Crosswalk for Maya allows complete camera interoperability between Maya and Softimage. Camera animation and attributes can be exported from Maya and successfully imported into Softimage. This is particularly useful for the following workflow scenario:
Author geometry and animation in Maya and render your scene.
Using Crosswalk for Maya, export the camera and the required geometry from Maya to Softimage.
Author specialized effects in Softimage and render your scene.
Composite both the Maya and Softimage rendered images. This is possible because both images are rendered with essentially identical cameras.
The tables below describe the supported camera settings when exporting from and importing into Maya. Camera interoperability with the Crosswalk for Maya importer is also available, however the import of camera animation from Softimage into Maya is not supported.
When exporting from Maya, the animation of camera attributes is plotted as one key per frame with a constant interpolation between keys. When importing this data into Softimage, make sure that the Import Timeline Settings checkbox in the Import Crosswalk Options Dialog Box is selected so that the frame rate is set to the one used in your Maya scene. If you need to modify the frame rate, change it in the Maya scene first, then render it and export it again to Softimage.
In Softimage, you can set the camera options in the Camera Property Editor [Properties Reference].
The column marked as "A" indicates whether or not the attribute is animatable.
| Maya |
A |
Notes |
Maya Export |
Maya Import |
Crosswalk |
Softimage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angle of View |
No |
Driven by Focal Length - it can't be animated by itself. |
No export of animation for this attribute. Handled by the Focal Length animation. |
The Focal Length value (if specified in the file) takes precedence over the Angle of View. |
XSI_Camera:<fov> |
|
| Focal Length |
Yes |
Must take into account the Camera Scale. Plot the animation if Camera Scale is animated. |
Standard import. |
XSI_CameraFocalLength:<projplanedist>. If this template is present in the file, its value takes precedence over the <fov> value. |
|
|
| Camera Scale |
Yes |
To get the final Focal Length, you must divide the Focal Length by this value. |
Baked in the Focal Length. |
Does not apply on import. Already factored in the Focal Length. |
No equivalent. Baked in the Focal Length. |
No equivalent. Baked in the Focal Length. |
| Auto Render Clip Plane |
No |
Automatic (dynamic) near and far clipping is ON by default. This could lead to issues because the near and far values become irrelevent in this case. However, once in Softimage, this attribute is no longer dynamic and the unused near and far values in Maya are now used. |
If ON, the Softimage default near and far values are used instead. Any animation of these attributes is discarded. |
Set to ON when importing. If the near and far values are relevent, you must turn OFF this option manually. |
No equivalent. |
No equivalent. |
| Near Clip Plane |
Yes |
Plotted on export. See Auto Render Clip Plane for more information. |
Standard import. See Auto Render Clip Plane for more information. |
XSI_Camera:<near> |
|
|
| Far Clip Plane |
Yes |
Plotted on export. See Auto Render Clip Plane for more information. Although an unlikely scenario, it is possible in Maya to set a negative value for Far Clip Plane using a function curve. The issue is that the value received by the exporter is 0.001 instead of the negative value and this no longer matches the value used by the Maya renderer. |
Standard import. See Auto Render Clip Plane for more information. |
XSI_Camera:<far> |
|
The column marked as "A" indicates whether or not the attribute is animatable.
| Maya Attributes |
A |
Notes |
Maya Export |
Maya Import |
Crosswalk Equivalents |
Softimage Equivalents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Film Gate |
No |
This is a preset for the Camera Aperture, Film Aspect Ratio, and Lens Squeeze Ratio. |
Not exported. |
Import in "User" mode. |
No equivalent. |
No equivalent. |
| Camera Aperture |
Yes |
In Maya, the Camera Aperture and the Aspect Ratio used to produce an image are a combination of the rendering setting Device Aspect Ratio and the camera settings Camera Aperture, Film Aspect Ratio, and Lens Squeeze Ratio. These values are combined according to the Fit Resolution Gate. To achieve proper camera interoperability, the final camera settings are exported by Crosswalk, instead of the original camera settings that do not take into account the rendering settings. |
Plotted on export. Takes into account the Lens Squeeze Ratio, the rendering setting Device Aspect Ratio and the Fit Resolution Gate. |
Standard import. |
XSI_Camera:<projplanewidth>, XSI_Camera:<projplaneheight> |
|
| Film Aspect Ratio |
No |
Driven by the Camera Aperture. |
Must take into account the Lens Squeeze Ratio. |
Standard import. |
XSI_Camera:<aspect> |
|
| Lens Squeeze Ratio |
Yes |
Baked in the Camera Aperture width and Film Aspect Ratio. Final Aspect Ratio = Aspect Ratio * Lens Squeeze. The Camera Aperture width must be modified accordingly to respect the new final aspect ratio. |
Set to 1. Values already baked in Camera Aperture. |
No equivalent. Baked in projplanewidth and projplaneheight. |
No equivalent. Baked in projplanewidth and projplaneheight. |
|
| Fit Resolution Gate |
No |
The rendering settings are baked in the exported camera settings according to this option. See Camera Aperture for more information. |
Baked in Camera Aperture. |
Not supported. Always set to "Overscan" so that the complete Softimage rendered image is included in the Maya render. |
||
| Film Fit Offset |
Yes |
Do not use if you need camera interoperability with Softimage. |
Not supported. |
Not supported. |
No equivalent. |
No equivalent. |
| Film Offset |
Yes |
Do not use if you need camera interoperability with Softimage. |
No supported. |
Not supported. |
No equivalent. |
No equivalent. |
| Pre Scale |
Yes |
Do not use if you need camera interoperability with Softimage. |
No supported. |
No supported. |
No equivalent. |
No equivalent. |
| Film Translate |
Yes |
Do not use if you need camera interoperability with Softimage. |
No supported. |
No supported. |
No equivalent. |
No equivalent. |
| Film Roll Pivot |
Yes |
Do not use if you need camera interoperability with Softimage. |
No supported. |
No supported. |
No equivalent. |
No equivalent. |
| Film Roll Value |
Yes |
Do not use if you need camera interoperability with Softimage. |
No supported. |
No supported. |
No equivalent. |
No equivalent. |
| Film Roll Order |
No |
Do not use if you need camera interoperability with Softimage. |
No supported. |
No supported. |
No equivalent. |
No equivalent. |
| Post Scale |
Yes |
Do not use if you need camera interoperability with Softimage. |
No supported. |
No supported. |
No equivalent. |
No equivalent. |
The following rendering settings are not supported when exporting from or importing into Maya using Crosswalk for Maya. You must manually set these image size options in either Softimage or Maya in order to ensure that your rendered output images match when compositing later.
In Softimage, you can set the scene output resolution options in the Scene Render Options Property Editor [Properties Reference].
