What motion capture file format does Maya use?
polycounter lvl 10
I want to download free motion capture files as I have realised this will speed up my animation workflow.I have noticed there are bvh,bip,fbx,e.t.c
What file format is compartible with the human ik rig in Maya?Is there a converter that could be used to convert other formats to the file format maya uses?
What file format is compartible with the human ik rig in Maya?Is there a converter that could be used to convert other formats to the file format maya uses?
Replies
Guys,been extensively researching.It seems Maya only works with fbx file format for motion capture.I am using maya 2013.I found a huge lib of free motion capture files but they are in bvh file format.
I think Maya 2013 still doesn't recognise it so do I need to download a converter like fbx converter or some scripts/other plugin.
Any advice/suggestions will be deeply appreciated.
you can convert .bvh, but as far as a i remember it was quite a mess to get the data right. .bip is 3dsmax native format, so you can't use this right away.
Max has two prebuilt rigs that support fbx, bvh and bip, in addition to saving out regular max animation data as either fbx or xml. So if you use max there is a better chance you won't have to motion builder.
HumanIK is a bit like Motion Builder lite* stuffed into Maya, it will import into motion builder as easily as biped does from max. But they left out enough useful features from HIK that you end up using it for retargeting, I wonder why they would do that... oh right then no one would buy Motion Builder ha!
I am repeatedly getting fed up with Autodesk and how they keep making it impossible to use a software comfortably.Max also does not have certain features which u would only find in Maya or motionbuilder.Especially in animation tools.
Funny enough,Blender has full support for bvh and fbx files and its an open source app,even has an in built game engine.
I have decided to move to Blender.Its seems open source apps have evolved to a level where they can compete with these commercial apps.Big companies have started showing interest and support for Blender.If Autodesk continues this way,they are going to lose a lot of their userbase.Their apps cost a lot of money,yet they can't just do the right thing.I know its a sales strategy but for how long are they gonna continue doing this?Thats why most studios are still using the older versions of these apps with their own plugins,scripts and inhouse tools.We have to wait for their new versions,yet they add so little and then create a new app with features that should be in Maya in the first place.
I think if Blender wasn't open source,Autodesk would have tried to buy it off its original owners to remove the competition.
I could go on and on but I think I shalt endeth it hereth with a full stopeth.Switching to Blender.Will start learning it as soon as possible.
basically you're right. the main problem is that pro studios usually sticked to the big packages for years and evaluating and transfering to a new app is almost never an option. so autodesk has an easy business.
what i find annoying is that the big players like adobe, autodesk, corel, etc. start milking their customers with yearly updates nobody needs. the core parts are almost identical to the legacy version 10 years ago and while working stable, would also need adjustements and features. Instead they pack useless highlevel features, barely anybody uses.
Exactly,Autodesk had a headstart,so a lot of companies used their apps for a long time.Its recently ppl,as well as companies are begining to see the value and resourcefulness of opensource apps like Blender.
I too had to battle with the decision to switch because when u think of how long u have known and used a software,most times u will stick with it cause making a move to a new app is most likely going to mean spending time trying to understand how the new one works,where the tools are,rendering capabilities e.t.c.
For most studios, making that move means they would probably have to re-train their staff on the new app and thats going to cost money and time.
But sometimes,its also important to evaluate likely results of a decision on a long term basics.For example,Blender is free,it has a very huge userbase with a lot of programmers,software developers contributing towards its improvement on a regular basics.This way ur studio benefits from new features added,and ur devs too can also contribute and exchange ideas with other devs.
In the next 2 years or so,I can see Blender becoming far better than Maya and 3dsmax combined and thats because of the ever growing community support its getting.
Another very,very good feature of Blender is the fact that it has modeling,sculpting,texture painting,vertex painting,rigging,animation tools.It also has support for motion capture files format and a game engine.In otherwords,it eliminates the need to export /import files from one app to another thereby removing annoying export problems one encounters when importing to apps like mudbox,zbrush,motionbuilder,even udk.Also saves u money on the need to purchase other softwares.
Here,u create ur assets and just switch to game engine mode.No need to worry about skeleton displacement,missing textures,skinning problems,e.t.c.I dare say Blender might surpass udk,cryengine and become used by professional studios in the next 2 or 3 years.
So we tried out a bunch of open source options one of them being blender and they all hated it. Mostly because no one here uses it and there was no expert to turn to. Figuring out basic things took way too long and working out even a simple pipeline and training for the 2D artists was a pain in the butt for the guy doing it, who was slammed with his own work.
If we hired someone and they wanted to use blender in special cases we would be open to it, but we have a lot of tools that the person wouldn't have access too inside of blender and we aren't rewriting every tool ever made or maintaining separate tools for different software. We will never be in a position to retrain everyone it just isn't possible. But if someone has a use for blender and it doesn't disrupt the pipeline or other artists, we would go for it.
I haven't tried out the texturing tools yet.Almost getting down how the modeling tools work.
@Mark Dygert
I understand what u are saying.A lot of studios have built most of their plugins/custom tools around commercial apps for a long time meaning a lot of time and money has been spent.Throwing all that away for a new software is just plain stupidity.As for me,in most cases I usually find using apps ppl complain about or find not up to standard comfortable.I have textured with sculptris(awesome app) and I liked what I got.Sometimes,patience pays off.I am almost through with getting the modeling tools for Blender down.I will go through the texturing tools next.