Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-12 Thread John Richard Sanchez
I highly recommend the Jason Schliefer Rigging Bundle as well as the books
The art of Rigging Volume 1 and 2 if you can find them.



On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 5:22 AM, Raffaele Fragapane <
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com> wrote:

> I'm far from a Maya fanboi, in fact some of the shit I've given Maya was
> strongly worded enough to peel paint off walls, but with that said I think
> it's important to not exceed either.
> Maya has shortcomings when it comes to the user experience, no doubt about
> it, it will undoubtedly have you in tears particularly when it comes to
> deformers and skinning, BUT it's not an absolute crock of crap either, at
> least not for the animation control part of rigs.
>
> While a healthy dose of patience will be necessary there's good training
> material for the unintiated out there, lots of it for free as well, and
> it's not an insurmountable obstacle even if you can't write code fluently
> (or at all).
>
> There's a stretch of insulting Maya which is all fun and games, and a lot
> of criticism is well deserved, but there is such a thing as pushing it too
> hard, and intimidating people who, despite whether they might or might not
> like or want to do it have to look at it, isn't going to help them.
>
> You'll be fine Nicolas, it doesn't require you to be a programmer to deal
> with it, and it has all the tools you might need, it's just not as nicely
> and uninterruptedly flow-y like Soft. You will have to rewire your brain a
> bit here and there, and you will have to punch through some walls (and some
> monitors when you'll get to skinning :p), but it's perfectly possible to
> translate your rigging skills across in a handful of weeks if you have to.
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 12:49 AM, Nicolas Esposito <3dv...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Reading the "Maya features request from Softimage users" and based on
>> what you're saying, especially regarding rigging, I'm kinda scared...
>>
>>


-- 
www.johnrichardsanchez.com


Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-12 Thread Raffaele Fragapane
I'm far from a Maya fanboi, in fact some of the shit I've given Maya was
strongly worded enough to peel paint off walls, but with that said I think
it's important to not exceed either.
Maya has shortcomings when it comes to the user experience, no doubt about
it, it will undoubtedly have you in tears particularly when it comes to
deformers and skinning, BUT it's not an absolute crock of crap either, at
least not for the animation control part of rigs.

While a healthy dose of patience will be necessary there's good training
material for the unintiated out there, lots of it for free as well, and
it's not an insurmountable obstacle even if you can't write code fluently
(or at all).

There's a stretch of insulting Maya which is all fun and games, and a lot
of criticism is well deserved, but there is such a thing as pushing it too
hard, and intimidating people who, despite whether they might or might not
like or want to do it have to look at it, isn't going to help them.

You'll be fine Nicolas, it doesn't require you to be a programmer to deal
with it, and it has all the tools you might need, it's just not as nicely
and uninterruptedly flow-y like Soft. You will have to rewire your brain a
bit here and there, and you will have to punch through some walls (and some
monitors when you'll get to skinning :p), but it's perfectly possible to
translate your rigging skills across in a handful of weeks if you have to.


On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 12:49 AM, Nicolas Esposito <3dv...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Reading the "Maya features request from Softimage users" and based on what
> you're saying, especially regarding rigging, I'm kinda scared...
>
>


Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-12 Thread Nicolas Esposito
Nice!
Thanks for sharing your workflow David!


2014-03-11 18:51 GMT+01:00 David Gallagher :

>
> I've done a lot of exporting. I use slightly earlier versions of Maya and
> Softimage for maximum animator compatibility, so maybe this is easier with
> later versions of Softimage/Maya. It takes me DAYS to transfer everything
> perfectly for our AnimSchool rigs. And it sort of works -- for the
> important parts. The envelope and shapes. They come over exactly matching.
> But you have to do it in bits and pieces. Don't expect the control rig to
> carry over effortlessly. You have to recreate IK chains.
>
> Jack Kao has done some of this too for AnimSchool and might have better
> workflows.
>
> I purposely use things in Softimage I know I can transfer/recreate easily
> in Maya.
>
> My workflow is to use .xsi for the heirarchy. You'll need to recreate the
> control rig using those parts.
>
> For the envelope, sometimes it only works by isolating the envelope and
> exporting JUST the object and the deformers ONLY in a flattened heirarchy.
> I'm not sure why that is. Select the envelope/s, then select all the
> deformers (Select Deformer from Envelope). Unparent all those. Group them
> all under a new transform group. So they are all flattened.
> Export that via .xsi
> CrossWalk>Export to Maya.
> Use .xsi 5.0 binary. Everyting else seems to crash.
> Import into a fresh Maya scene.
> Save the weights using Comet's Save Weights.
> Get a list of the deformers
> Open up your main Maya rig file and import the weights.
>
> For the shapes, the .xsi will include shapes, but I delete them because
> they are not connected to objects.
> So I use this tool for exporting all the shapes as separate objects.
> (attached)
> Turn off/down your undo before using this tool. It will eat all the memory
> otherwise.
> Select the shapes in the explorer you want to export, then Shape>
> CopySelectedShapeKeyInNewModel
> It creates a ton of objects. Export them to Maya and make them all
> blendshapes to the object.
>
> Once everything is up and working in Maya, I can make edits in Softimage,
> and just export positions for matching or new shapes/envelope weights.
>
> I use a script for making the maya scene (all selected objects) match all
> the positions from the exported Softimage heirarchy (via fbx or .xsi):
> (in worldspace)
>
> string $selected[]=`ls -sl`;
>
> for($x=0; $x
> string $fbxVersion = ("yourNamespace:" + $selected[$x]);
>
> print $fbxVersion;
>
> float $translate[3]=`xform -q -rp -ws $fbxVersion`;
>
> move -a -ws -rpr $translate[0] $translate[1] $translate[2] $selected[$x];
>
> float $rotation[3]=`xform -q -rotation -ws $fbxVersion`;
>
> rotate -a -ws $rotation[0] $rotation[1] $rotation[2] $selected[$x];
>
> };
>
>
> or sometimes the local space works better.
>
> string $selected[]=`ls -sl`;
>
> for($x=0; $x
> string $fbxVersion = ("yourNamespace:" + $selected[$x]);
>
> print $fbxVersion;
>
> float $translate[3]=`xform -q -t $fbxVersion`;
>
> move -a -ls $translate[0] $translate[1] $translate[2] $selected[$x];
>
> float $rotation[3]=`xform -q -rotation -os $fbxVersion`;
>
> rotate -a -os $rotation[0] $rotation[1] $rotation[2] $selected[$x];
>
> };
>
>
>
> I use some scripts for listing all the constraints and expressions in
> Softimage. Then I reformat them to be like mel commands.
> I think Eric Thivierge wrote those for me. Thanks Eric!
>
>
>
>
>
> On 3/11/2014 4:57 AM, Nicolas Esposito wrote:
>
>> Hi guys,
>>
>> Since I'm not a Maya user I would like to ask you a couple of things
>> regarding exporting a rigged character from Softimage to Maya.
>>
>> I'm using Species and there is already a video on how to export the rig
>> to Maya, but, even using Gear rig or a custom one, it is possible to export
>> the shadow rig as well?
>>
>> My few attempts on send a rig to Maya, or send a rig from Maya to
>> Softimage resolved always into Softimage crashing ( 2013 x64 no SP ), so I
>> was force to delete everything on the rig, except just the skeletal rig and
>> the meshes, without any shadow rig/controllers
>>
>> So, anyone succesfully ported a rig from Softimage to Maya, or if in
>> Maya, in order to have the shadow rig, you just have to built it from
>> scratch, or use one of Maya tools in order to generate the shadow rig (
>> similar to Softimage? )
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Nicolas
>>
>
>


Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-11 Thread David Gallagher


I've done a lot of exporting. I use slightly earlier versions of Maya 
and Softimage for maximum animator compatibility, so maybe this is 
easier with later versions of Softimage/Maya. It takes me DAYS to 
transfer everything perfectly for our AnimSchool rigs. And it sort of 
works -- for the important parts. The envelope and shapes. They come 
over exactly matching. But you have to do it in bits and pieces. Don't 
expect the control rig to carry over effortlessly. You have to recreate 
IK chains.


Jack Kao has done some of this too for AnimSchool and might have better 
workflows.


I purposely use things in Softimage I know I can transfer/recreate 
easily in Maya.


My workflow is to use .xsi for the heirarchy. You'll need to recreate 
the control rig using those parts.


For the envelope, sometimes it only works by isolating the envelope and 
exporting JUST the object and the deformers ONLY in a flattened 
heirarchy. I'm not sure why that is. Select the envelope/s, then select 
all the deformers (Select Deformer from Envelope). Unparent all those. 
Group them all under a new transform group. So they are all flattened.

Export that via .xsi
CrossWalk>Export to Maya.
Use .xsi 5.0 binary. Everyting else seems to crash.
Import into a fresh Maya scene.
Save the weights using Comet's Save Weights.
Get a list of the deformers
Open up your main Maya rig file and import the weights.

For the shapes, the .xsi will include shapes, but I delete them because 
they are not connected to objects.
So I use this tool for exporting all the shapes as separate objects. 
(attached)
Turn off/down your undo before using this tool. It will eat all the 
memory otherwise.
Select the shapes in the explorer you want to export, then 
Shape>CopySelectedShapeKeyInNewModel
It creates a ton of objects. Export them to Maya and make them all 
blendshapes to the object.


Once everything is up and working in Maya, I can make edits in 
Softimage, and just export positions for matching or new shapes/envelope 
weights.


I use a script for making the maya scene (all selected objects) match 
all the positions from the exported Softimage heirarchy (via fbx or .xsi):

(in worldspace)

string $selected[]=`ls -sl`;

for($x=0; $xI use some scripts for listing all the constraints and expressions in 
Softimage. Then I reformat them to be like mel commands.

I think Eric Thivierge wrote those for me. Thanks Eric!




On 3/11/2014 4:57 AM, Nicolas Esposito wrote:

Hi guys,

Since I'm not a Maya user I would like to ask you a couple of things 
regarding exporting a rigged character from Softimage to Maya.


I'm using Species and there is already a video on how to export the 
rig to Maya, but, even using Gear rig or a custom one, it is possible 
to export the shadow rig as well?


My few attempts on send a rig to Maya, or send a rig from Maya to 
Softimage resolved always into Softimage crashing ( 2013 x64 no SP ), 
so I was force to delete everything on the rig, except just the 
skeletal rig and the meshes, without any shadow rig/controllers


So, anyone succesfully ported a rig from Softimage to Maya, or if in 
Maya, in order to have the shadow rig, you just have to built it from 
scratch, or use one of Maya tools in order to generate the shadow rig 
( similar to Softimage? )


Cheers

Nicolas



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Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-11 Thread Nicolas Esposito
Reading the "Maya features request from Softimage users" and based on what
you're saying, especially regarding rigging, I'm kinda scared...

For f*** sake, I'm not a TD and I don't know how to write python/JS code,
I'm a freelance mostly working in game development and Architectural
visualization, and in less than a month ( considering that the freelance
activity is a second job, so the time that I'm using Soft is 2-3 hours a
day not every day ) I was able to create my own pipeline for both Archivz
and game development using all the tools available within Softimage (
except for Species, which I've started to use in the last year or so ),
doing stuff so quickly that I was completely blown away by the results.
And thats what I love about Softimage, that you can achieve the same
results in many many different ways, but you can always upgrade what you've
done in a more efficient way in a non destructive way, so you're always
free to modify what you've done

I can still work for another 3-4 years using Softimage, but thinking about
all of you guys working on a daily base using this marvelous software makes
me so pissed off about the entire situation :(


2014-03-11 14:15 GMT+01:00 Emilio Hernandez :

> My advice is if you are thinking to migrate to Maya for rigging is the
> following:
>
> 1. Take a deeep  breath.
> 2. Make sure you have plenty of time to deliver.
> 3. Buy some Pepto Bismol or some heartburn relief.
> 4. Wear a hat.  (This last one will avoid that you will become bald).
>
> If you can hold in Maya for more than 20min the first time you have to use
> for your work.  You are my hero.
>
>
>
>
>
> ---
> Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.
>
>
> 2014-03-11 6:59 GMT-06:00 Marco Peixoto :
>
> Im testing Advanced Skeleton (
>> http://www.animationstudios.com.au/advancedskeleton ) and im really
>> liking all the streamline workflow of building it, they even have a NICE
>> feature of auto weights on simple boxes than can later be transferred into
>> the main geometry for fine tuning, at first look it seems to do a really
>> nice head start job, a lot better than XSi default weights trust me.
>>
>> Its seems to be free for independents and very small shops (Indie like)
>> but its expensive for "serious" shops, check that out.
>>
>> Of course then comes the part of Corrective Shapes and.. man.. Maya is so
>> behind what we are used to it :(
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 12:46 PM, Nicolas Esposito <3dv...@gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Based on the Species mailinglist they're discussion about porting
>>> Species to other platforms, Fabric Engine included.
>>> I won't be done tomorrow, but Eric and Chris are very talented guys, so
>>> I trust that they'll come up with a solution that would suit everyone :-)
>>>
>>>
>>> 2014-03-11 13:17 GMT+01:00 Matt Morris :
>>>
>>> I'd love to see it ported to fabric, and available for soft or maya :)


 On 11 March 2014 12:10, Emilio Hernandez  wrote:

> Exactly...  Damn!
>
> I thought I saw Eric posting about they are porting Species to Maya.
> But don't know if portability from rigs in Softimage will be available to
> open in Maya.
>
> Perhpas Eric can enlighten us in this subject.
>
> ---
> Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.
>
>
> 2014-03-11 5:47 GMT-06:00 Nicolas Esposito <3dv...@gmail.com>:
>
> Damn it, I thought about being complicated, but doing everything
>> inside Maya right now would be counterproductive, since Species saved me
>> lot of time.
>> So...doing thing in Maya would be 4-6 more time consumingthat is
>> just great...I know that there are rigging tools for Maya as welllbut
>> DAMN!
>>
>> Thanks for the answer Emilio ;)
>>
>>
>> 2014-03-11 12:06 GMT+01:00 Emilio Hernandez :
>>
>>  The only thing that actually has worked for me exporting rigs from
 Softimage to Maya is the skeleton, envelope (don't expect all the 
 weighting
 to be accurate), and constrains, and expressions.  Everything else in 
 my
 experiencie like shapes needs to be redone in Maya.

>>>
>>> And believe me is hell.  The best you can do is rig the full thing
>>> in Maya...  And it is not quite a great experience..  Specially with the
>>> shapes.
>>>
>>> If you have any issues in your adventure, I will gladly tell you
>>> where are the pitfalls.  But be prepared to spend 4-6 more time to get 
>>> the
>>> job done.
>>>
>>>
>>> ---
>>> Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>


 --
 www.matinai.com

>>>
>>>
>>
>


Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-11 Thread Emilio Hernandez
My advice is if you are thinking to migrate to Maya for rigging is the
following:

1. Take a deeep  breath.
2. Make sure you have plenty of time to deliver.
3. Buy some Pepto Bismol or some heartburn relief.
4. Wear a hat.  (This last one will avoid that you will become bald).

If you can hold in Maya for more than 20min the first time you have to use
for your work.  You are my hero.





---
Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.


2014-03-11 6:59 GMT-06:00 Marco Peixoto :

> Im testing Advanced Skeleton (
> http://www.animationstudios.com.au/advancedskeleton ) and im really
> liking all the streamline workflow of building it, they even have a NICE
> feature of auto weights on simple boxes than can later be transferred into
> the main geometry for fine tuning, at first look it seems to do a really
> nice head start job, a lot better than XSi default weights trust me.
>
> Its seems to be free for independents and very small shops (Indie like)
> but its expensive for "serious" shops, check that out.
>
> Of course then comes the part of Corrective Shapes and.. man.. Maya is so
> behind what we are used to it :(
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 12:46 PM, Nicolas Esposito <3dv...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Based on the Species mailinglist they're discussion about porting Species
>> to other platforms, Fabric Engine included.
>> I won't be done tomorrow, but Eric and Chris are very talented guys, so I
>> trust that they'll come up with a solution that would suit everyone :-)
>>
>>
>> 2014-03-11 13:17 GMT+01:00 Matt Morris :
>>
>> I'd love to see it ported to fabric, and available for soft or maya :)
>>>
>>>
>>> On 11 March 2014 12:10, Emilio Hernandez  wrote:
>>>
 Exactly...  Damn!

 I thought I saw Eric posting about they are porting Species to Maya.
 But don't know if portability from rigs in Softimage will be available to
 open in Maya.

 Perhpas Eric can enlighten us in this subject.

 ---
 Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.


 2014-03-11 5:47 GMT-06:00 Nicolas Esposito <3dv...@gmail.com>:

 Damn it, I thought about being complicated, but doing everything inside
> Maya right now would be counterproductive, since Species saved me lot of
> time.
> So...doing thing in Maya would be 4-6 more time consumingthat is
> just great...I know that there are rigging tools for Maya as welllbut
> DAMN!
>
> Thanks for the answer Emilio ;)
>
>
> 2014-03-11 12:06 GMT+01:00 Emilio Hernandez :
>
>  The only thing that actually has worked for me exporting rigs from
>>> Softimage to Maya is the skeleton, envelope (don't expect all the 
>>> weighting
>>> to be accurate), and constrains, and expressions.  Everything else in my
>>> experiencie like shapes needs to be redone in Maya.
>>>
>>
>> And believe me is hell.  The best you can do is rig the full thing in
>> Maya...  And it is not quite a great experience..  Specially with the
>> shapes.
>>
>> If you have any issues in your adventure, I will gladly tell you
>> where are the pitfalls.  But be prepared to spend 4-6 more time to get 
>> the
>> job done.
>>
>>
>> ---
>> Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.
>>
>>
>>
>

>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> www.matinai.com
>>>
>>
>>
>


Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-11 Thread Marco Peixoto
Im testing Advanced Skeleton (
http://www.animationstudios.com.au/advancedskeleton ) and im really liking
all the streamline workflow of building it, they even have a NICE feature
of auto weights on simple boxes than can later be transferred into the main
geometry for fine tuning, at first look it seems to do a really nice head
start job, a lot better than XSi default weights trust me.

Its seems to be free for independents and very small shops (Indie like) but
its expensive for "serious" shops, check that out.

Of course then comes the part of Corrective Shapes and.. man.. Maya is so
behind what we are used to it :(


On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 12:46 PM, Nicolas Esposito <3dv...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Based on the Species mailinglist they're discussion about porting Species
> to other platforms, Fabric Engine included.
> I won't be done tomorrow, but Eric and Chris are very talented guys, so I
> trust that they'll come up with a solution that would suit everyone :-)
>
>
> 2014-03-11 13:17 GMT+01:00 Matt Morris :
>
> I'd love to see it ported to fabric, and available for soft or maya :)
>>
>>
>> On 11 March 2014 12:10, Emilio Hernandez  wrote:
>>
>>> Exactly...  Damn!
>>>
>>> I thought I saw Eric posting about they are porting Species to Maya.
>>> But don't know if portability from rigs in Softimage will be available to
>>> open in Maya.
>>>
>>> Perhpas Eric can enlighten us in this subject.
>>>
>>> ---
>>> Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.
>>>
>>>
>>> 2014-03-11 5:47 GMT-06:00 Nicolas Esposito <3dv...@gmail.com>:
>>>
>>> Damn it, I thought about being complicated, but doing everything inside
 Maya right now would be counterproductive, since Species saved me lot of
 time.
 So...doing thing in Maya would be 4-6 more time consumingthat is
 just great...I know that there are rigging tools for Maya as welllbut
 DAMN!

 Thanks for the answer Emilio ;)


 2014-03-11 12:06 GMT+01:00 Emilio Hernandez :

  The only thing that actually has worked for me exporting rigs from
>> Softimage to Maya is the skeleton, envelope (don't expect all the 
>> weighting
>> to be accurate), and constrains, and expressions.  Everything else in my
>> experiencie like shapes needs to be redone in Maya.
>>
>
> And believe me is hell.  The best you can do is rig the full thing in
> Maya...  And it is not quite a great experience..  Specially with the
> shapes.
>
> If you have any issues in your adventure, I will gladly tell you where
> are the pitfalls.  But be prepared to spend 4-6 more time to get the job
> done.
>
>
> ---
> Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.
>
>
>

>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> www.matinai.com
>>
>
>


Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-11 Thread Eric Thivierge

Hey all,

In terms of exporting a rig from Softimage to Maya using Species, the 
only thing you can do right now is export an FBX of the skin and 
deformers. Simple constraints will go over with curve object controllers 
to an extent but I doubt anything useful will go over. Unfortunately.


As for where Species is heading from here, we've been looking into the 
Maya port for a while and we've found someone to assist us with that 
(Chris Lesage). We don't have a timeframe as we're still trying to sync 
up schedules and see how we're going to do it. Fabric is the obvious 
choice here to make it even more portable even outside the Softimage and 
Maya realm. This has to be discussed in a more thorough manner.


Regarding further Softimage dev, I'm afraid that the Softimage dev on 
this plug-in will not be continuing as it makes little sense at this 
point. The current feature set is pretty stable overall and our very 
limited resources as it is would be better suited looking for a longer 
term solution for the overall system.


This can be discussed at further length if you need on our mailing list.

Cheers,
Eric T.

On 3/11/2014 8:10 AM, Emilio Hernandez wrote:

Exactly...  Damn!

I thought I saw Eric posting about they are porting Species to Maya.  
But don't know if portability from rigs in Softimage will be available 
to open in Maya.


Perhpas Eric can enlighten us in this subject.

---
Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.


Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-11 Thread Nicolas Esposito
Based on the Species mailinglist they're discussion about porting Species
to other platforms, Fabric Engine included.
I won't be done tomorrow, but Eric and Chris are very talented guys, so I
trust that they'll come up with a solution that would suit everyone :-)


2014-03-11 13:17 GMT+01:00 Matt Morris :

> I'd love to see it ported to fabric, and available for soft or maya :)
>
>
> On 11 March 2014 12:10, Emilio Hernandez  wrote:
>
>> Exactly...  Damn!
>>
>> I thought I saw Eric posting about they are porting Species to Maya.  But
>> don't know if portability from rigs in Softimage will be available to open
>> in Maya.
>>
>> Perhpas Eric can enlighten us in this subject.
>>
>> ---
>> Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.
>>
>>
>> 2014-03-11 5:47 GMT-06:00 Nicolas Esposito <3dv...@gmail.com>:
>>
>> Damn it, I thought about being complicated, but doing everything inside
>>> Maya right now would be counterproductive, since Species saved me lot of
>>> time.
>>> So...doing thing in Maya would be 4-6 more time consumingthat is
>>> just great...I know that there are rigging tools for Maya as welllbut
>>> DAMN!
>>>
>>> Thanks for the answer Emilio ;)
>>>
>>>
>>> 2014-03-11 12:06 GMT+01:00 Emilio Hernandez :
>>>
>>>  The only thing that actually has worked for me exporting rigs from
> Softimage to Maya is the skeleton, envelope (don't expect all the 
> weighting
> to be accurate), and constrains, and expressions.  Everything else in my
> experiencie like shapes needs to be redone in Maya.
>

 And believe me is hell.  The best you can do is rig the full thing in
 Maya...  And it is not quite a great experience..  Specially with the
 shapes.

 If you have any issues in your adventure, I will gladly tell you where
 are the pitfalls.  But be prepared to spend 4-6 more time to get the job
 done.


 ---
 Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.



>>>
>>
>
>
> --
> www.matinai.com
>


Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-11 Thread Matt Morris
I'd love to see it ported to fabric, and available for soft or maya :)


On 11 March 2014 12:10, Emilio Hernandez  wrote:

> Exactly...  Damn!
>
> I thought I saw Eric posting about they are porting Species to Maya.  But
> don't know if portability from rigs in Softimage will be available to open
> in Maya.
>
> Perhpas Eric can enlighten us in this subject.
>
> ---
> Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.
>
>
> 2014-03-11 5:47 GMT-06:00 Nicolas Esposito <3dv...@gmail.com>:
>
> Damn it, I thought about being complicated, but doing everything inside
>> Maya right now would be counterproductive, since Species saved me lot of
>> time.
>> So...doing thing in Maya would be 4-6 more time consumingthat is just
>> great...I know that there are rigging tools for Maya as welllbut DAMN!
>>
>> Thanks for the answer Emilio ;)
>>
>>
>> 2014-03-11 12:06 GMT+01:00 Emilio Hernandez :
>>
>>  The only thing that actually has worked for me exporting rigs from
 Softimage to Maya is the skeleton, envelope (don't expect all the weighting
 to be accurate), and constrains, and expressions.  Everything else in my
 experiencie like shapes needs to be redone in Maya.

>>>
>>> And believe me is hell.  The best you can do is rig the full thing in
>>> Maya...  And it is not quite a great experience..  Specially with the
>>> shapes.
>>>
>>> If you have any issues in your adventure, I will gladly tell you where
>>> are the pitfalls.  But be prepared to spend 4-6 more time to get the job
>>> done.
>>>
>>>
>>> ---
>>> Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>


-- 
www.matinai.com


Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-11 Thread Emilio Hernandez
Exactly...  Damn!

I thought I saw Eric posting about they are porting Species to Maya.  But
don't know if portability from rigs in Softimage will be available to open
in Maya.

Perhpas Eric can enlighten us in this subject.

---
Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.


2014-03-11 5:47 GMT-06:00 Nicolas Esposito <3dv...@gmail.com>:

> Damn it, I thought about being complicated, but doing everything inside
> Maya right now would be counterproductive, since Species saved me lot of
> time.
> So...doing thing in Maya would be 4-6 more time consumingthat is just
> great...I know that there are rigging tools for Maya as welllbut DAMN!
>
> Thanks for the answer Emilio ;)
>
>
> 2014-03-11 12:06 GMT+01:00 Emilio Hernandez :
>
>  The only thing that actually has worked for me exporting rigs from
>>> Softimage to Maya is the skeleton, envelope (don't expect all the weighting
>>> to be accurate), and constrains, and expressions.  Everything else in my
>>> experiencie like shapes needs to be redone in Maya.
>>>
>>
>> And believe me is hell.  The best you can do is rig the full thing in
>> Maya...  And it is not quite a great experience..  Specially with the
>> shapes.
>>
>> If you have any issues in your adventure, I will gladly tell you where
>> are the pitfalls.  But be prepared to spend 4-6 more time to get the job
>> done.
>>
>>
>> ---
>> Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.
>>
>>
>>
>


Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-11 Thread Nicolas Esposito
Damn it, I thought about being complicated, but doing everything inside
Maya right now would be counterproductive, since Species saved me lot of
time.
So...doing thing in Maya would be 4-6 more time consumingthat is just
great...I know that there are rigging tools for Maya as welllbut DAMN!

Thanks for the answer Emilio ;)


2014-03-11 12:06 GMT+01:00 Emilio Hernandez :

> The only thing that actually has worked for me exporting rigs from
>> Softimage to Maya is the skeleton, envelope (don't expect all the weighting
>> to be accurate), and constrains, and expressions.  Everything else in my
>> experiencie like shapes needs to be redone in Maya.
>>
>
> And believe me is hell.  The best you can do is rig the full thing in
> Maya...  And it is not quite a great experience..  Specially with the
> shapes.
>
> If you have any issues in your adventure, I will gladly tell you where are
> the pitfalls.  But be prepared to spend 4-6 more time to get the job done.
>
>
> ---
> Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.
>
>
>


Re: Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-11 Thread Emilio Hernandez
>
> The only thing that actually has worked for me exporting rigs from
> Softimage to Maya is the skeleton, envelope (don't expect all the weighting
> to be accurate), and constrains, and expressions.  Everything else in my
> experiencie like shapes needs to be redone in Maya.
>

And believe me is hell.  The best you can do is rig the full thing in
Maya...  And it is not quite a great experience..  Specially with the
shapes.

If you have any issues in your adventure, I will gladly tell you where are
the pitfalls.  But be prepared to spend 4-6 more time to get the job done.


---
Emilio Hernández   VFX & 3D animation.


Export rigs from Softimage to Maya

2014-03-11 Thread Nicolas Esposito
Hi guys,

Since I'm not a Maya user I would like to ask you a couple of things
regarding exporting a rigged character from Softimage to Maya.

I'm using Species and there is already a video on how to export the rig to
Maya, but, even using Gear rig or a custom one, it is possible to export
the shadow rig as well?

My few attempts on send a rig to Maya, or send a rig from Maya to Softimage
resolved always into Softimage crashing ( 2013 x64 no SP ), so I was force
to delete everything on the rig, except just the skeletal rig and the
meshes, without any shadow rig/controllers

So, anyone succesfully ported a rig from Softimage to Maya, or if in Maya,
in order to have the shadow rig, you just have to built it from scratch, or
use one of Maya tools in order to generate the shadow rig ( similar to
Softimage? )

Cheers

Nicolas