Exporting char anim not using 3rd party scripts / plug-ins

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Eric Thivierge

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May 19, 2015, 12:12:50 PM5/19/15
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Hey all,

I'm wondering what the best way to export animation from a scene would
be. I need to build some pipeline tools for exporting anim for
characters, then being able to create a new scene, import character, and
import the previously exported animation back to rebuild the scene.

I've read a bunch online saying that the .anim format isn't great if
your hierarchy changes but object names stay the same. Are there no
solid tools built into Maya for this?

I don't want to use a custom script or plug-in to manage this either.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric T.

damon shelton

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May 19, 2015, 12:20:23 PM5/19/15
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maya has the atom format which is an updated anim format that supports more functionality, including animation layers and constraints. it is better. We still wrote a custom version based on atom but doesn't use the file command so it is undoable and a lot more import options. Depending on your need, I would suggest writing one or finding one that is acceptable from creative crash or something. but if you just need a basic import/export use maya's built in atom format. it can be found under the animate menu.



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Marcus Ottosson

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May 19, 2015, 12:43:26 PM5/19/15
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+1 for Atom.

I find it slightly over-engineered and it crashes occasionally, but when handled with care covers a lot of ground.


For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.



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Eric Thivierge

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May 19, 2015, 1:20:37 PM5/19/15
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Great thanks. Looks promising.

On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 12:43:23 PM, Marcus Ottosson wrote:
> +1 for Atom.
>
> I find it slightly over-engineered and it crashes occasionally, but
> when handled with care covers a lot of ground.
>
> On 19 May 2015 at 17:20, damon shelton <damond...@gmail.com
> <mailto:python_inside_maya%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>.
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Eric Thivierge

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May 19, 2015, 1:39:02 PM5/19/15
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Quick looking around the 2015 docs and it doesn't seem that these
commands are documented at all. How does one usually find this info?

Eric T.

damon shelton

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May 19, 2015, 2:10:58 PM5/19/15
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they use the file command, I would suggest an echo all commands and run the import and export from the gui to get the results(MEL) version then rewrite those into python

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Eric Thivierge

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May 19, 2015, 2:11:35 PM5/19/15
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K thanks.

On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 2:10:55 PM, damon shelton wrote:
> they use the file command, I would suggest an echo all commands and
> run the import and export from the gui to get the results(MEL) version
> then rewrite those into python
>
> On Tue, May 19, 2015 at 10:38 AM, Eric Thivierge
> <ethiv...@hybride.com <mailto:ethiv...@hybride.com>> wrote:
>
> Quick looking around the 2015 docs and it doesn't seem that these
> commands are documented at all. How does one usually find this info?
>
> Eric T.
>
>
> On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 1:20:27 PM, Eric Thivierge wrote:
>
> Great thanks. Looks promising.
>
> On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 12:43:23 PM, Marcus Ottosson wrote:
>
> +1 for Atom.
>
> I find it slightly over-engineered and it crashes
> occasionally, but
> when handled with care covers a lot of ground.
>
> On 19 May 2015 at 17:20, damon shelton
> <damond...@gmail.com <mailto:damond...@gmail.com>
> <mailto:damond...@gmail.com
> <mailto:damond...@gmail.com>>> wrote:
>
> maya has the atom format which is an updated anim
> format that
> supports more functionality, including animation
> layers and
> constraints. it is better. We still wrote a custom
> version based
> on atom but doesn't use the file command so it is
> undoable and a
> lot more import options. Depending on your need, I
> would suggest
> writing one or finding one that is acceptable from
> creative crash
> or something. but if you just need a basic
> import/export use
> maya's built in atom format. it can be found under the
> animate menu.
>
> On Tue, May 19, 2015 at 9:12 AM, Eric Thivierge
> <ethiv...@hybride.com
> <mailto:ethiv...@hybride.com>
> <mailto:ethiv...@hybride.com
> <mailto:python_inside_maya%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com
> <mailto:python_inside_maya%252Buns...@googlegroups.com>>.
> To view this discussion on the web visit
>
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/python_inside_maya/555B60FE.8090306%40hybride.com.
>
> For more options, visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>
>
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> <mailto:python_inside_maya%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>>.
> To view this discussion on the web visit
>
> <mailto:konstr...@gmail.com
> <mailto:konstr...@gmail.com>>
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Marcus Ottosson

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May 19, 2015, 2:20:05 PM5/19/15
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I remember watching this at first to get familiar with what it does.

Eric Thivierge

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May 19, 2015, 2:24:58 PM5/19/15
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Thanks Marcus,

Yes I've read the docs and watched the videos. Definitely what I'm
looking for and seems to be the good format to be using right now. Just
needed to know how to use it in our modules. It was a bit strange to
not see it as its own method / command.


On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 2:20:03 PM, Marcus Ottosson wrote:
> I remember watching this at first to get familiar with what it does.
>
> * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FyhaxNf9QY
>
> ​
> ​
>
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Marcus Ottosson

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May 19, 2015, 4:23:22 PM5/19/15
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Perhaps not terribly useful, but might give you some insight, I have an example of exporting with ATOM as a Pyblish plug-in.

If you start reading from the process_instance method, it might make sense.

Eric Thivierge

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May 19, 2015, 4:35:06 PM5/19/15
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Great I appreciate the code sample. I think we're pretty squared away
for now.

Eric T.

On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 4:23:18 PM, Marcus Ottosson wrote:
> Perhaps not terribly useful, but might give you some insight, I have
> an example of exporting with ATOM as a Pyblish plug-in.
>
> * Plug-in
> <https://github.com/pyblish/pyblish-napoleon/blob/master/napoleon/plugins/extract_napoleon_curves.py>
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