found my .fbx file.
The .fbx importer for Max even allowed me to change my Y-up model to Z-up!
The model showed up with bones/textures!
Next, all one has to do is prep the model for .dts export by adding required dummys/hierarchy.
NOTE: When the model is imported, it shows up with Max bones, not a CS Biped, so you can't use the .dsq files that ship with torque. Therefore, this is only useful for people who are making their own animations; but that's the whole point anyways! :)
The whole process was VERY easy, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to go from Maya->Max->Torque.
I have not yet tried actually animating in maya first before exporting, but it I will do it very soon and if anyone cares, I will report my findings.
05/11/2003 (12:00 am)
I just got Kaydara's Motion Builder Personal Edition [non commercial!] in the mail! I immediatly wanted to see how easy it was to get my maya work into Max. I installed the plugins for Maya and Max and gave it a whirl. Here are my preliminary findings:I modeled a quick character in Maya, setup UV maps, made a skeleton and bound the geometry to it, and finally weighted the vertices.
Next, I exported the model to Motion Builder's .fbx file format. You can even export a character with animation applied to it!
I opened it up in Motion Builder to check it out, although this is not even nessesary. You can even animate it in Motion Builder if you want.
Next, I opened up Max and did a file->import and found my .fbx file.
The .fbx importer for Max even allowed me to change my Y-up model to Z-up!
The model showed up with bones/textures!
Next, all one has to do is prep the model for .dts export by adding required dummys/hierarchy.
NOTE: When the model is imported, it shows up with Max bones, not a CS Biped, so you can't use the .dsq files that ship with torque. Therefore, this is only useful for people who are making their own animations; but that's the whole point anyways! :)
The whole process was VERY easy, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to go from Maya->Max->Torque.
I have not yet tried actually animating in maya first before exporting, but it I will do it very soon and if anyone cares, I will report my findings.
#9
I am not knocking anyone who want's to buy it, I'm just saying....
Matt
05/12/2003 (5:14 am)
I don't think its nescasarry to buy the Kaydara's package. The format is free and comes with MAX. They have downloads for both MAX and Maya on there website.I am not knocking anyone who want's to buy it, I'm just saying....
Matt
#10
05/17/2003 (3:53 pm)
damn i got moded. I guess i shouldn't have bought it...i wonder if they take returns. 
#12
Anycase, I exported the model to an OBJ file via Maya, laoded that up in Milkshape and exported it to 3DS from there - the mapping is good ... so that might be a solution for other with the same problem and you could stop at Milkshape and export it from Milkshape to Torque - or take it futher (3DS file) to create animations in MAX - I'm also looking into using the FBX to expport an animated model and then in some manner use the Milkshape route to get UV mapping onto that :b
05/25/2003 (2:22 am)
k, I had problems with the kaydara FBX plugin where it would not export UV coords and the textures have to be remaped in MAX (which my artist donb't wanna do) - I'm doing something wrong or is it just not possible?Anycase, I exported the model to an OBJ file via Maya, laoded that up in Milkshape and exported it to 3DS from there - the mapping is good ... so that might be a solution for other with the same problem and you could stop at Milkshape and export it from Milkshape to Torque - or take it futher (3DS file) to create animations in MAX - I'm also looking into using the FBX to expport an animated model and then in some manner use the Milkshape route to get UV mapping onto that :b
#13
05/25/2003 (7:56 am)
The UVs should carry over just fine. Collapsing the stack before doing an export might solve the problem.
#14
05/25/2003 (1:54 pm)
ok, that would be some kind of stack in Maya? I know some Max and that there is a stack too, I'm a programmer not a modeller, so I don't know Maya ... but thanx, I'll mess around and see what I can find.
#15
In Maya, you want to Delete History on the objects to be exported. Select the object then go to Edit > Delete by Type > History.
05/25/2003 (4:39 pm)
Oops, I was thinking Max not Maya. :PIn Maya, you want to Delete History on the objects to be exported. Select the object then go to Edit > Delete by Type > History.
#16
And I can use either Kaydara's Motion Builder or Poly-Trans-for-Maya for the Maya to Max conversion.
My situation is that I would like to use Torque to create a desktop virtual world, I'm trying to decide whether to buy the licence but that decision hinges on whether i can import Maya models.
But my work has to be done as cheaply as possible bcs it's for university research so i'm worried about using maya to max exporters that cost money and having to get a max license in addition to maya. I'd like to use Maya bcs I've been hearing how great it is (I've only used 3dMax on a basic level) and I can get a kick-ass Maya modeller to help me with my characters.
So the bottom line is can i get Maya models to Torque without *much* spending money (other than that for the Maya and Torque licences) and as and extra - does anyone have any comments on how good a games engine Torque is?
An answer would be immeasurable valuable to me!!!
05/26/2003 (4:52 am)
Ok so, i'd just like to get htis straight... there's no current exporter but getting Maya models into Torque is still possible and the conversion pipeline as it were is: .mb (maya) -> .obj /.fbx -> import to max -> export as what? .tge or .dtsAnd I can use either Kaydara's Motion Builder or Poly-Trans-for-Maya for the Maya to Max conversion.
My situation is that I would like to use Torque to create a desktop virtual world, I'm trying to decide whether to buy the licence but that decision hinges on whether i can import Maya models.
But my work has to be done as cheaply as possible bcs it's for university research so i'm worried about using maya to max exporters that cost money and having to get a max license in addition to maya. I'd like to use Maya bcs I've been hearing how great it is (I've only used 3dMax on a basic level) and I can get a kick-ass Maya modeller to help me with my characters.
So the bottom line is can i get Maya models to Torque without *much* spending money (other than that for the Maya and Torque licences) and as and extra - does anyone have any comments on how good a games engine Torque is?
An answer would be immeasurable valuable to me!!!
#17
IIda - with the kayadara plugin you can export to fbx file from maya, import that into max - with animations and materials working. then export from max to dts file for torque, dsq files are extra files used by torque to hold player animations, but the max plugins from torque has those exporters too - and the docs on exporting to torque from max is very good.
05/26/2003 (11:22 am)
Thanks Danny, I'll try thatIIda - with the kayadara plugin you can export to fbx file from maya, import that into max - with animations and materials working. then export from max to dts file for torque, dsq files are extra files used by torque to hold player animations, but the max plugins from torque has those exporters too - and the docs on exporting to torque from max is very good.
#18
-Joe
05/27/2003 (1:02 pm)
To clear the air on the Maya-> .fbx -> Max -> .dts trail of tears I am cooking up a tutorial which I will post by this weekend. Watch this thread for details.-Joe
#19
-Joe
07/26/2003 (8:54 am)
Shazbot! Things at capcom have been extra busy as we are nearing the end of our current project. Once we finish I will have more time to finish this tutorial and post it. -Joe
Torque Owner Matthew Jones