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Exporting from Maya

Installing OgreMax Exporter for Maya

  1. First, please ensure you have have the latest version of the OgreMax for Maya downloaded, and extracted (eg. using 7-zip).
  2. Please download and run the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer to install the required versions of DirectX (there dozens of different builds of DirectX 9).
  3. If you have the 32-bit edition of Maya
    1. Then, install 2005 SP1 x86  version of the Visual C++ Redistributable Package (which is not necessarily installed with Visual Studio)
    2. After installing that, run the OgreMaxSceneExporterInstaller-Win32.exe installer (from the folder extracted from the OgreMax download).
  4. If you have the 64-bit edition of Maya
    (Note: you may have 32-bit version of Maya installed even if you have a 64-bit CPU or edition of Windows).
    1. Then, install 2005 SP1 x64  version of the Visual C++ Redistributable Package (which are not necessarily installed with Visual Studio)
    2. After installing that, run the OgreMaxSceneExporterInstaller-x64.exe installer (from the folder extracted from the OgreMax download).
  5. Please select Ogre 1.6.x from the drop-down, and check all options under "Other Files to Install"
    1. If the option for your version of Maya to install for is grayed out, so that you cannot check it.
      1. Then try selecting Ogre 1.7.x instead from the drop-down.
      2. If its still grayed out, you may not have the right version of dependencies, or not be running the right version of the installer.
  6. If you have any issues with installation:
    1. Try installing 2008 SP1 x86 (or 2008 SP1 x64, if you have Maya 64-bit) and then try installing the exporter again.
    2. Refer to the OgreMax for Maya Installation guide for additional instructions.
    3. Or find answers on the OgreMax forums (linked to from the next section) or Visual3D forums

Exporting Models (.mesh) and Scenes (.scene) from Maya

You can find links to user manual and some of the most commonly used documentation pages for using the OgreMax for Maya exporter, below:

Other Formats Supported and Import/Export Tips

Please refer to the Formats Imported by Visual3D and Import, Export and Setup Tips for Visual3D sections of the Asset Creation user manual for more information on exporting, comparison of formats supported (including additional formats not mentioned on this page), and workflow for editing those assets in Visual3D once they have been imported (or reimported, via our Live Asset Updating support) into Visual3D.

 

Alternative Exporter: Official Ogre (.mesh, not .scene) Exporter

 
1. To start first you will need to install Ogre's Maya Exporter
 
Download from:
  1. Maya Exporters section of the Ogre Tools Download page.
    1. v7.0 (Windows)
      v8.0 (Windows)
      v8.5 (Windows)
      v2008 (Windows)
    2. v6.5 (Windows)
  2. Maya 2009 users (if not found from above link): Ogre Exporter for Maya 2009
  3. For older versions of Maya: Old Ogre Exporter Downloads
 
 
2. After installing the plug-in for the ogre exporting into your 3d editor next you will have to open it up with the model you want to export selected.
 
3. If the exporter is installed correctly when you open Maya you will find an Ogre option available on the menu bar, Select that and it will bring up the Ogre Export Box.
Image of the location of the Ogre Menu bar option.
 
4. Once the box its open you need to specify where the exported files are going to be saved. This is done by typing a location in the Output directory box. If you want to save the exported models in the same place directory as they are currently located all you have to do is copy what is listed in the Current Directory Box and put it in the Output directory box.
 
5. To export the Model place a check mark in the Mesh box on the exporter. This will tell the exporter to prepare the model for Export. The Mesh Filename box specifies the name of the Model after export.
Image of the Default Mesh Options
 
6. The settings for the Export should be left as default unless you need something special with the export.
 
7. To Export the Animations along with the Mesh you will need to export the Skeleton. To start select the Export Skeleton Option in the skeleton section. This will make the Export Animations option become available. Select Export animations. The clip box at the bottom of the window is where you specify the animations that will be exported. To export an Animation you need to Select Clip Name inside of the box and then type in the name of animation (Jump, Attack, Run, Etc…), then specify the Range of the Animation. If you know the frames over which the animations you want to export are played then fill in the Start Time with the frame where the animation starts and End Time with the frame where the animation ends. If there are multiple animations that need to be exported then you will need multiple animation clips. After specifying the settings for the first animation clip you would then need to select Add Clip toward the bottom of the Skeletal Animations section. This will create a new clip into which you would simply fill out the information for the next animation the same way the first animation was filled out. Repeat this until you have all animations that need to be exported specified.
Image of the Skeleton and animations options
 
8. After specifying all options for the export of the model the last step to creating the files is to click the Export button on the bottom of the window. When export is selected an output window will appear and show you a status of the process. If you see Exported Successfully at the bottom of the window then the model was exported properly.
 
 
9. The next step is to bring the model and any associated animations into Visual 3d. To do this all that is needed is to place the exported mesh file into the asset directory so that it can be found by Architect, the Editor for Visual 3d. Open the Visual 3d directory on your computer. Inside there will be a folder called Demo Assets, open it. Inside of Demo Assets you need to open the Models folder. Inside of the Models folder is where you are going to place your Model and its animations. Create a New folder, name the folder something related to the model so that it is easy to find, and then place a copy of the Mesh file into the folder.
 
10. Now you need to launch Visual 3d. When you open up Visual 3d you will see the basic launcher. From this launcher you are going to access Architect. To access the Architect for an existing world or project select the name of the world from the Available Worlds option. After selecting the world you then need to check the box that says Load Architect above the world list. If you only see Tech Demos in the Available Worlds list then you are going to need to create a world to test in. You will be able to see your models in the Tech demo, but it is easier to work from your own world. To create a new world all that is needed is to select the Create New World option from above the Available Worlds list and then click the New World button in the bottom of the window. Creating a New World will open the Architect by default.
 
11. After opening Architect you will need to switch to the model viewer. This is done by selecting the Entities option from the screen. The Entities option is a small tab above the main view window.
 
12. Once inside of the Entities Viewer you now need to open the model. This is done through the Asset Explorer. The Asset Explorer is located in the lower left hand side of the window normally. To access it you simply have to click on its name at the bottom of the screen. Once you are able to see the Asset explorer you then need to find the Model. The Model you placed in the Demo Assets folder will be located under the Media Assets category. Expand the Media Assets option by selecting the plus next to its name. Once open you should see a Models field, expand this. That will show you two more options, DesignModeModels and Models. Expand the Models option again and you will now be able to see all of the Models that are currently available in the Architect.
 
13. The last step is to open the Model you exported. The names that are visible inside of the Models category are the names of the Folders from inside of the Demo Assets Folder. Find the folder that was created earlier and expand it. You should now be able to see the name of the mesh you exported, simply double click on it and your model will now be visible. Enjoy


Alternative Exporter for Maya (for exporting to .scene):
 Lo-Fi Apocalypse (LFA)

Modeling with Maya Video Tutorials

Common character modeling and animation setup tutorials, designed for exporting to Ogre .mesh format (as is suggested for use with Visual3D). 
The official Ogre Exporter for Maya is used for the exporting video, but others apply to the suggested LFA Exporter as well.

Lesson1-CreateSkeleton.rar
Lesson2-Weighting.rar
Lesson3-Controllers.rar
Lesson4-Exporting.rar

Another video tutorial sequence (500mb) (see downloads at bottom of the thread).