Exporting from Maya 2013 issues

[Confessions]

Hi there, I'm new to modelling, just started infact.

I made my first ever model, it's extremely basic, it was a test. I made a chest of drawers.

I textured it very basically.

Then I saved it as a 2011 FBX file and then used the 2011 FBX converter to convert it into a Collada file.

Now when I try to upload it I see no textures, it's blank white and the nurb primitives I created are missing too.

 

Any help would be much appreciated!

[Cathy Foil]

You can not use Nurbs for creating mesh for SL.  Polygon is the only mesh type that can be uploaded to SL.

You can convert your nurbs to polygons and then export it.

You can try uploading your textures manually to SL.  Then rez your mesh and apply the texture.

Hope that helps.

Cathy

[Chosen Few]

Just to expand a little on what Cathy said, it's not just that you can't use NURBS for SL.  You can't use NURBS for any realtime simulation at all.  The math that drives them is just too complicated for realtime use. 

You'll never see NURBS in video games or virtual worlds, ever.  NURBS were first developed for industrial design applications, and have been used quite extensively in film.  They have no place in games or virtual worlds.

 

As for the texturing issue, I'm not sure what options Maya 2013 has for embedding/referencing media into FBX, and I'm also not sure how well the converter will preserve the relationships, even if the options within Maya are suitable.  I wouldn't worry about it, though.  With SL's limit of only 8 materials per model, it's not like it's time consuming to just upload the textures separately, and then apply them in-world after the fact.  You may find that you even prefer it that way, since it can make it a little easier to keep organized.

[Confessions]

Very interesting! Thanks a lot for the replies.

So how do I go about exporting the texture from my model? Also I just tried to upload with the nurbs converted to polygons and now some of the polygons looks very messed up! Stuff missing from them etc.

I've read some stuff about something called UV unwrapping, I guess I should read up on that . 

[Chosen Few]

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Confessions wrote:

So how do I go about exporting the texture from my model?

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If you created the texture in Photoshop, or any other image editor, simply upload the file, as is.  If you created it procedurally in Maya, then you'll need to bake it out to an image file.  Specific instructions for that will vary, depending on what renderer you're using.  I recommend using Turtle, if you have it.  If not, use Mental Ray.

I can't give you an exact step-by-step walkthrough, without knowing more about what software you're using, and how your scene is set up.  Baking is a big subject.  Here's the basic outline of the work flow:

1.  Create your model, and UV map it well.

2.  Apply shader(s), including all materials, image files, and procedural effects you want to use, to create whatever look you're going for.

3.  Light the scene appropriately, for the setting in which the model will be placed.

4.  Adjust the setting for your renderer of choice, for whatever visual features you want to be included in the baked image, and for basic file options, like name, size, and location.

5.  Render/bake.

6.  Optionally, edit the image in Photoshop afterward, to add any post processing effects you might want.

7.  Upload the image to SL, and apply to your model in-world.

 

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Confessions wrote:

Also I just tried to upload with the nurbs converted to polygons and now some of the polygons looks very messed up! Stuff missing from them etc.

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What options did you use for converting the model?  There are lots of different tessaltion options.  Results will be highly variable, depending on which options you choose.  It's also likely you'll need to do at least a little bit of cleanup work, after conversion.  NURBS and polygons are based on entirely different mathematics.  Conversion from one to the other isn't always perfect.

How does the converted model look in Maya, prior to export?  If it looks the way it's supposed to in Maya, but looks wrong in SL, then it's iikely something is getting messed up in the export.  Did you remember to delete history from the model, before you exported?

 

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Confessions wrote:

I've read some stuff about something called UV unwrapping, I guess I should read up on that

. 

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"Something called UV unrwapping"?  Really?  UV mapping is only the most imortant part of moedling anything at all. It's not just a "something".

Creating the actual three-dimensional sculptural shape is only half the process.  The other half is UV'ing it well, so that textures will wrap around it the way you want it to.  So, yeah, you'd better read up on that.

 

I'm getting the sense that you didn't go through the beginner tutorials in your Maya User Guide, like you were supposed to when you first got the program.  I'd suggest you start there. 

So you know, several hundred dollars of the $3500 pricetag you paid for Maya went to pay for its absolutely fantastic documentation.  Don't throw that money away.  Use it.