export houdini animation to maya

[ykcosmo]

could anybody tell me , how can I export houdini's animation ,such as character animation to maya? So I can use maya's fur and cloth to do the rest parts.

[tallkien]

build identical rigs in both packages with the same names (bones, effectors,etc), then use the tools in the codex section of this site(convchans, chandump) to convert animation data. I've done this before so I know it works fine

[Jason]

A simpler method might be to export sequential polygon geometry file from Houdini using the Geometry ROP. After this you can import sequence in Maya as blendshapes. You need to do a little scripting to do it, but its possible and at least you're guraranteed to get exact lineup. Now you can run your Maya dynamics on top of this.

[ykcosmo]

thank u. and how to export maya scene into houdini?!

for example, I created a scene in maya, and then I want to make particles in houdini...

[aracid]

hey ykcosmo

what i do is i wrote a little script that exports all my objects (polys) in maya to obj files and then use the file sop to bring them in

and iges for nurbs and also use a file sop to bring them in,

i would then run a merge between the two file sops.

just make sure that u use $F as ur extention on ur file in houdini, so that you actually import your animation from maya and not just one file.

as for camera move, theres a little conversion that takes place between maya's cameras and houdini's cameras,

then as for camera moves, just export ur camera translation data out as movs and bring it in through ur CHOPs, just make sure ur sample rate is that of ur scene file in maya, ie pal =25

and that should be that, i got a really good match going between packages,

i think you should check out

http://www.odforce.net/tips/h2m.htm

anyways

hope u come right

all the best

aracid

[Alexander Weide]

i hope i can upload there a script in the next three maybe four day's, when iam ready.

i write a script that imports obj sequences into maya.

this script control's the visibility of the objects frame by frame.

the only problem i got is, i write for every object a script operation.

and that is realy shit, i need to build it with if and else, but i got no knowledge of it.

so iam now at frame 100.

i think i script it till 200......i think its enough. and it works, with importet models.

next problem is, that i cant rename the importet poly model's because the script works with the names........

in need a idea and help to solve this two problems

[Overload]

That should also retain your UV data if you have any..

[Jason]

Don't forget about the OdWiki Translation Page - and feel free to add to it as you go.

[Alexander Weide]

i have to say, i tested my script a month ago....with 10 frames of obj anim.

and all was right.

And now i completed the script up to 100 frames...........

and all is wrong.........???????????????

i think i made a big mistake.

[Alexander Weide]

I got now a good script to import obj sequenzes into maya

its a script from tonytouch

global proc loadOBJsequence(string $directory)

{

int $startframe = 1;

string $file_list[] = `getFileList -folder ($directory + "/") -fs "*.obj"`;

for ($i=0;$i<`size $file_list`;$i++)

{

file -import -options "mo=0" ($directory + "/" + $file_list[$i]);

rename "polySurface1" ("importObjSequence_" + $i);

setKeyframe -at visibility -t ($startframe + $i) -v 1 ("importObjSequence_" + $i);

setKeyframe -at visibility -t ($startframe + $i -1) -v 0 ("importObjSequence_" + $i);

setKeyframe -at visibility -t ($startframe + $i +1) -v 0 ("importObjSequence_" + $i);

}

}

loadOBJsequence("c:/temp/OBJfolder");

[chrisedu]

Hi folks

I need to export camera animation data from Houdini to Maya. Actually I am doing it by exporting a .chan file from Houdini with animation data and wrote a mel script in maya to import the table and using it frame by frame.

Does anyone doing this in a more elegant/efficient way?

thx in advance

chris

[aracid]

Hey chris

actuallly i've just finished writing a script that does just that, please give it a try

im doing it to facilitate our pipe from houdini to massive and im stopping half way with maya, so i can go via maya into just about any package.

its written in python, in terms of how to use it, basically just save ur cam out from chops using ur fetch chop, make sure its a chan file and not bchan, and point the script onto that file.

then copy and paste the mel text that is returned... and paste that into maya :-)

please let me know if u run into any issues,

brian

h2m_v5.py.tar.gz

[chrisedu]

Hey chris

actuallly i've just finished writing a script that does just that, please give it a try...

brian

28966[/snapback]

Thank you so much!

I am trying it now... just installed python ( always wanted to dive into it! ) and now I am pointing the directories to my own ones.

Actually I am getting some "index error" but I think that shoud be simple directories issues.

bests

[chrisedu]

Hey aracid.

I following the directions, it generates a .mov file with all the parameters translated but, when I run the pasted text created, maya tells me:

// Error: line 1: No object matches name: camera1.tx //

// Error: line 6: Error reading file. //

any ideas?

thx

chris

[aracid]

Hey chris

silly me, i left out ey command to make a camera,

you can either paste that text in maya, with a default camera in ur scene, or download fixed script,

and if u run into any probs, (personal message me next time), and ill post a stress tested script.

all the best

brian

h2m_v5.zip

[chrisedu]

Hey chris

silly me, i left out ey command to make a camera,

28975[/snapback]

Thx aracid

it works now!

I am very curious about your pipeline involving houdini > massive > maya.

bests

chris

[aracid]

Hey chris

massive is able to import camera,skeleton and light data from maya and XSI, (or bvh,asf, acm.)

u can render massive crowds, in houdini by just pruning some data off the massive rib, and include that rib at rendertime, and then can render what ever you created in massive from houdini.

interms of |houdini > massive > maya|, we go |houdini-->maya-->massive-->houdini|

and maya will be phased out quiet quickly because that script was part of something that can take data from houdini into massive without maya, or houdini into xsi.

im doing purely because we need to have the ability to get data out of one package into another.

so the camera from houdini into massive is purely just to get an idea of how the camera will move, we dont actually render from that camera :-)

hope this helps

aracid

[aracid]

Hey chris

massive is able to import camera,skeleton and light data from maya and XSI, (or bvh,asf, acm.)

u can render massive crowds, in houdini by just pruning some data off the massive rib, and include that rib at rendertime, and then can render what ever you created in massive from houdini.

interms of |houdini > massive > maya|, we go |houdini-->maya-->massive-->houdini|

and maya will be phased out quiet quickly because that script was part of something that can take data from houdini into massive without maya, or houdini into xsi.

im doing purely because we need to have the ability to get data out of one package into another.

so the camera from houdini into massive is purely just to get an idea of how the camera will move, we dont actually render from that camera :-)  (hense my couriosity about if the script works)

hope this helps

aracid

28990[/snapback]

[Keyframe]

Heya all,

I know this thread is a little old, but I thought i'd throw in a recent discovery into the mix.

As of version 8.0, Maya supports "Geometry Caching". Loosely described, maya write a point cloud that decribes P at each frame. The .mc file format is loosely based on the iff file format, and as best as I can tell at the moment, it only stores point (vertex in maya-speak) positions.

We've had a reasonable amount of success implementing a bgeo->mc file translator, which generally makes moving animation back and forth somewhat easier. There is of course, the typical maya nonsense -- some sort of XML file mumbo-jumbo that describe various attributes about the cache, but it's fairly straight forward...

If anyone is interested, i'll post a breakdown of the mc file format, as we know it today...

Cheers,

G

ps: I'm also hearding increasing rhetoric about Mel getting dumped in favour of python, and apparentely, a complete API binding to python over in maya-land... That's kinda hot (in a most nerdy way)... anyone else hearing whispers of that sort?

[symek]

Heya all,

ps: I'm also hearding increasing rhetoric about Mel getting dumped in favour of python, and apparentely, a complete API binding to python over in maya-land... That's kinda hot (in a most nerdy way)... anyone else hearing whispers of that sort?

I'm not sure if you talk about offical Autodesk step or community driven job but cgkit2.0 include now MEL warpers in Python and its bindings to C++ Maya sdk classes what taking together switch off the need of any MEL/C++ involved maya programming. Some people says this is new maya development direction... but who knows...