Managing files for file referencing

 
 
 

File and node naming

Planning the file and node naming conventions for the parent scenes and referenced files is important and will greatly add to the success of the implementation of file referencing in your production environment. In particular plan to ensure that:

File formats

Saving files in the Maya ascii file format (.ma) is preferred when using file referencing. Maya ascii files can be opened and edited in your favorite text editor, and are easier to troubleshoot if the file or some components of the file do not load as expected.

Note

It is not recommended that you reference files in other file formats (for example, dxf, obj, wire, and so on) when using file referencing. When possible convert files to a native Maya format by loading and resaving files in the .ma format.

File paths

File referencing only supports absolute paths and paths with environment variables. Relative path names are not supported when using file referencing. An environment variable can be used as a superior alternative to a relative path as it is explicit and customizable to each user's file structure.

Relative path (not supported):

scenes/street.ma

Absolute path (supported): C:/projects/cityscene/scenes/street.ma

Environment variable path (supported): $myProject/scenes/street.ma

For more information on environment variables see Setting environment variables using Maya.env.

For more information, see Edit reference paths in the Reference Editor.