Assignment 11 - Maya Integration

Configuring MayaMeshExporter

Required References for the Project:

• None!

The MayaMeshExporter is a standalone tool that refers to the Maya libraries set independently on the user's machine! Everything works as intended, as long as the following Windows Environment Variables are properly defined:

• MAYA_LOCATION
  
  • ​The actual install location of Autodesk Maya
    
• MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH
  
  • ​A reference to the USER SPECIFIC plug in folder for Autodesk Maya.
    

Other Project Dependencies:

• None!

Remember, the MayaMeshExporter is a standalone tool! It's just needed to create the actual .mll file used to export a mesh from Maya into our game engine. You build this project to create this .mll of which you then load within Autodesk Maya.
​

Exported Data

Refer to the previous post concerning the output format of our mesh files. Of course, we must output the data to satisfy the structures defined within the file. This time however, we added texture support. The file, now a .MSH, needed UVs to complete the task. I specifically only output the minimum required data for this file.

Why only the minimum? It's less code maintenance, simplicity, and I don't foresee a much more complex use case for this Exporter for the time being. If in the case that's the opposite, I have no problem coming back and adding more funcitonality, failsafes, and considerations for expandability.

Debugging

While writing the final format of the data to be exported from Maya, I found it useful to be able to see at every step of the way the actual data being written. In fact, Visual Studio is able to attach to Maya and then when the Exporter/Executable is ran upon scene export, you can debug and step through the process just like anything else! Below, you can see the beginning call to exporting a mesh file via a breakpoint set at the beginning of the process in Visual Studio.

​Controls

The Camera: [Key : Action]​​​

[W : Move Forwards]
[A : Move to the Left]
[S : Move to the Right]
[D: Move Backwards]
[Space: Move UP]
[Left / Right Ctrl: Move DOWN]

The Sphere: [Key : Action]

[Arrow UP : Move Forwards]
[Arrow LEFT: Move to the Left]
[Arrow RIGHT : Move to the Right]
[Arrow DOWN: Move Backwards]
[Page UP: Move UP]
[Page DOWN: Move DOWN]

Downloads

You can try out these games via the below links. The only difference is that Direct3D will be used in the x64 version, with OpenGL in the other. They have been built and verified to work on Windows.

assign11_garinrk_x64.zip
File Size:	801 kb
File Type:	zip

Download File

---

assign11_garinrk_x86.zip
File Size:	793 kb
File Type:	zip

Download File

---