export 3D from AE to maya or max

[Chris Smith]

As far as I know, the closest you will get to that is to start in Maya with your camera moves and throw nulls in where you want layers in 3D space.

Then you can import the .ma into AE and replace the nulls with your layers. That way you have a “synced” project. However it only flows from Maya to AE and not the other way around.

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[Mylenium]

Step-by-step hand matching would be easiest for a simple project. If you need this functionality more often, you should look into how to use Maya Live (assuming you have Maya Unlimited) or find someone who could write you some scripts to transfer baked keyframes – a JSX in AE that exports them and a MEL script in Maya that reads them.

Mylenium

[Pour Myl

[Trev]

thanks for all the advice,
its a shame there not an easy way to go from AE to MAYA with 3D data like there is from MAYA to AE…
but i guess when those moves get baked there all a bit un tweakable anyway…

ah well
thanks again

[Scott Spengler]

Trev,
I’m _so_ with you. I’ve been looking for this for a couple years now. AE camera export to Maya and a reliable, _accurate_ export of Maya camera data to AE. I’ll be the first in line with my checkbook when someone finally makes this easy and _reliable_. For now the only way I can get AE camera into Maya is with BouJou. Talk about killing a fly with an elephant gun.

Scott

ps. Don’t even talk to me about importing ma.s and scripts. For me that’s truly garbage.

[Chris Smith]

[Scott Spengler] “and a reliable, _accurate_ export of Maya camera data to AE”

It’s always reliable for me. Not elegant by a long shot, but always a perfect match. It’s confusing of course because the scales are so different. But when I use nulls in Maya and name them so AE sees them, it’s straight forward to assign an AE layer to the Maya’s null position in AE and it always locks dead on.

However, nothing is a sweet as the way C4D makes a AE project file with all the layers, lights, and cam data ready to go.

Since a Maya .ma file is basically a MEL script in a text file, I wonder if nothing else, one could take the time of converting the data by hand into a .ma file. For example, go into Maya and create a simple camera move. bake the keys. Export as an .ma. Open this in a text reader. You should see the fundamental info that Maya needs for cam data. Then by hand change the numbers to match your AE cam move and lens. Sounds like a bear but I wonder if it would really be that hard.

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[Scott Spengler]

You may have something there. As much as I bitch about the AE>MAYA>AE pipeline, it is the only way we’ve got for now. Should probably just suck it up and try once more to get the workflow down. It’s reassuring to hear that’s it’s working well for you.

It’s strange, I’m more than happy to spend hours futzing with color combinations or blur/mode combinations, but won’t consider spending 30 minutes to an hour setting up an AE>Maya>AE camera transfer.

I may need to reconsider that.

Scott

ps. I still have the check ready for some savvy developer though. And yes, the C4d>AE pipeline was bliss. Now that Maya 7 finally has a decent render layer system I feel I _may_ be approaching the productivity level I had in Cinema.

[Stanley Tang]

Guys, check this out: https://www.3dmation.com/

“a JSX in AE that exports them and a MEL script in Maya that reads them.”
This Mocon scripts for AE and Maya does exactly what you’re looking for!