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Maya - use same Z up orientation as Unreal, other programs

Alex_J
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Alex_J grand marshal polycounter
Hey guys this is just a PSA. Looks like in newer version of Maya (2020 is what I am on) you can change the world axis up from Y to Z. 

This makes parity with other applications like Unreal a lot simpler. Don't have to mess with export settings or figure out any maths. The more softwares are homogenous the more brain can stay focused on where it really matters. 

I just wanted to share because I just discovered this by accident and I know a lot of people have trouble figuring out export pipelines.  


Where to find the setting: Settings preferences | Maya 2016 | Autodesk Knowledge Network
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  • neilberard
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    neilberard polycounter lvl 17
    Oh that feature has been around forever, a decade at least. But yeah, matching the up axis with whatever engine you're using is a good idea.
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  • Alex_J
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    Alex_J grand marshal polycounter
    Haha. 

    Well, new to me.
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  • poopipe
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    poopipe grand marshal polycounter
    It's been there since the beginning iirc 

    I'm actually not a fan.  Fbx takes care of the coordinate conversion very nicely for export/ import  to other apps. but Maya  doesn't bother for its own native format  so if you switch to z-up you have to manually convert your scenes and that's a right ballache with rigged stuff
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  • neilberard
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    neilberard polycounter lvl 17
    I totally forgot about Maya not saving Z-up in the scene file, how obnoxious! I think it's fine to let FBX handle the switch. Most studios I've worked with have their own format and it is just easier to set Maya to Z-Up than write a conversion step into the export process.
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  • Alex_J
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    Alex_J grand marshal polycounter
    The problem with conversion at either export or import is then you end up with several different places a mistake can happen. I mean you take time to figure it out once and you shouldn't theoretically have issues again, but still... when you do it's a headache and the more variables involved the longer troubleshooting takes.

    Plus when you are jumping back and forth between programs its more draining if you got same thing called two different names. For somebody only doing modeling it probably don't matter but if you have to do more stuff where the axis is important it can get confusing and frustrating. Hence why I was pretty excited when I saw a "make those problems go away button." 

    I'm not doing anything with rigs though. Theres a nightmare I don't have to worry about :)

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