i3D - Export

1 Maya¹ i3d exporter

1.1 Exports

Scenegraph hierarchy with
- TransformGroups: translation, rotation, scale and visibility
- Lights: type, color and intensity
- Cameras: field of view, near and far clipping plane
- Shapes: meshes and nurbs curves (supports shape instances)
Animation
- Character sets
- Clips
- Keyframes: time, translation, rotation, scale and visibility
Meshes
- Vertices
- Normals
- Vertex colors
- Skin weights
- Texture coordinates (including multiple uv sets)
- Faces (texture coordinates per face)
Shader
- Multitexture (layered textures)
- Bumpmap
- Solid color

1.2 Installation

Step 1
Place the files i3DExport.mel, i3DExportUI.mel, i3DExportValidate.mel and i3DExporter.mll into the folder "drive:/username/My documents/maya/scripts".

Step 2
Start Maya and open the Script Editor window. Type the following commands in the lower portion of the Script Editor:

loadPlugin -qt "drive:/username/My documents/maya/scripts/i3DExporter.mll";
source i3DExport;
source i3DExportUI;
source i3DExportValidate;
i3DExport;

Note: Maya don't like backslashes so replace them with slashes.

Highlight the commands, then use the middle mouse button, to drag the highlighted MEL commands to the shelf.

Step 3 (optional)
Copy the i3D_icon.bmp into the folder "drive:/username/My documents/maya/x.y/prefs/icons". Edit shelf to replace the default icon with the one enclosed.

1.3 Usage

Export Options

Export: Scene graph, Animation, Shapes, Shaders, Lights and/or Cameras

Shape Export Subparts

Defines which parts of a shape are exported. Normals, Vertex Colors, Texture Coordinates and/or Skin Weights.

Miscellaneous

Verbose, Display verbose information in output window during the export.
Relative Paths, Generate relative paths for texture files.
Template, Don't include nodes that begin with "template_" into scene graph. Child Shapes are included in shape part.

1.4 Known bugs/problems

Number	Issue	Workaround
002	Transformations with pivot points other than (0,0,0) are not correct exported	Don't move the pivots - move the vertices. Use the validate option to determine affected nodes.
004	place2dTexture node information is not exported	Leave place2dTexture nodes empty and operate directly on the texture coordinates.
006	Polygons with holes are not supported.	Triangulate affected polygons (Modeling->Polygons->Triangulate).

1.5 Downloads

Maya i3D exporter, version 0.8.6, maya_i3d_export_0.8.6.zip (Date: 28/02/05 Size: ~38KB)

1.6 Related links

¹ Maya a registered trademark of the Alias Systems Corp.

1 Maya1 i3d exporter