reference sets in maya for previs

[jmoborn]

We want to do set dressing in houdini, but previs will also need to reference those sets in maya. In houdini we can export the sets in alembic on checkin, and then in maya reference those alembic files (which I think might be a new feature of Maya 2014.

http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/maya2014/en_us/index.html?url=files/GUID-CD0043F7-8B7E-4DEA-81DD-7A9569D3AA48.htm,topicNumber=d30e109029

previs will also want to have diffuse maps on everything, so we can't just create brand new .mb files everytime we update the sets in houdini. So we will need to reference stuff.

[nstandif]

I suggest we use FBX files for this. Alembic files work great for individual assets but FBX work better for entire scenes. On Feb 10, 2014 6:25 PM, "Jeremy Oborn" notifications@github.com wrote:

We want to do set dressing in houdini, but previs will also need to reference those sets in maya. In houdini we can export the sets in alembic on checkin, and then in maya reference those alembic files (which I think might be a new feature of Maya 2014.

http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/maya2014/en_us/index.html?url=files/GUID-CD0043F7-8B7E-4DEA-81DD-7A9569D3AA48.htm,topicNumber=d30e109029

previs will also want to have diffuse maps on everything, so we can't just create brand new .mb files everytime we update the sets in houdini. So we will need to reference stuff.

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/byu-animation/ramshorn-tools/issues/35 .

[eestrada]

The problem with FBX flies is they are always imported, never referenced. This is for both Maya and Houdini. Alembic can be referenced in Houdini, and (it sounds like) in Maya 2014 too now. References decrease the amount you need to clobber files to get them to work in a pipeline. On Feb 11, 2014 2:37 PM, "nstandif" notifications@github.com wrote:

I suggest we use FBX files for this. Alembic files work great for individual assets but FBX work better for entire scenes. On Feb 10, 2014 6:25 PM, "Jeremy Oborn" notifications@github.com wrote:

We want to do set dressing in houdini, but previs will also need to reference those sets in maya. In houdini we can export the sets in alembic on checkin, and then in maya reference those alembic files (which I think might be a new feature of Maya 2014.

http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/maya2014/en_us/index.html?url=files/GUID-CD0043F7-8B7E-4DEA-81DD-7A9569D3AA48.htm,topicNumber=d30e109029

previs will also want to have diffuse maps on everything, so we can't just create brand new .mb files everytime we update the sets in houdini. So we will need to reference stuff.

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub< https://github.com/byu-animation/ramshorn-tools/issues/35> .

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/byu-animation/ramshorn-tools/issues/35#issuecomment-34810369 .

[nstandif]

Ok. If that is the case, I'm wondering how we will get diffuse maps out from Houdini. I've looked at Autodesk's site and I can only find how to do it with a GPU cache file and that doesn't support texture maps from what I see. However, alembic files do support uvs. Should/can we read this information from otls?

On Feb 11, 2014 5:26 PM, "Ethan Estrada" notifications@github.com wrote:

The problem with FBX flies is they are always imported, never referenced. This is for both Maya and Houdini. Alembic can be referenced in Houdini, and (it sounds like) in Maya 2014 too now. References decrease the amount you need to clobber files to get them to work in a pipeline. On Feb 11, 2014 2:37 PM, "nstandif" notifications@github.com wrote:

I suggest we use FBX files for this. Alembic files work great for individual assets but FBX work better for entire scenes. On Feb 10, 2014 6:25 PM, "Jeremy Oborn" notifications@github.com wrote:

We want to do set dressing in houdini, but previs will also need to reference those sets in maya. In houdini we can export the sets in alembic on checkin, and then in maya reference those alembic files (which I think might be a new feature of Maya 2014.

http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/maya2014/en_us/index.html?url=files/GUID-CD0043F7-8B7E-4DEA-81DD-7A9569D3AA48.htm,topicNumber=d30e109029

previs will also want to have diffuse maps on everything, so we can't just create brand new .mb files everytime we update the sets in houdini. So we will need to reference stuff.

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub< https://github.com/byu-animation/ramshorn-tools/issues/35> .

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub< https://github.com/byu-animation/ramshorn-tools/issues/35#issuecomment-34810369>

.

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[eestrada]

It may be possible to attach shader and texture information as metadata on the geometry, which will in turn be written to the Alembic file. The only question then is how to access the metadata in Maya. On Feb 12, 2014 9:01 AM, "nstandif" notifications@github.com wrote:

Ok. If that is the case, I'm wondering how we will get diffuse maps out from Houdini. I've looked at Autodesk's site and I can only find how to do it with a GPU cache file and that doesn't support texture maps from what I see. However, alembic files do support uvs. Should/can we read this information from otls?

On Feb 11, 2014 5:26 PM, "Ethan Estrada" notifications@github.com wrote:

The problem with FBX flies is they are always imported, never referenced. This is for both Maya and Houdini. Alembic can be referenced in Houdini, and (it sounds like) in Maya 2014 too now. References decrease the amount you need to clobber files to get them to work in a pipeline. On Feb 11, 2014 2:37 PM, "nstandif" notifications@github.com wrote:

I suggest we use FBX files for this. Alembic files work great for individual assets but FBX work better for entire scenes. On Feb 10, 2014 6:25 PM, "Jeremy Oborn" notifications@github.com wrote:

We want to do set dressing in houdini, but previs will also need to reference those sets in maya. In houdini we can export the sets in alembic on checkin, and then in maya reference those alembic files (which I think might be a new feature of Maya 2014.

http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/maya2014/en_us/index.html?url=files/GUID-CD0043F7-8B7E-4DEA-81DD-7A9569D3AA48.htm,topicNumber=d30e109029

previs will also want to have diffuse maps on everything, so we can't just create brand new .mb files everytime we update the sets in houdini. So we will need to reference stuff.

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub< https://github.com/byu-animation/ramshorn-tools/issues/35> .

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub<

https://github.com/byu-animation/ramshorn-tools/issues/35#issuecomment-34810369

.

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/byu-animation/ramshorn-tools/issues/35#issuecomment-34882987 .

[nstandif]

What do you think about the following process: Houdini (upon checkin):

for (var alembic_geo in asset)
{
    var shader = bake_shader()
    var path = save_to_file(shader)
    generate_mel_script(path)
}

Maya (upon import):

for (var geo in asset)
{
    if (script != null)
    {    
         script.execute()
    }
    else
    {
        // assign lambert material to object
    }
}

[jmoborn]

That sounds great! Previs only needs color maps. So in the bake_shader() function you'd only need the path to the map or if it doesn't have one, just the color.

[nstandif]

I have something right now that does baking, since I can't assume only one kind of shop node. I'm about half way through this right now.