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Manual BodyPaint 3D Exchange Plugins

Using BodyPaint 3D with Maya

This exchange plugin enables you to texture Maya objects in BodyPaint 3D. The objects are transferred directly from Maya to BodyPaint 3D — geometry, material, light and UV data are all sent over. Once you have painted the object in BodyPaint 3D, the texture and material data is sent back to Maya and the scene is updated in Maya. The exchange plugin works with Maya Version 7 (installation paths for prior versions can be found below).

First things first. You need to do the following to get up and running:

Check that the following scripts:

are in the folder:

Proceed as follows to copy the above mentioned lib files: Right-click on Maya (executable) and subsequently select Show Package Contents. Finally, copy the file to the Contentx > MaxOS > Plugins directory.

After the files have been copied the plugin must be activated in the Maya plugin manager (Windows Preferences > Preferences Plugin Manager).

Maya -> BodyPaint 3D (BodypaintExchange.mll/lib)

First you must assign materials to the objects in Maya. Make sure the desired properties are assigned to these materials — you won’t be able to change them in BodyPaint 3D. For example, if you assign a reflectivity texture to a Lambert material in BodyPaint 3D, when you return your work to Maya this texture cannot be applied to the material automatically.

The objects themselves are exported as polygon objects. The plugin converts NURBS and SubdivSurface objects to polygon objects using the following MEL commands: nurbsToPoly and subdivTOPoly.

All geometry data is scaled according to the factor chosen. Polygons with more than four points are triangulated. The exporter centers the object axis system inside the objects to help make it easier to navigate the object in BodyPaint 3D.

Selection tags are created for per-face materials and these are assigned to the appropriate material. The camera’s current position is transferred as are all lights . All material properties are transferred (but see Transfer Restrictions).

You’ll find the command for exporting objects — Send to BodyPaint — on the BodyPaint 3D menu. Click the icon to open the exchange dialog.

The exchange dialog

BodyPaint 3D Path

Here you must define the location of the BodyPaint 3D application. Define the full path.

Default Texture Path

This is BodyPaint 3D’s default path for new textures. Enter a valid path or the file exchange will fail!

Objects to Exchange

Choose whether the entire scene or just the selected objects are transferred to BodyPaint 3D.

Object Scale

The object(s) will be scaled by this factor in BodyPaint 3D. Maya objects tend to be very small compared to BodyPaint 3D’s world grid. The default Object Scale of 100 usually ensures the object is a comfortable size to work with in BodyPaint 3D (the object will be 100 times larger in BodyPaint 3D than in Maya).

NURBS -> Use Cage Points and HyperNURBS

This option converts NURBS objects to low poly models which are sent to BodyPaint 3D and placed inside a HyperNURBS object.

NURBS -> Use RebuildSurface

Only use this option if you have problems with the UV coordinates. Before the NURBS objects are sent to BodyPaint 3D, the MEL command rebuildSurface is applied to them to prevent overlapping UVs.

Resize UVs to Fit HyperNURBS

The Use Cage Points and HyperNURBS conversion can cause the UVs to become stretched out over too great an area. This option automatically resizes the UVs to fit the UV space (0.0,0.0 to 1.0,1.0).

Do Not Wait for BodyPaint 3D (One Way)

If the transfer is one way. i.e. if you want to send objects to BodyPaint 3D but you don’t want to return them to Maya, enable this option. Maya will then stop waiting for the data to be returned.

All settings in this dialog are saved when you save the Maya settings.

Once you click on OK, the wait window appears in Maya. The objects are transferred to BodyPaint 3D and you are ready to paint them.

BodyPaint 3D -> Maya

Once you’re done painting in BodyPaint 3D, you are ready to send your work back to Maya.

To return your work to Maya:

In BodyPaint 3D, choose File > Send Scene Back.

The textures are saved and in Maya the texture paths are updated to point to the new texture folder. All material properties are updated. The wait window closes and Maya comes to the foreground.

Do not change the names of the objects or materials. Otherwise problems are likely then the scene is updated.

Transfer Restrictions

Naturally, there are differences in the way that Maya and BodyPaint 3D handle objects, UV coordinates and textures. Therefore the following transfer restrictions apply.

Materials

You must assign materials to the objects in Maya before you send the objects to BodyPaint 3D — you won’t be able to change them in BodyPaint 3D. For example, if you assign a reflectivity texture to a Lambert material in BodyPaint 3D, when you return your work to Maya this texture cannot be applied to the material automatically.

Textures

Textures you have assigned in Maya are copied to the specified texture folder when you send the object(s) to BodyPaint 3D. You can add or remove textures in BodyPaint 3D. Maya file nodes are created or deleted accordingly. Special shader or texture channels cannot be transferred. A color channel will be transferred provided it exists. You can use the color channel to create a texture in an unknown channel. Once this is returned to Maya, you can manually assign it to the desired channel.

UVs

UVs are sent to BodyPaint 3D for all objects. However, no UVs are returned to Maya. Therefore do all your UV editing in Maya.

Troubleshooting

Error: Cannot find command BodypaintExchange

The following file is missing from the ../Maya/bin/plug-ins] location: BodyPaintExchange.mll (Windows) or BodyPaintExchange.lib (MacOS).

Or the plugin has not been loaded by the Plugin manager. Check if the MEL scripts are in the correct folder (see Getting Started).

Error: Execute BodyPaint 3D

The exporter cannot find BodyPaint 3D. Set BodyPaint 3D Path to the correct path.

I can’t send the entire scene to BodyPaint 3D

This is due to a MEL bug with Select All, which fails to select all the objects. To remedy, select all the objects manually and transfer the selection instead of the scene.

Note to Mac users:

Under certain conditions (such as low RAM on the graphics card) you may notice display errors when sending new textures from BodyPaint 3D to Maya. For example, instead of the texture being mapped to the object, the current screen is mapped. This is not BodyPaint 3D’s fault. To avoid this problem, in Maya’s Material settings, set Texture Resolution to, say, Medium.

Installation Paths for all Plugin Versions

MAC

Maya 5

Macintosh HD / Applications / Alias Wavefront / maya 5.0 / maya

Maya 6

Macintosh HD / Applications / Alias / maya 6.0 / maya

Maya 6.5

Macintosh HD / Applications / Alias / maya 6.5 / maya

Maya 7

Macintosh HD / Applications / Alias / maya 7.0 / maya

PC

Maya 5

Maya 6

Maya 6.5

Maya 7

In contrast to MacOS, Maya scripts must be installed for each user separately in Windows.

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