Send objects to other Autodesk applications

 
 
 

The Send to commands in the File menu let you exchange data between Maya and 3ds Max, Softimage, MotionBuilder, and Mudbox.

The Send to commands establish a connection between Maya and the target application (3ds Max, Softimage, MotionBuilder, or Mudbox). While the connection is established, the applications share data. To break the connection, close the scene in one of the applications, exit one of the applications, or use a different Send to command to exchange data with a different target application. Each application can be connected to only one other application at a time. Established connections between Maya and the target applications are indicated in the application status bars.

The Send to 3ds Max, Send to Softimage, Send to MotionBuilder, and Send to Mudbox commands are located in the File menu of the Maya main menu bar. If the target application is not installed on your system, the option is not available.

Note

If a target application is installed on your system but does not appear in the File menu, you may need to reload the OneClick plug-in. See Load or unload Maya plug-ins.

Sending objects

Objects shared by Maya and the target application are matched by name. If you change the name of an object in Maya, it will not be included when you update the scene unless you add it explicitly, and the object with the old name in target application will not be automatically updated or deleted. Objects are sent from Maya to the target applications using the FBX format. Any application features that are not supported by FBX are not transferred between applications.

If you want to send a user-defined camera to the target application, you must make this camera the current view or select the camera in addition to the scene objects that you send.

Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites

The Live character streaming feature is only available if Maya is used as part of the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites. Additionally, if you are using Maya as part of the suites and it is running off a network, you must set two suites specific environment variables to enable the Send to commands. See Suites specific environment variables.

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