Maya to Unreal Editor 3

[mickeal_alex]

Hy guys im new to this forum and also to UDK and i have some questions about importing from maya to UDK.So i am using Actor X plugin to export ase and when i export a static mesh from maya to Unreal using axmesh in mel command, in UDK the normals are either hard or soft.Is there anyway to make the editor see the normals like in maya?

[taz1004]

Normals are either hard or soft? If you mean the edges, have you tried "obey hard edges" check box in axmesh window?

[danimal']

He means a real-time display of the normals inside the unreal engine. I'm not aware of it, but I'm not intimately familiar with display types in UEd. But as per taz, the normals are not either hard or soft, they're set to an angle, the harden/soften in maya just sets the angle to 0 or 180.

[mickeal_alex]

Yeah guys i mean the edges, i tried using obey hard edges and it make all the edges hard.I know that in max u have smoothing groups, in maya u have hard or soft edges and manually set it from 0 to 180.If there is no way i will make all of the soft and let the normal maps do the work with the edges.

[taz1004]

With obey hard edges checked, all of my geometry exports with exact smoothing as in Maya. Are all the vertices merged? Can you post screenshot of your model?

[mickeal_alex]

Yes of course all of the vertices are merged, i am at work now, i will post some images later today

[mickeal_alex]

Okay so here are the photos, i also had a problem importing some textures with alfa. SO i have 2 textures made by me (Targa format) in the same way and one works and the other doesnt in unreal, both work fine in maya, the one that doesnt work is tileable. http://i47.tinypic.com/f4ji81.jpg

[mickeal_alex]

http://i49.tinypic.com/30jlfm9.jpg http://i45.tinypic.com/24kvxq8.jpg

[mickeal_alex]

... http://i48.tinypic.com/10n9u15.jpg

[taz1004]

From what I can tell from the captures, Top edge of the platform seems soft but everything else looks to be exported fine. Is that what you mean? Try selecting those edges only... seems like all of the platform edges should be hard. Then manually set them as hard and export again with obey hard edges checked. Also, you need 2 UV channels.

[mickeal_alex]

When i turn on obey hard edges,all edged are turned hard and i dont know what u mean by 2 uv channels, i know that maya can create multiple uv sets, and can u please tell me why one texture works and the other one doesnt

[taz1004]

Unreal uses 2 UV channels. First for texture and second for shadow. After you create first UV in maya, just copy it to another UVset. (Create UVs - Copy UVs to UV Set)

The edges, you need to assign either hard or soft edges in Maya. Some primitives already have smoothing preset but if it doesn't work as it should, I suggest setting all edges to soft first using soften edge, then select edges you want to be hard and assign harden edge. I don't believe set normal angles option work with UDK. Then export using obey hard edges option.

Texture issue, my guess is that they are incorrect size. For textures to be used in UDK, they need to be size of 128x128, 256x256, 512x512, etc. I believe mix of those numbers such as 128x256 also work too but any number other than multiples of those will not work.

Alpha channel in targa work too. Just save it as 32bit.

[mickeal_alex]

WOW thanks alot man, u solved the normals problem, i havent tested the texture but i bet that is the problem cuz it has a different size, also didnt know that UDK needs 2 UV sets and the size for the textures, thanks again!

[Tborggren]

I am looking for a tutorial that show how to import a mesh from ( element ) maya. That is texuret in maya. And how to texture that mesh in udk.
Does anyone know of a tutorial, all i can find is on 3d max. And that is no good.

[crapageddon]

I'm trying to start one on normal mapping here:

http://forums.epicgames.com/showthre...rrerid=1382564

Getting close - if anyone can point out where I'm going wrong I'd appreciate it.

[Neillithan]

I realize this was posted back in 2010, but maybe others will find this useful.

If you're trying to export meshes from Maya using ActorX and you want to retain the hard/soft edges, then follow these steps.



1. Install the correct version of ActorX into your Maya > bin > plug-ins folder (Link located at the bottom of this reply).

2. Make sure ActorX is enabled in your Maya plug-ins. (Window Menu > Settings/Preferences > Plug-in manager). Check "loaded" and "auto-load" next to "ActorX.mll"

3. Ensure all vertices are merged on your object. (Select all Vertices > Edit Mesh > Merge)

4. Unlock Normals (Select your Object > Normals > Unlock Normals)

5. Soften all Normals (Select your Object > Normals > Soften)

6. Automatically Smooth / Harden Normals based on normal angle (Select your Object > Normals > Set Normal Angle. 30 usually works well, sometimes you might have to go up to 37 to get the job done)

7. Fix any problematic edges that should be smoothed or hardened by manually selecting the edges and going to Normals Menu > Soften Edge or Harden Edge

8. Select your object and then export it using the "axmesh" command from the "mel" textbox at the bottom of Maya. ActorX needs to be installed into the Maya > bin > plug-ins folder for this to work.

9. Make sure "Obey Hard Edges (Convert to smoothing groups" is CHECKED (IMPORTANT!)

10. Click export mesh.

Optional Tip: Make sure that your object has 2 UV maps. One for the material, and one for the lightmap! That is very important!

Optional Tip 2: If your mesh has more than 1000 polies, you should consider optimizing it with a polygon simplification program. I prefer Balancer since it's free and works well. Just remember, Balancer only imports/exports OBJ format. OBJ format supports only ONE UV map. This means that you will have to recreate the 2nd UV map for your lightmap. Export a reduced version from Balancer, import it back into Maya, create a 2nd UV map, export it using ActorX and you're golden.



Get ActorX here: http://www.gildor.org/downloads (EpicGames ActorX for 3ds Max/Maya 2012/2013) Direct Link: http://www.gildor.org/down/35/actorx/ActorX_All.zip


Balancer here: http://www.atangeo.com/download

Hope this is helpful to some people.
-Neil