Official Maya 6 X Exporter from Microsoft

[neko]

Microsoft has updated the DirectX SDK with an X File exporter that is compatible with Maya 6.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=b7bc31fa-2df1-44fd-95a4-c2555446aed4&displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

[womanonfire]

have you tried it?

[maher-d]

I'm having some problems with it. Maybe I

[cyclic-goddard]

If you're having a problem with loading the mll file in Maya, simply put the dll file that comes with the plug-in into the scripts directory where the mll file is.

I am tryinig to figure out how to export the lights with my objects. I first attempted to export a model that I created and found that you have to convert the model to poly first. Then after I exported the model I found that it was black. I am still trying to figure out how to export with lights. When I look at the Direct X mesh viewer I see the lights and my nurbs models. I just can't see either of them. Any help on this is appreciated.

Thanks,
Thomas Goddard
HP Media Solutions

[lydialurch]

Hm. I did what Cyclic recommends, and the plug-in is still not loading properly. I get the menu, and the DirectX shader utility, but they don't do anything, and Maya dies with a memory exception if I try to save, or if I close and don't save. I know it's the plug-in, because when I uninstall it, Maya works fine.

Any suggestions? I really have to have the .x exported working very soon. Thanks oodles!

[agladysh]

You should put dxcc.dll (which is in the same folder as D3DMaya6ExportX.mll in DX SDK distrib) in the system path (like windows/system32 if you're on WinXP).

HTH,
Alexander.

[the_black_planet]

Hi guys,it's my 1st post here and I'd like to greet all of you and hope to have great discussions and a creative time!I faced the same problem that Cyclic had,when I export an animation file it and run it my model is displayed completely black.Pls anybody know what should I do?

[jesterpunk]

I have the Maya 6.0.1 update, which already had the dx export plug in files, I followed the instructions and made a dxshader material and set to a cube, added a texture and exported but the .x file contains no material informaion for the texture file.

I compiled and added the maya 6 plugin found in the directx sdk and the same happened,

does this work for others or am i missing something?

the_black_planet, sounds like no textures (same prob as me), you could check this by opening the .x file and see if your texture filename is present.

[freefaller]

Ok peeps, this works for me.
this should fix your black outs until the real pro's
fix the exporter!!!!

Use notepad to open the ascii X file

Maya X files export changes

Remove the following from file.

MeshTextureCoords {
24;
0.000000;0.000000;,
0.000000;1.000000;,
1.000000;1.000000;,
1.000000;0.000000;,
1.000000;1.000000;,
0.000000;1.000000;,
0.000000;0.000000;,
1.000000;0.000000;,
0.000000;1.000000;,
0.000000;1.000000;,
1.000000;1.000000;,
1.000000;1.000000;,
1.000000;1.000000;,
1.000000;1.000000;,
1.000000;0.000000;,
1.000000;0.000000;,
1.000000;0.000000;,
1.000000;0.000000;,
0.000000;0.000000;,
0.000000;0.000000;,
0.000000;0.000000;,
0.000000;0.000000;,
0.000000;1.000000;,
0.000000;1.000000;;
}

MeshVertexColors {
24;
0;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
1;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
2;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
3;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
4;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
5;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
6;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
7;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
8;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
9;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
10;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
11;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
12;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
13;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
14;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
15;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
16;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
17;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
18;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
19;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
20;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
21;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
22;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;,
23;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;;
}

Directly after this are the material lists.
The DirectX software i am using only uses one texture,
but if you have more then you will have to change the next part acording to your needs

change the following Material list (there may be more than one, but they will all be listed after each other)

Material {
0.000000(change to 0.500000);0.000000(change to 0.500000);0.000000(change to 0.500000);0.000000;;
0.000000;
0.000000(change to 0.500000);0.000000(change to 0.500000);0.000000(change to 0.500000);;
0.000000;0.000000;0.000000;;
}

Not really sure why you have to chage the material, but if you doint it wont work!

save the file and hey presto!!!! no more black boxes in your (whatever your doing!!)

[joojaa]

That would be because maya dint export material properties at all. Because the shader things arent fully compatible anyway there would allmost be no point in doing so.

[the_black_planet]

Hey guys,what should I do in order to export animation from maya to direct 3d,so as to use it in dark basic?

[bobolhum]

After reading some of the posts above, there were a few people having probelms with installing the Maya 6 X Exporter from Microsoft. Have any of you (or any one else for that matter) resolved these issues?

After I installed the D3D SDK April 2005, i noticed
that my DirectX Extensions for Alias Maya did not
install properly.

I mean, I could not see the D3DMaya6ExportX.mll
file with in Maya's(version 6.0) plugin interface.
Sure, i am able to browse and load this mll, but,
the plugin wont work correctly(logos are missing, the
directX menu is missing).

Is there a way to manually install this plugin? Can i
just execute a script or place certain files somewhere
so that i can take advantage of this plugin.

Thanks.

Shep

[inspleak]

I found this:
http://gdncom.jp/general/bbs/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=21138

That may help you out.

[knight-chat-x]

How about this:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default..../MayaPlugin.asp

[arthurdent]

Contrary to what freefaller has suggested, there's no need to delete the MeshTextureCoords - just delete all Mesh Vertex Colour information from the .X file. Basically, delete any block that begins with the tag "MeshVertexColors".

Here's a regular expression that automates the process (I made it in Visual Studio .NET 2003's Find & Replace dialog):

n.@MeshVertexColors[nt ]*{(n|.)@}n

Just place this in the Find field, leave the Replace field blank, and click Replace All.

If you're unsure of what any of the symbols mean, look up Regular Expressions in the MSDN docs.

Once this is done, you should be able to see any kind of DirectX material or shader that you assign to your model (via DirectX coding, that is).

I haven't yet figured out how to use Maya's DirectX Shader, though it seems pretty poor so far. Does anyone know how to specify what .fx file should be used directly inside an X file?

[knight-chat-x]

You know the DirectX file format may become XML based in a future update, I'm not ready for a change like that yet.

I tried that method you mentioned but it didn't work it's just getting rid of the extra vertex color information.

Normally when you load a mesh file in say VB.Net and DirectX 9.0c you return the ExtendedMesh information which is automatically retrieved from the X File. The information that is loaded is the Mesh Materials and the related Mesh Textures, you simply store this information into a seperate material and texture array's, then upon rendering of the mesh you set the material's and textures in a simple loop until all materials and textures are applied.

The problem I noticed with the Maya 6.0 produced X Files is this:
TextureFilename {
"";
}

The information for the texture's filename is missing, yet the information data relative to handling is still there.

My guess would be it might be simple to just create a mini-mesh viewer and apply the missing information in realtime to each mesh object then re-save the updated mesh file.