macgio
03-08-08, 03:42 PM
Hi all,
After years of reading and learning a lot from this forum I make my first post with a little tool.
A few months ago I got the idea of sending a model composed of multiple objects from Maya to ZBrush without the hassle of export and name each object and in ZBrush import one at a time and then add them as subtools, again one at a time.
It's not that it takes a long time but all the export every object seperated and naming files then import one at a time as subtools.... naaaaaaa... that's why there is scripting, to make the machine work for us :)
So for that I created a Mel script that you can download from here mgExpObjsGrpToFolder (http://macgio.mediaview.pt/downloads/melscripts/mgExpObjsGrpToFolder.zip).
In a base level it's just a handy *.obj exporter since it exports every object with the proper name in a selection Set and gives the name of the set to the folder where the *.objs will end up. Now the new thing is that it creates a little macro script to create a tool in ZBrush that contains all the objects as subtools with proper names and the same order. Unfortunately and since this is a first release it has some bugs, it only runs on windows and the interface in ZBrush isn't very elegant.
Planning to convert it to python in a next release.
Quick guide:
In Maya
Install
Make sure you have the objExport plug-in loaded.
Source the script "mgExpObjsGrpToFolder.mel" or make sure it's installed properly.
Usage
In Maya select your objects by the order you want say first head then body then legs, etc, etc ( this matters because in ZBrush the subtools will appear in this order)
Now, create a selection Set and name it correctly(this will be the name of the folder where the *.objs will end up)
Finally select the selection set you want to export and run mgExpObjsGrpToFolder;
A browse window will appear, select where the folder containing the *.objs should be created(don't select any path with spaces, its not supported at the moment)
After you select the folder and clicked "ok" a folder with the same name as the Set will be created and the objects will be exported.
In Zbrush
Go to the Zscript>Load button (or press CTRL+SHIFT+L)
From the browse window select the loadmacro.txt file that was created with the *.objs
A new button in the Tool menu will appear saying "import"+ the name of the Set you exported from Maya
Click on this button to create the tool
After this the tool is created and selected, you just need to draw it on the canvas an enter the edit mode
That's it!! Have fun :)
Cheers,
MacGio
PS: I know SubTool Master allows to import multiple *.objs as subtools but anyway, hope this is useful for anyone.
After years of reading and learning a lot from this forum I make my first post with a little tool.
A few months ago I got the idea of sending a model composed of multiple objects from Maya to ZBrush without the hassle of export and name each object and in ZBrush import one at a time and then add them as subtools, again one at a time.
It's not that it takes a long time but all the export every object seperated and naming files then import one at a time as subtools.... naaaaaaa... that's why there is scripting, to make the machine work for us :)
So for that I created a Mel script that you can download from here mgExpObjsGrpToFolder (http://macgio.mediaview.pt/downloads/melscripts/mgExpObjsGrpToFolder.zip).
In a base level it's just a handy *.obj exporter since it exports every object with the proper name in a selection Set and gives the name of the set to the folder where the *.objs will end up. Now the new thing is that it creates a little macro script to create a tool in ZBrush that contains all the objects as subtools with proper names and the same order. Unfortunately and since this is a first release it has some bugs, it only runs on windows and the interface in ZBrush isn't very elegant.
Planning to convert it to python in a next release.
Quick guide:
In Maya
Install
Make sure you have the objExport plug-in loaded.
Source the script "mgExpObjsGrpToFolder.mel" or make sure it's installed properly.
Usage
In Maya select your objects by the order you want say first head then body then legs, etc, etc ( this matters because in ZBrush the subtools will appear in this order)
Now, create a selection Set and name it correctly(this will be the name of the folder where the *.objs will end up)
Finally select the selection set you want to export and run mgExpObjsGrpToFolder;
A browse window will appear, select where the folder containing the *.objs should be created(don't select any path with spaces, its not supported at the moment)
After you select the folder and clicked "ok" a folder with the same name as the Set will be created and the objects will be exported.
In Zbrush
Go to the Zscript>Load button (or press CTRL+SHIFT+L)
From the browse window select the loadmacro.txt file that was created with the *.objs
A new button in the Tool menu will appear saying "import"+ the name of the Set you exported from Maya
Click on this button to create the tool
After this the tool is created and selected, you just need to draw it on the canvas an enter the edit mode
That's it!! Have fun :)
Cheers,
MacGio
PS: I know SubTool Master allows to import multiple *.objs as subtools but anyway, hope this is useful for anyone.