UT2K4 Mesh->StaticMesh conversion (Maya)

chip

anyone using Maya and ActorX to export character models to UT2004 ever tried converting said models to static mesh in the Editor? seems those models exported from Maya & Maya PLE via the unEditor plugin cannot be converted (though Max models can). i'm looking for clues that will help pin down the limitations -- can't convert Maya models or can't convert unEditor exports?

pyromania

You can't convert unEditor exports. Since you are using the PLE version of Maya they don't want you to be able to get 3d models out of MayaPLE. You could convert the static mesh to a .ase or .obj which could be used for other things. Alias expects you to buy the retail version of Maya if you want to export your work.

The unEditor plugin was a very special case for MayaPLE, so I'm sure Alias wanted to take precautions with it.

chip

@pyromania -- that was my initial impression also, except that there are unEditor plugins for Maya Complete & Unlimited as well, and models made with those "unrestricted" apps apparently cannot be converted, either.

also, static meshes made with PLE & the unEditor plugin can be easily extracted for use outside Unreal -- that argues against an intentional limitation on the export capability.

i mainly would like to establish whether or not Maya/ActorX character models can be converted to static mesh. that could exonerate the unEditor plugin and make Maya models in general somewhat suspect in terms of that operation.

vahl

mhh if you have the oringinal model in maya, just use actorX to export it as a classical static mesh, using the axmesh (which opens the staticmesh exporter) command instead of axmain (which opens the main aX window)

chip

thanks, vahl, i'm familiar with the "usual" art paths from Maya to Unreal. i've been trying to help a poor sod who had no backups on a Maya project he'd been working on for a coupla weeks, then lost the Maya files. all he has to work with is the .ukx in UEd, and wanted to try and at least reecover his geometry. in stepping him through the process of making a static mesh from a skeletal mesh, i discovered that Maya files don't convert, at least not those exported via the unEditor. i want to establish whether this is a limitation of Maya/ActorX exports as well. at this point it's somewhat of an academic interest.

Kirin

I wrote something that might be useful in ripping ukx files: http://v2.saphiria.net/notes-ukxexport.php

Try it out!

chip

i know the process, and have done it many times. with UDE's Advanced Exporter & UT2004 it's even easier than the procedure you cite. but all evidence so far indicates the CONVERSION from skeletal mesh to static mesh fails with Maya models exported with the unEditor plugin. no static mesh is created. the operation is null. nada, zilch, nyet. nothing to place in the empty map in your method. nothing to save to a package in mine.

my only question is: do skeletal meshes made by exporting from Maya using ActorX ALSO fail the conversion operartion?

vahl

nope

I just tried, it works (I only work with actorX and maya)

chip

many thanks, vahl. i appreciate your taking the time to try it out.

its seems the "culprit" is the unEditor plugin, which for PLE users might be understandable as a limit on model exportability, but not for Complete & Unlimited users using unEditor. it may have something to do with how the geometry is handled -- i know that hard/soft edges are treated differently in unEditor compared to ActorX, and that may extend to other aspects of the data transfer as well.

moose

one thing to watch out for with ActorX for maya - if you choose the 'model name as file name' it will use the SHAPE node, not the object.

If you check the 'obey edges' box, all of your edge settings should carry over ok, at least, i havent had any problems with it doing so.

vahl

I found out that the edge settings have to be set up at the very end, after triangulation, if not it sometimes fucks all the things off.

but I may not have the latest build of the ax plugin though (maya 5.0 - recently downloaded the build available on the public section of the udn)

moose

vahl, yeah. I think that partially is a problem with Maya's triangulation too - but who knows. I think it is a safe bet to do all edge definition after triangulation imo, to be safe.

all the meshes i worked on (textured) in Unreal Champ 2 were exported from maya > ued, and i cant say i ran into any problems with the latest versions of ActorX. There were some issues with edges in an earlier version i remember, but was fixed in the newer versions.

the 243 build of ActorX is a good un!