The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

The place for artists, modellers, level designers et al to discuss their approaches for creating content for OGRE.
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Post by JeDi »

The DotSceneLoader I put on the wiki (the one of a couple of posts back) isn't really up to date or complete. There is someone working on a new dtd and library for DotScene if I remember correctly.

Anyway, the materialFile attribute (which should have been called materialName anyway) isn't required. The DotScene parser should ignore it if it is empty or non-existent.

Greetz,
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Post by BundesWehr4 »

Hello
Does your exporter support physic parameters? ( for example, MeshShape, mass etc... )
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

no, not readily.

One option could be to drop that info into the ID and/or subID fields, which are really just strings that get put out into the .scene.

On deck is also implementation of userDataReference, but i am not in a rush to add it atm.
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Post by metaldev »

Its been a while.. but new version!

update to 3.3
>>HERE<<

the FAQ/manual :arrow: HERE

Here's what changed:

I fixed some pretty nasty bugs in there - the tools should be a lot more comfortable to work with, now.
  • - added maskedEnvMap material preset

    - added specMask_RGB material preset

    - renamed alphaSpecMask material preset to specMask_A

    - fixed bug where the tools wouldn't let you target a network path for export

    - fixed bug where you couldn't select keyframes while having the tools open

    - fixed bug where sometimes the LFA window would null your undo ability.

    - fixed bug where materials did not export for the bound geometry of tagged skeletal meshes.

    - will now check export directory BEFORE exporting anything (as opposed to duplicating the mesh and failing if dir doesnt exist)

    - renamed HardcoreResetTransformations tool to ResetTransformationsAndRotations
as always, please let me know if you find any bugs!

-enjoy :)
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Post by metaldev »

Hey everybody!! new version available!

update to 3.4
>>HERE<<

the FAQ/manual :arrow: HERE

Here's what changed:
  • - added 'NONE' material preset. You can now assign hand written materials to models but keep them from getting clobbered or conflicted by the exporter using this.

    - added 'textFile' mode to locators. This allows you to insert arbitrary data from a file into the .scene heirarchy where the locator would appear.

    - added 'text' mode to locators. This allows you to enter a string of text directly into the .scene heirarchy where the locator would appear.

    - added tool for displaying the .scene info of a particular node in maya: Tools > Info > List .scene data of Selected

    - added 'browse' button for the export directory

    - adjusted all dynamic controls to allow you to resize the window. LFA window is now resizable.

    - added an underscore to particleCloud particle IDs to prevent clashing. ie <billboard id="myParticle_4">

    - improved object reporting style, now will only diplay the entity name if its different from object name.

    - improved .scene export from fprint constantly to instead print to a string and then print to file. (should eliminate issue of uneditable/half-open .scene files when errors occur during .scene export)

    - "Online FAQ" now opens in your favorite browser instead of Maya browser

    - separated out UI procs and procs related to .scene export into their own files for better organization and easier management.

    - automatically opens script editor when listing info or printing instructions

    - if you launch the regular ogre exporter from the lfa window, it will now pop to front instead of displaying an 'already open' warning
as always, please let me know if you find any bugs!
-enjoy !! :!:
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Post by jchmack »

Is LFA supported by maya 2008? I didn't see an ogre exporter in the tools page for 2008:
http://www.ogre3d.org/index.php?option= ... Itemid=133

I am trying to help a friend get exports from maya 2008. In the FAQ it says LFA needs the native Ogre exporter. Since there wasn't one for 2008 I told him to install this patch:
http://www.ogre3d.org/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... c&start=25

But he says he cannot get LFA installed =(. Can anyone confirm that LFA works with maya 2008?

edit: I will ask him what version (2008/2008x64) he is using. I believe he has x64 but im not sure. He is really having problems exporting bump maps:
http://www.ogre3d.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=44324

edit2:
He said he is using the normal 32 bit maya. But one of our other artists is using the 64bit.
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

Hey jchmack,

sorry i didnt reply earlier... i was off getting married this weekend! ^_^


the LFA tools definitely do work with Maya 2008 because thats what i use!
The LFA tools are completely written in MEL purposely so that they can be used universally across all maya versions without modification.

If you need the 32x exporter plugin for 2008 let me know... as far as 64x i don't have that one.
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Post by jchmack »

metaldev wrote: sorry i didnt reply earlier... i was off getting married this weekend! ^_^
Congrats man :).

We got it working. And he is learning LFA right now :).
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Post by andrea »

I downloaded LFA 3.5.

Please could you tell me how to install this plug-in in Maya?
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Post by metaldev »

andrea wrote:I downloaded LFA 3.5.

Please could you tell me how to install this plug-in in Maya?
from LFA help page, second question:
How do I Install the Scene Manager?

STEP 1 Unzip LFA_sceneManager.zip contents into:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\maya\7.0\scripts\

STEP 2 Upon restarting Maya make a button or run the script:

lfa;

STEP 3 For BASIC HELP on usage go to the LFA window and choose:

Help > Instructions

NOTE: Before installing/using the scene manager, be sure to have the regular ogre exporter installed as the scene manager relies on it to work properly.
also, just for clarity... LFA tools are not a plug-in. The LFA tools are a set of MEL scripts that help you interface better with the native Ogre plug-in
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Post by andrea »

Thank you so much!
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by metaldev »

Hidy ho everybody!.. its been some time since i updated..

the big addition in this update is support for USER DATA REFERENCE ie... support for any kind of data on pretty much any exportable node or entity... so that means adding physics parameters or thickness or weight or any amount of arbitrary strings to any node or entity is now possible using the new user data editor i created.

new version available! update to 3.6 >>HERE<<
the FAQ/manual :arrow: HERE (fyi instructions added about the userDataReference editor tool)

seems i forgot to post about the last 3.5 update, but Here's what changed:
  • 3.6
    ------------------------
    - added support for userDataReference in the .scene

    - fixed bugs in "multiple make exportable"

    - changed 'text' locator to read from the locator's 'notes' atribute instead of the textField from the LFA interface

    - the Ogre plugin: ogreExporter.mll now automatically loads if it was unloaded

    - fixed bug in material export where if none of the materials had been touched by the sceneManager, material export would fail.

    - fixed bug in detecting materials from skeletal meshes.

    - changed preferences to be optionVars instead of global variables to persist between invocations of Maya

    - fixed error that occurred when user cancelled out of .scene export while using custom .scene name

    - added a variable to lfa_settings to allow customization of sceneManager in the .scene header (sceneManager="any")

    3.5
    ------------------------

    - fixed Maya2008 bug where attrColorSliderGrp that are attached to lfa generated parameters caused a crash when you launched the RGB color editor from them

    - fixed bug that if you had a non-tagged non-mesh object parented to an exportable mesh, it would error on export of that mesh.

    - Scene Manager now cleans up extra DagPoses left behind by OgreExporter.mll when exporting a skeletal mesh with animations.

    - ambientColor in 'environment' of the .scene will now only print if it has a value other than 0 0 0 0

    - added http://www.lfagames.com to .scene signature
as always, please let me know if you find any bugs or something does not seem to work properly!
-enjoy !! ^_^
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by lokidokicoki »

[SOLVED]

Our meshes weren't in an exportable state, starting from scratch allowed us to export and generate anims.
----------


Hi,

I have an artist with Maya 2009 and LFA v3.8 and we are having trouble exporting blend shape anims.
I have read the FAQ on the LFA site, and tried hunting on the intertoobs for an answer, but to no avail, the closest I get is a cryptic reference to 'export parameters'.

Could you explain what I am meant to do? i.e. what buttons i am meant to press and in what order? :)

Thanks
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metaldev
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by metaldev »

lokidokicoki wrote:I have an artist with Maya 2009 and LFA v3.8 and we are having trouble exporting blend shape anims.
I have read the FAQ on the LFA site, and tried hunting on the intertoobs for an answer, but to no avail, the closest I get is a cryptic reference to 'export parameters'.

Could you explain what I am meant to do? i.e. what buttons i am meant to press and in what order? :)
well in the simplest case, lets say a cube with 1 blend shape animation already animated in Maya:
1. select the cube.
2. click 'make exportable' (this gives it export parameters.. ie the data that tells LFA *how* to export it)
3. launch animation manager
4. add a clip
5. export selected
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by metaldev »

new version available! update to 3.9 >>HERE<< - the FAQ/manual :arrow: HERE

This update includes mostly upgrades and tools for animators using the animation manager - that despite not being a true heavy duty animation system, these updates should make life easier for hobbyist animators and animators on small projects.

Here's what changed:
  • 3.9
    ------------------------
    - added a button to every animation clip to set the maya timeline to its range

    - removed 'apply/remove' for animations. Any changes to animations are now automatically applied.

    - added feature to copy/paste for animation clips across objects

    - added tool to list currently displayed animations in a readable form (Tools > Info > list displayed animations)

    - added a button to animation manager to order animation clips by starting time

    - i believe i fixed crashing on mac by making file names have proper case, but couldn't test

    - fixed the tools crashing if you don't have the ogreExporter.mll plugin


    3.8
    ------------------------
    - changed default ID and subID values to "" instead of "0"
    - changed userDataReference tokenize character from § to % ,apparently § is too exotic and breaks on some systems.
    3.7
    ------------------------
    - fixed bug introduced in 3.6 where blend shape animation didn't export using correct time setting.
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by lokidokicoki »

metaldev wrote:
lokidokicoki wrote:I have an artist with Maya 2009 and LFA v3.8 and we are having trouble exporting blend shape anims.
I have read the FAQ on the LFA site, and tried hunting on the intertoobs for an answer, but to no avail, the closest I get is a cryptic reference to 'export parameters'.

Could you explain what I am meant to do? i.e. what buttons i am meant to press and in what order? :)
well in the simplest case, lets say a cube with 1 blend shape animation already animated in Maya:
1. select the cube.
2. click 'make exportable' (this gives it export parameters.. ie the data that tells LFA *how* to export it)
3. launch animation manager
4. add a clip
5. export selected

Thanks metaldev :) I forgot to say how well it works, once I had figured out what to do.

Keep up the good work!
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metaldev
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by metaldev »

lokidokicoki wrote:Thanks metaldev :) I forgot to say how well it works, once I had figured out what to do.

Keep up the good work!
Its great to hear that LFA tools has helped you out! ^_^
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by lokidokicoki »

Hi metaldev,

Another question, this time regarding cameras and spline paths. My artist created a camera (Using the Maya create camera tool) and a curve for it to follow (using the EP curve tool). When we export the scene, we get the following:

Code: Select all

      <node name="World_Map_CamNode" id="">
            <position x="65.15938281" y="276.7430973" z="-249.1495706" />
            <rotation qx="-0.5212319342" qy="-0.003454967753" qz="-0.002418462464" qw="0.8534046432" />
            <scale x="81.93934238" y="81.93934238" z="81.93934238" />
            <camera name="World_Map_Cam" id="" fov="0.9500098969" aspectRatio="1.499947084" projectionType="perspective">
                <clipping near="0.01" far="100000" />
            </camera>
        </node>
Which is fine. However, there are no details about the curve we created. So I ran the native ogre export tool, and got it to export the animation curve and camera (all options ticked) and I get a .anim and .camera file. The anim file has what I guess to the the termianl point of hte curve detailed, but the camera file is empty.

I'm not too sure what to do next....

Does the LFA export more about cameras than just the data in the .scene file? If so, what should I do? I notice there is no mention made of cameras in the FAQ on your website.

Anyway, thanks in advance,

Lokidokicoki
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metaldev
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by metaldev »

Does the LFA export more about cameras than just the data in the .scene file? If so, what should I do? I notice there is no mention made of cameras in the FAQ on your website.
The LFA tools do not do anything for cameras other than send their position through the .scene as you noticed.
There are two features that the native exporter handles that LFA tools do not:
- curves
- Morph style animation (not to be confused with Pose, which the LFA tools do handle)

The way that i would recommend to have the cameras come into your app is to implement them in your .scene loader. To be honest I am not really sure what the .camera file would contain (other than coordinates, fov, aspect ratio, and clipping range that the .scene exporter already handles)

If you need curve support and you have a budget - PM me and I'll look into getting it for you right away. Otherwise, I would suggest to continue to use the native exporter for that.
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by tfox »

Hey there!

Artist here.

I'm currently handling the exporting for a small team working on a game being created in Ogre! We've been using the (awesome) LFA Scene Manager and it's been great for us. any issues we ran into were fixed.

However, I have a question about exporting animation through the LFA Scene Manager.

Up until now all of the mesh's have been static. We are hoping to play animations in the middleground of our sidescrolling game, so it makes sense on the art side that we can export everything all at once.

The animations would be created inside Maya, using joints and perhaps vertex animation.

I had a fiddle with trying to export mesh's but I got completely lost. We can export animations fine from the (native) Ogre exporter for Maya however they are separate to the main scene.

Any help or advice would be great.

Thanks,

tfox
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by metaldev »

tfox wrote:Hey there!
....
I had a fiddle with trying to export mesh's but I got completely lost. We can export animations fine from the (native) Ogre exporter for Maya however they are separate to the main scene.

Any help or advice would be great.

Thanks,

tfox
did you look at the Online FAQ ? i detailed carefully how the animation export works. click on : How do I export animation?
you can also reach it from inside the tool: Help > Online FAQ

If you have a more specific question feel free to ask here or on the forums there.
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by tfox »

Ah sorry, I didn't look at the Online FAQ since it was blocked through my filters for some reason...

I managed to export the animation, however after I clicked export, some of the meshes with joint/skeletons rotated (inside Maya). Any ideas what happened there? I haven't looked into it yet but I know that scale/rotate were frozen to 1.

Am I right in saying that I just select my whole scene, and deselect the meshes which have joints? This is the approach I took and it managed to export them fine, I didn't see the skeletons listed in the .scene though.

Sorry for being dumb :D

Thanks,

tfox
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by metaldev »

tfox wrote:I managed to export the animation, however after I clicked export, some of the meshes with joint/skeletons rotated (inside Maya). Any ideas what happened there? I haven't looked into it yet but I know that scale/rotate were frozen to 1.
your root joints had rotations on them.
tfox wrote:Am I right in saying that I just select my whole scene, and deselect the meshes which have joints? This is the approach I took and it managed to export them fine, I didn't see the skeletons listed in the .scene though.
skeletons don't go into the .scene , the .mesh references the .skeleton
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by tfox »

Thanks a ton for the quick responses metaldev :)
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Re: The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

Post by tfox »

Sorry just thought I'd pester you some more...

Currently there are around 300 meshes in my scene.

Only 4 of these meshes have joints/animations. My questions is: what is the correct way of exporting?

1. Select all objects, including skeletons, excluding meshes of skeletons.
2. Make exportable.
3. Export selected.
4. Export scene.

I tried this and there was an issue with the meshes which had skeletons... I think maybe I should export all of the meshes, then export the 4 skeletons, then export the scene?

We can export the animations fine in the native Ogre exporter but I'd love to figure out how to export all of them at once, with the coordinates produced in the scene file.

Thanks in advance,

tfox


EDIT: Managed to fix it, but would appreciate any pointers I may be missing out on! Thanks anyways :)
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