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Basics

File > Export All, Export Selection

Saves all objects or the selected objects to a new scene file.

Related topics

	Supported file formats
	Create, open, or save a scene file
	Recover data after a crash
	File > Save Scene
	File > Save Scene As

Default file extensions

Defaults to exporting the file with the extension for that file type.

Preserve references

If Preserve Reference is turned on, the references within the exported file are preserved. If it is turned off, all references are exported within the file; that is, they are no longer references, but are now objects in the scene. The default is off.

Keep only a reference (Export Selection only)

Allows you to turn an object into a reference. If you select nodes from your main scene, choosing this option exports those nodes to the file you choose, then references that file back into your current scene with the specified namespace options.

Use namespaces

Uses the namespace you specify.

Prefix with

The file name or a string you enter.

Note When you export a selection, in addition to the selected nodes themselves, the following associated nodes are also exported: parents of selected nodes history nodes (construction history, channels, shaders, constraints and expressions). You can enable/disable export of these specific node types with various flags in the file command. blind data template nodes light linker nodes.

Maya native file (.ma and .mb) options

For Maya ASCII (.ma) and Maya Binary formats (.mb), the Export All options are the same as the File > Save Scene As options

File > Save Scene As

Note The mayaAscii and mayaBinary file formats are the only ones that preserve all the information contained within your scene. Setting the output format for an export using the Export Options box will change your default export format for the current and subsequent export operations. If you set the output format to something other then mayaAscii or mayaBinary and export using that format and then quit without saving the entire file then you can lose data. Always check the export type in the export file browser to ensure you are writing the file using the expected file format.

mental images (.mi) file options

See File > Export All, Export Selection (mental ray) in the Rendering guide.

Move file options

Attributes

Type the name of an attribute in the Attributes box and click Add to add the attribute to the list of attributes to use when importing or exporting. If the attribute is already included in the list, a duplicate is not made. To remove an attribute, type the name of the attribute and click Remove. You can add several attributes at one time by separating them with a space.

From Channel Box

Click From Channel Box to combine all of the selected objects in Maya, in the order of their selection, with the channels selected in the Channel Box and place them in the list. For example, if sphere and cone are selected, and tx, sx are selected in the Channel Box, sphere.tx, sphere.sx, cone.tx, and cone.sx are added to the list of attribute to import and export.

Remove Selected

Click Remove Selected to remove all of the attributes selected in the list.

Remove All

Click Remove All to remove all of the attributes from the list.

Precision

This is ignored in file export. For file import, this sets the precision of the file.

When you click import or export, the move file is written or read and only the attributes in the list are affected.

Animation curve options

Precision

Sets the precision of the numbers stored in the file. The choices are:

Float

Eight digits of precision

Double

Seventeen digits of precision

Custom

A setting between 1 and 18.

File Contents

Use Node and Leaf Attribute Names

When the Use Node and Leaf Attribute check box is selected, the node and leaf attribute names in the clipboard are written to the file.

When the check box is not selected, only the full attribute name is written to the file.

Verbose Units

When the Verbose Units check box is selected, long unit names are used in the file, otherwise short unit names are used.

Hierarchy

The Hierarchy setting provides control over which nodes are copied within a hierarchy.

Selected

Only the selected object’s animation copies to the keys clipboard.

Below

Copies the animation of the selected object and all objects below it to the clipboard.

Channels

This setting is available when you want to copy only attributes selected in the Channel Box.

All Keyable

All keyable channels of the selected object’s animation are copied to the clipboard.

From Channel Box

Only those channels selected in the Channel Box are copied to the clipboard.

Control Points

This option enables or disables the copy action for all the CVs, polygon vertices, and lattice points associated with a geometry shape (or transform node hierarchically above the geometry shape).

Normally, when a control point is copied, only the selected control point is copied. The Control Points option enables the copying for all the control points associated with an object. This is useful when you are doing control point-intensive animation and don’t want to select each control point to copy the animation.

Shapes

This option determines if the animation of a shape attribute of an object as well as the animation of the associated transform attribute are copied, or if only the transform node’s animation is copied.

Generally, when an object is selected in a modeling window, the transform node (above the shape hierarchically) is selected.

For example, if a camera, NURBS object, or light is selected, the associated transform node is selected for copying.

Time Range

All – Copies all the animation information of the selected object or objects to the keys clipboard.

Start/End – copies only the animation information in the range specified in the Start Time and End Time fields of the selected object or objects to the keys clipboard.

Help Images

When checked, this option displays a diagram of the copy action, and in particular represents graphically the two methods of copying animation information.

Method

Keys – Copies only keys within the selected range to the keys clipboard.

Segments – Copies animation curve segments and any keys in the selected range to the keys clipboard.

Note The Segments method of copying keys creates keys for the copied animation segment at the start and end times in order to preserve the shape of the animation curve, if keys do not already exist at those points.