Generate a Face Robot mesh (based on shapes) and rig to be exported to a 3D application, such as Autodesk Maya.
On the Act panel in the Face Robot layout, click the Export tab and choose Animation Export - Linked Shapes.
For more information on the animation export in general, see Exporting Animation Rigs (Shapes).
Create |
Creates samplers based on the face's animation controls. Samplers are lattice-like forms that help you visualize how the geometry of the face is sampled in each area around the control. See Creating Samplers for more information. |
Create ROM |
Creates range of motion (ROM) samplers, which are samplers based on the animation control's range of movement in space. The size of the sampler reflects the control's complete range of movement. This is more useful for controls that move over a larger area in space, such as the chin or mouth. |
Inspect |
Opens up the Sampler Property Editor so that you can edit and test the selected samplers. |
Delete |
Deletes the selected samplers. If nothing is seleted and you click this button, all samplers are deleted. |
Load |
Loads an existing sampler preset file (.smp) that is applied to the selected face controls. There is a default.smp file that ships with Face Robot that you can apply. If nothing is selected when you click this button, the sampler preset is applied to all face controls for which a preset exists. |
Save |
Saves the samplers on the selected face controls in a sampler preset file (.smp). If nothing is seleted when you click this button, the sampler preset file includes presets for all face controls. |
After you've created the samplers on the head, you're ready to build the export rig. See Building the Export Rig for more information.
Once you've created the animation rig, you can save the geometrical deformation of the original Face Robot face as shapes and transfer them to the export rig.
See Generating the Shapes for more information.
When you have finished all the previous steps, you're ready to export the animation rig in a .dotxsi file. The dotxsi format is the file format that is used as the default export/import format for Softimage and is also easily imported by Autodesk Maya.
Path |
The path and file name that you want to use for the exported .dotxsi file. You can click the (…) button to open a browser and select a path and file name there. |
Include Animation |
Exports the animation (fcurves) on the controls as part of the rig. |
Replace Neutral Poses with Nulls |
Removes the neutral pose data on each animation control and replace that data with an actual null.
For information on neutral poses, see Creating Neutral Poses for Skeletons. |
Export |
Exports the animation rig to the .dotxsi file that you have specified. |