indigoMeshExport

yourdaftpunk · Post by **yourdaftpunk** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 3:35 pm

I've tried MayaToIndigo and it is awesome. Unfortunately, the first scene I tried it on was a room which had 100k polygons. I've decided to try and write a plug-in that runs as a mel command and just exports the <mesh> data only. Hopefully it can be integrated with MTI really easy then?

This is a 379K poly scene exported in 8 seconds (the camera, lights, background stuff was exported like normal with MTI):

Ok, the render isn't much, but getting a 30mb xml file out of maya that quick is a nice feeling.

-shawn

arneoog · Post by **arneoog** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 5:40 pm

Is it .mll or something? could you post it?

I will integrate it as fast as possible!

CTZn · Post by **CTZn** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 6:48 pm

OMG !

U rock !

erf, that will work for Maya 8 off course mmhaargh

yourdaftpunk · Post by **yourdaftpunk** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 7:37 pm

Yeah, it's a .mll- I will post it with the source code for Visual C++ 2005 Express (which is free as in beer!).

I'm using Maya 8 and its dev kit, but it should run on 6 and 7 perfect with a recompile. There is nothing version special here.

And it's not really me that rocks (thanks though!), but Rob The Bloke (robthebloke.org) - he walks you through the maya api and writing file exporters. Amazing stuff!

-shawn

tripnfall · Post by **tripnfall** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:18 pm

Sweet. This will help the process a lot. It would be great if someone could compile a version for Maya 7 when Shawn (or maybe you could Shawn) makes it available.

MTI is really shaping up.

Thanks.

yourdaftpunk · Post by **yourdaftpunk** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:29 pm

Ok, here it is... But first, the disclaimer

I have never programmed C++ (so don't laugh at the code).
I have never used the Maya API (but Rob's site has me covered).
I just finished it after a few beers with friends (at 3am).

Get the source and the Maya 8 version here:
http://www.shawnlipowski.com/plug-ins/
I don't know what is required to compile for Maya 7. I still have my student version though. Also, this isn't even alpha software- it is a proof of concept that may or may not run. Tell me what you need guys.

Edit: There is no material support. All meshes come out lambert1 right now. Tomorrow though.... After the turkey.....

-shawn

MattMR2 · Post by **MattMR2** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:05 pm

Yeah,

GREAT STUFF yourdaftpunk...

Matt

arneoog · Post by **arneoog** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 3:31 am

It is not working with Maya 6.0

I get this error when I'm trying to load the plugin

original wrote:// Error: Den angitte prosedyren ble ikke funnet.
(indigoMeshExport) //

For some sick resond it's in Norwegian!

english wrote:// Error: The selected producer couldn't be found.
(indigoMeshExport) //

Any idea of what this might be!?

I want it to work!

(And get it integrated...)

-------------------------------------
EDIT: have made it possible to use that insted of the MEL exporter

(don't know if it's working with the IME engine though, but it should)
You have to check the checkbox "Use IME engine" and have a savepath and name

mtiGen.mel
mtiMain.mel

tripnfall · Post by **tripnfall** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 6:22 am

arneoog,

The reason the plug-in does not work on Maya 6 is because it is compiled for Maya 8. In order for the plug-in to work on other versions, someone needs to compile it for each version. Which I am eagerly anticipating. Unfortunately I do not have the correct software (or the knowledge) to do this.

Happy Thanksgiving for those of you celebrating it.

yourdaftpunk · Post by **yourdaftpunk** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 7:03 am

Arneoog- you or someone is going to have to download Microsoft Visual C++ 2003 (which is Visual C++ 7.1) and setup the Maya dev kit. Inside your devkit folder that comes with Maya ( C:\Program Files\Alias\Maya6.5\devkit ) there is a plug-in wizard. You move those files to Visual C++ following the instructions in the devkit folder. You can then build Maya projects- so create a new one called indigoMeshExport and select the mel command option. You can then copy my two c++ (.cpp) files and one header (.h) into the project and compile.

You might have to configure some build settings - I did for Visual C++ 2005 Express. Also, you might not be able to find 2003 version (and I don't even know if there is a free express edition), so I'm curious to see if anyone with Maya 6/7 can build a project with 2005. You don't even need the dev kit really, just need to link to the right Maya Libraries. See Robert Bateman's post here: http://www.highend3d.com/boards/index.p ... ntry220819

arneoog · Post by **arneoog** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 7:18 am

yeah... can't find Visual C++ 2003...
Hopefully someone with all the software and 6.0 can complie it sometime

But does the "inegration" I made work?

ThatDude33 · Post by **ThatDude33** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 8:44 am

holy SHIT!!!! Dude you are amazing! You've made the mesh export sooo much better

(iv'e always hated how slow my mesh export script ran

)

anyway awesome! It's so much better with more Maya users

yourdaftpunk · Post by **yourdaftpunk** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 9:04 am

First some good news- I have a copy of Maya 6 somewhere as well. I bought it along time ago on educational discount, but Maya 7 was released days later so I got a free upgrade from Journey Ed and forgot all about the old box. If I can find the cd, I can get the older api stuff to build. Someone could also send me the just the dev files and .lib stuff for 6? (7 is installed though!)

The new scripts almost work

Few things though:

1) IME will export all the models in the scene so you only need to call it one time at the end of your script.

2) Right now you have it exporting to a second file so you get indigoxmlscene.xml and mesh_indigoxmlscene.xml. Have the script open and write to indigoxmlscene.xml, then close the file. Call IME once - just point it to indigoxmlscene.xml and it will append to it the mesh data for every model in the scene. Then have your script open the file again and write </scene> (which is the only closing tag I think it needs?). I could have IME add the final tag as well.

3) I could set up the exporter to write only a model at a time with an -m flag like:

indigoMeshExport -m "pSphere1" -d "C:\\some\\path\\goes\\here" -n "indigoxmlscene.xml" ;

Or even just part of the <mesh> data. Whatever you guys think will work best with the MTI script as it grows.

-shawn

arneoog · Post by **arneoog** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 9:14 am

okay, i think it's good with only the -d and -n...
Fixing the script now

Will update this post with file soon

(I can send you the dev files if you want..)

THE EDIT:
It should be working now

mtiGen.mel
mtiMain.mel

yourdaftpunk · Post by **yourdaftpunk** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 10:34 am

It works! I'm about to test it with a larger scene and try and get the material support working.

indigoMeshExport

indigoMeshExport

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