Importing and Exporting Actors
The Save Actor and Load Actor commands in the Behavior Export toolbar streamline the process of exporting and importing a Behavior actor in the dotXSI (.xsi) file format. These commands add special custom data to the actors that describe its attributes specifically for Behavior. As a result, they offer better results than the standard Export dotXSI and Import dotXSI commands available in XSI.
You can also import Biovision actors and their actions into XSI, prepare them for Behavior, then export them as actors.
Saving the Behavior-Ready Actor
Once you have generated a Behavior-ready actor, you can save it in a dotXSI file. You can then import it into Behavior as an actor.
While it is possible to save an actor in a dotXSI file using the File > Export > dotXSI command from the main menu in XSI (see Exporting to dotXSI in the Data Management guide), the Save Actor command in the Behavior Export toolbar performs a few special operations that give actors what they need to work properly in Behavior.
To export the actor in a .xsi file
1. Select the Behavior-ready actor (generated) that you want to save.
2. Choose File > Save Actor from the Behavior toolbar.
This saves the actor in the .xsi file that you specify in the dialog box that appears.
Importing a Behavior Actor into XSI
If you already have some existing Behavior actors, you will probably need to bring them back into XSI to adjust them, such as by transferring new skills to them from another character or by adjusting the envelope or skeleton.
The best way to import a Behavior actor is to use the Load Actor command. If you import the Behavior actor by choosing the File > Import > dotXSI command from the main menu in XSI (see Importing dotXSI Files in the Data Management guide), extra data that is added to help in the conversion process will be missing, and may make editing the actor in XSI more difficult to do.
To import a Behavior actor into XSI
1. Choose File > Load Actor from the Behavior toolbar.
2. In the Load Actor dialog box that appears, select the .xsi file that you want to import.
The actor is loaded into XSI. Missing data in the .xsi format is added back in during this process.
Importing a Biovision Actor and Actions into XSI
You can import Biovision files as actors into XSI to create a Behavior-ready actor. This provides you with an easy way to create valid actors because they meet the various restrictions that are required for digital actors in Behavior.
As well, you can easily import a Biovision actor’s motion capture data to it as action sources which can then be converted into skills for Behavior.
When you import a Biovision actor with the Import BVH Actor command, it is automatically initialized and its home pose is the first key in the motion capture file that was used to create the actor. As well, the actor’s hierarchy is set up to fulfill Behavior’s requirements for digital actors.
To import a Biovision (BVH) actor into XSI
1. Choose File > Import BVH Actor from the Behavior toolbar.
2. In the Import BVH Actor dialog box that appears, enter the .bvh file name you want to import, or click the browser button (...) to open a browser in which you can select the file.
3. Set the Import Options as you like:
- Set the Scale value to apply a scale factor to the actor upon importing it.
- Specify one or more Filter Tags to filter some of the extraneous nodes in the actor’s hierarchy. To filter out these nodes, enter their names or some unique string of characters in their names, and they will be removed from the actor when it’s imported.
To specify multiple Filter values, use a semicolon (;) to separate the values (such as LeftHand;RightHand).
- Specify one or more Subtrees (whole branches) to be removed from the actor’s hierarchy when it’s imported. You can enter the full name of the branch’s root node (for example, hands) to delete it.
To specify multiple Subtree values, use a semicolon (;) to separate the values (such as LeftHand;RightHand).
- Select Keep Subtree Root if you want to keep the root of any subtree that you have specified to be removed. For example, you may want to keep the palm of a hand (root), but remove the fingers.
4. Set the Actor Options as you like:
- Enter the Actor Name, which is the name of the actor when it’s imported into XSI.
- Select Create Box Hierarchy if you want to add a box as an envelope to the actor’s nodes when it’s imported into XSI. If you don’t select this option, the actor’s hierarchy is represented as nulls.
5. When you click OK, the actor is imported into XSI and a model with the actor name you specified is created.
Once you have imported the Biovision (BVH) actor, you’ll probably want to add more mocap data to it. You can import Biovision mocap data as action sources for the selected Biovision actor. Note that you can use these actions only on Biovision actors, not just any character or actor in XSI.
To add mocap data to a Biovision actor
1. Select the Biovision actor and choose File > Import BVH Action.
2. In the dialog box that appears, enter the .bvh file name you want to import, or click the browser button (...) to open a browser in which you can select the file.
3. Set the Import Options as you like:
- Set the Scale value to apply a scale factor to the mocap data upon importing it.
- Specify Filter Tags and Subtrees for the mocap data as you do for importing Biovision actors—see the previous page.
4. Set the Action Options as you like:
- Enter the Action Name, which is the name of the resulting action source from the mocap data that’s being imported into XSI.
- Select Remove Local Pos Data to remove local position data from all nodes from the action source, except for the GlobalSRT and COG nodes.
5. When you click OK, the mocap data is imported into XSI as an action source with the name you specified. You can find this action source under the Biovision actor’s Mixer node.
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