Import / Export Woes

[LFShade]

For transfer of geometry only, just export from Maya as .obj, and use the Obj2Max plugin from Habware to bring it into Max.

Getting your mocap data across could be painful. It would be simpler if you didn't require Character Studio, because you could just use the Filmbox plugins to get skeletal motion across directly from Maya to Max. But since your whole purpose is to do motion editing & blending in CS, the path is a rough one. A quickie search on Google doesn't turn up any HTR-BVH direct converters. I did, however, find some intermediate converters that may or may not screw up your animation data beyond recognition.

Here (http://motionrealityinc.com/software/) is an HTR to Acclaim (ASF/AMC) mocap converter, here (http://www.cs.wisc.edu/graphics/Courses/cs-838-2000/Students/kretz/Project2.htm) is the source code for an Acclaim to BVH converter, and here (http://www.accad.ohio-state.edu/%7Emlewis/Mocap/) you can find a Perl script which converts BVH motion capture data to a MEL script, which will re-create the BVH skeleton in Maya (I assume complete with animation). With a little perseverance and a boatload of luck you could theoretically use these to go from HTR to Acclaim, Acclaim to BVH, bring it into Character Studio and do your blends, etc., export it as BVH from there, and use the BVH->MEL convertor to get the motion into Maya.

I don't recall whether or not CS imports Acclaim data directly. If so, things will be much easier as you can skip the frightening "Acclaim->BVH" step (which apparently requires compiling the source code for the converter first:surprised:).

Best of luck to you in any case, sounds like you'll need it:wavey:

[Nemises]

haha...Simple when you see how ;)

Unfortunately, the HDR2ASFAMC util bluescreens on my XP box.

Boy, that'd be quite a miracle if the data stayed cogent through that whole process, but I GREATLY appreciate the time you took to formulate that reply :):):)

I have probably invested about 6 hours of net-searching time on this HDR into CS problem, and I think I'm just about at the end of what's searchable.
I must admit, I'm surprised the CS motioncapture import utility doesn't handle a relatively common (in the top 3) motion capture file type.

Maya can import .BIP data (via Dominatrix), so the path back is simple.
Still, the search continues!..:thumbsup:

[LFShade]

Nemesis, check your private messages. The battle's not lost yet!

[sam]

If you haven't found a solution yet, you should see if Life Forms, from http://www.credo-interactive.com/ can help you out. You could use that program as a go-between between 3ds max and Maya since it supports a wide number of motion capture formats and can convert motion capture formats.

I imagine the way to go about it will be to import whatever format you have it in from Maya and map the motion onto a .bvh skeleton that is Character Studio ready. Not all .bvh skeletons are Character Studio ready, but you can make one in Life Forms by loading up a sample .bvh mocap file that you know works with Character Studio and then simply erase all the animation on it and then load the animations you want from Maya onto that skeleton. Simple

They have a 20 day time limited demo on their website, so you can try it out and see if it will do the job for you.

sam

[Nemises]

Nice,
Thanks Sam, I will be sure to check it out.

I guess I just am surprised you need to buy fancy plugins to simply use what I had assumed were industry standard file formats...
I'dve thought it would be in Discreets best interests to support them natively :/ (Like Alias|Wavefront do)

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