Export Crosswalk Options Dialog Box

| Export | Settings | Animation | Info

Exports scene data to the COLLADA 1.4.1 (*.dae, *.xml), dotXSI 5 (*.xsi), or dotXSI 6 (*.xsi) file format. You can export a single object, multiple-selected objects, or the entire scene. All objects are exported to a single file.

To export, do one of the following:

Choose File Crosswalk Export
Choose File Crosswalk Export to Max
Choose File Crosswalk Export to Maya

NoteThe Export to Max and Export to Maya menu options output a dotXSI 6.0 file which is currently the optimal format for exporting to a Crosswalk-enabled 3ds Max or Maya installation. 3ds Max and Maya can read the dotXSI format using the Crosswalk for Max and Crosswalk for Maya plug-ins, respectively.

For more information about these plug-ins, see Using Crosswalk for Max and Using Crosswalk for Maya [Data Management].

Export

Crosswalk [version]	Indicates which version of the Crosswalk toolset is currently installed.
Check For Updates	Opens a Netview window displaying the Autodesk Crosswalk web page where you can download and update your Crosswalk installation with the most current released version.

Crosswalk File Type

[Format]

The following formats are available for export:

.XSI 5.0 (Text)
.XSI 5.0 (Binary)
COLLADA 1.4.1
.XSI 6.0 (Text)
.XSI 6.0 (Binary)

Crosswalk

Export

Exports scene data using the options you have set on the Export, Settings, and Animation tabs.

File Name

File name

Specify the path (the default location is the dotXSI folder of the current project) and the file name to be exported. Choose the Browse (...) button to select a specific location and filename from a browser.

Settings

Export Options

Verbose

Activates verbose mode and logs the export progress details to the script editor history pane.

Keep Referenced Paths Relative

When this option is on, all referenced paths (such as references to images, FX, and CGFX files) within the Crosswalk file are resolved (kept) as relative to the exported file.

When this option is off, all referenced paths are resolved to absolute paths.

Preserve IK Chains

When this option is on, IK chains are preserved and exported with the IK animation of the effectors.

When this option is off, IK chains are converted to nulls and the IK animation is automatically plotted to FK (which creates function curves on every bone).

Note that this option is not implemented for the COLLADA exporter.

Exported Data

Selection Only	When this option is on, only selected objects in the scene are exported. When this option is off, the entire scene is exported (including the scene root) regardless of the selection. When exporting a selection of objects, all node-selected objects are removed from their hierarchies and are exported with their local transformations. You must branch-select objects if you want to preserve their hierarchies. If a constrained object is selected without its constraining object, only the constrained object will be exported. The plotted fcurves are exported with the constrained object.
Materials	When this option is on, all materials defined in the scene are exported, regardless of whether you are actually exporting the entire scene or just a selection. When this option is off, the Image Clips and Used Materials and Image Clips Only options are no longer available. The reason for this is because when Crosswalk removes all the materials, all the image clips are also removed. To export all materials (whether they are being used or not) without any image clips, select the Materials checkbox and deselect the Image Clips and the Used Materials and Image Clips Only checkboxes. To export all used materials only (without any image clips), select the Materials and Used Materials and Image Clips Only checkboxes and deselect the Image Clips checkbox. To export all materials and all image clips (whether they are being used or not), select the Materials and the Image Clips checkboxes and deselect the Used Materials and Image Clips Only checkbox. For details about material libraries, see Managing Material Libraries [Materials and Shaders].
Image Clips	When this option is on, all materials and all image clips defined in the scene are exported, regardless of whether you are actually exporting the entire scene or just a selection. When this option is off, none of the image clips defined in the scene are exported. Note that you cannot export image clips only without materials. When the Materials option is off, the Image Clips and Used Materials and Image Clips Only options are no longer available. The reason for this is because when Crosswalk removes all the materials, all the image clips are also removed.
Used Materials and Image Clips Only	When this option is on and you are exporting the entire scene, only the materials and image clips that are being used by the objects in the scene are exported. When this option is on and you are exporting a selection, only the materials and image clips that are being used by the selected object(s) in the scene are exported. Make sure you have also selected the Selection Only checkbox. For information about finding out which objects use specific materials and image clips (and vise versa), see The Material Manager [Materials and Shaders].
Animation	When the Animation option is on, all animation defined in the scene is exported. When the Animation option is off, none of the animation defined in the scene is exported. In addition, the Shapes, Animation Plotting, Timeline Animation Plotting Range, Animation Resampling, and Action Sources option groups are no longer available. IK animation is still exported as long as the Preserve IK Chains option is on. If the Preserve IK Chains option is off, the automatic conversion of IK to FK cannot take place because it requires animation plotting (which is not available when the Animation option is disabled).

Exported Polygon Mesh Data

Polygon Meshes (Nulls exported when off)	When the Polygon Meshes option is on, all polygon mesh objects in the scene are exported. When the Polygon Meshes option is off, none of the polygon mesh objects defined in the scene are exported. Nulls are exported in their place. The Used Materials and Image Clips Only option is no longer available. This is because when Crosswalk removes all the geometry, all the associated materials and image clips become unused. In addition, the remaining options in the Exported Polygon Mesh Data group and the AnimationShapes option group are no longer available.
Convert Meshes to Triangles	Triangulates polygon mesh objects by subdividing quads and polygons with five or more sides to form triangles. Existing triangles are not affected.
Apply Subdivision to Meshes	This option only affects subdivision surfaces created through the method of geometry approximation. For more information, see Subdividing with Geometry Approximation [Polygon Modeling]. When this option is on, polygon meshes are exported with their subdivision level baked directly into the geometry and the local geometric approximation property is removed. When this option is off, polygon meshes are exported as their original low-resolution geometry. No subdivision information is exported. Local subdivisions and subdees generated as separate objects from a low-resolution one, are always exported with their subdivision level applied directly onto the geometry (and the mesh subdivision operator is removed) regardless of whether this option is on or not.
Export Tangents and Binormals as Vertex Colors	Exports tangent and binormal data as Color At Vertices (CAV) properties. For more information, see Working with Tangent and Binormal Maps [Texturing].
Export XSI Normals	XSI normals (XSINormal) are the implicit normals that are automatically generated by Softimage, as opposed to user-defined normals (UserNormals) that are treated as user data and are not recomputed by Softimage. When this option is on, XSI normals are exported. When this option is off, XSI normals are not exported. If defined, user normals are always exported with the scene object(s).

Animation

Exported Data

Animation

Note that this is the same option as Settings > Exported Data > Animation. The option is duplicated here for ease-of-access.

When the Animation option is on, all animation defined in the scene is exported.

When the Animation option is off, none of the animation defined in the scene is exported. In addition, the Shapes, Animation Plotting, Timeline Animation Plotting Range, Animation Resampling, and Action Sources option groups are no longer available.

IK animation is still exported as long as the SettingsPreserve IK Chains option is on. If the Preserve IK Chains option is off, the automatic conversion of IK to FK cannot take place because it requires animation plotting (which is not available when the Animation option is disabled).

Shapes

Choose how to export shape animation.

Note that these options are not implemented for the COLLADA exporter.

Export Shapes (ShapeKey Only): Exports only the shape sources (shape keys) that are stored in the model's Mixer > Sources > Shape folder. Any shape clips that are stored in the model's Mixer > Tracks > Shape folder are not exported. This option is useful when you only need the shape key such as for lip synching in a game where the game engine does the work of calculating the interpolation between shapes.

If you store and apply shape keys in mixed weight mode (the default), a custom parameter set containing each shape clip's weight parameter is saved for the object. These shape clips (and the shape weight parameter defined for each clip) are not exported when this option is active. If you imported the file back into Softimage, you would have to re-animate the shape weight using the shape editor, animation mixer, or the ShapeWeight custom parameter set. If you want to preserve the shape animation use the Plot all deformations option.
Plot all deformations: Plots deformations (including shape animation) that are in all regions of the construction mode history. This means that all deformations on the selected object or cluster are plotted, whether or not the deformation is a product of the tools that were used for authoring the shape animation.

For shape animation and animated deforms the exporter compares each vertex on a surface and only the resulting differences are plotted and exported.

Animation Plotting

You can choose to plot all animation. When you plot an animation it is evaluated frame by frame and function curves are created. Plotting creates one key per frame of animation. The plotted animation is applied directly to the object.

Animation plotting is performed when you explicitly select the Plot All Animation checkbox, but plotting is also performed automatically or "under-the-hood" in cases where objects are driven by constraints and expressions or when IK animation is automatically plotted to FK (if Preserve IK Chains is off). Plotting is always done in these situations regardless of the Plot All Animation setting and it will use the Animation Resampling options when generating the function curve data.

The general rules for animation plotting are as follows:

When Plot All Animation is on:
- Animated parameters are plotted.
- Animation in action sources are plotted and stored (baked) back into their respective action source. When mixer tracks and clips are exported as baked animation, they are no longer preserved as tracks and clips in order to avoid having the animation applied twice when re-importing the content. Also note that when the animation in action sources are plotted, the contribution of the mixer tracks and the associated action clips are not taken into account. The timeline range used to plot action sources is defined by the action source's own internal start and end frame.
- Constraints, expressions, and custom operators are transformed into plotted animation.
- IK chains are preserved, if the option to Preserve IK Chains is on, but their animated parameters are plotted. Otherwise IK chains are transformed into nulls with the plotted animation.
When Plot All Animation is off:
- Animation function curves are preserved.
- Constraints, expressions, and custom operators are transformed into plotted animation.
- When animation items such as constraints, expressions, and custom operators are stored in action sources, they are not plotted automatically. Plotting these types of animation items in action sources can be time-consuming so the Plot Non-FCurve Action Sources option is off by default when the Plot All Animation option is off.
  
  For example, enabling this option is useful when you want to preserve mixer tracks and action clip in animation sources, but you still want to plot the animation for items such as constraints and expressions stored in these action sources. To do this, deselect Plot All Animation and select Plot Non-Fcurve Action Sources.
- IK chains are preserved, if the option to Preserve IK Chains is on, and the IK animation is exported. Otherwise IK chains are transformed into nulls, and the IK animation is plotted to FK.

Plot All Animation

Plots all animation including animation in action sources.

Plot Non-FCurve Action Sources

When on, the non-function curve animation items stored in action sources, such as constraints, expressions, and any IK animation that is not preserved, are plotted automatically according to the plotting rules as discussed above. When Plot All Animation is on, the Plot Non-FCurve Action Sources option is always on.

Plotting these types of animation items in action sources can be time-consuming so this option is off by default when Plot All Animation is off.

Timeline Animation Plotting Range

Sets the time span (from start to end frame with a frame step) for the animation plotting. The Start, End and Step options only apply to timeline animation or, that is, to animation in the scene (and not in the mixer). Therefore, these options have no effect on the plotting of action sources. The plotting range for action sources is defined by the action source's own internal start and end frame.

Start	Sets the start frame for the range of frames to be plotted.
End	Sets the end frame for the range of frames to be plotted.
Step	Sets the step value to specify the frame step increment. If this value is 1, every frame is evaluated and a key is set at every frame; if this value is 2, every other frame is evaluated and a key is set at every other frame.

Animation Resampling

When plotting animation, you can specify how the function curve data will be generated.

Animation plotting is performed when you explicitly select the Plot All Animation checkbox, but plotting is also performed automatically or "under-the-hood" in cases where objects are driven by constraints, expressions, and any IK animation that is not preserved (Preserve IK Chains is off and automatically plotted to FK). Plotting is always done in these situations regardless of the Plot All Animation setting and it will use the Animation Resampling options when generating the function curve data.

Interpolation	Choose the interpolation type you want for the function curves. You can choose to keep the current interpolation type or set a new one: Use Existing FCurve Interpolation: Determines how movement will be calculated in an fcurve between keyframes by using the currently defined interpolation type. Constant: Uses a constant interpolation that repeats the value of a key until the next one. The movement is characterized by sudden changes at keys and static positions between keys. Linear: Uses a linear interpolation that connects keys by straight line segments. The movement is characterized by constant speed with sudden changes at each key, creating a mechanical feel to the animation. Cubic: Uses a curved spline interpolation that accelerates and decelerates into (ease in) and out of (ease out) each keyframe, resulting in a smooth transition.
Make Rotations Continuous	Processes rotations to ensure continuity by treating orientation as a single entity instead of individual X, Y, and Z rotation function curves. This allows the plot processing to avoid "spikes" in the continuity of the rotation curves, when they may jump between equivalent (but discontinuous) representations.
Filter Keys	Reduces the number of keys on the function curves resulting from the plot.
% Tolerance	Sets the tolerance level for how close the function curve with the filtered keys fits the function curve you would have gotten without filtering. The lower the tolerance value, the higher the number of keys on the filtered curve, resulting in a closer fit.

Action Sources

You can export all action sources defined in your scene, or you can choose which action sources to export on a per model basis. For more information about models and action sources, see Models and the Mixer [Nonlinear Animation in the Animation Mixer].

Export All Action Sources	When this option is on, all action sources defined in the scene, including their associated action clips and tracks, are exported. When this option is off, the Models drop-down list becomes available and you can choose to export the actions for a specific model in your scene.
Models	From the Models drop-down list, choose the model whose action sources you want to export. Note that the Scene_Root appears in the list because it is considered a model, although in most cases it will not have its own Mixer with action sources defined.
Refresh	Updates the items listed in the Action Sources table. Click the Refresh button when you have removed, renamed, or created new actions for the specified model.
Reset All	Selects all the items in the Action Sources table for export.
[action sources table]	Lists the action sources defined in the Mixer folder of the specified model. A checkmark in the Export column indicates that the action will be exported. Note that if you skip (deselect) even one of the action sources for a given Mixer, none of the action tracks for that Mixer will be exported. In other words, you must export (select) all the actions for a specific model in order to get all of its action tracks exported as well. To export action sources Deselect the Export All Action Sources checkbox. Select from the Models drop-down list the model whose action sources you want to export. In the Export column of the table, select (or deselect) the action sources to be exported.

COLLADA

This option group is only available when the Crosswalk File Type is set to COLLADA 1.4.1.

Export XSI Extra

Exports Softimage-specific information as <extra> elements in the COLLADA file. For example, this information includes neutral poses and transformation limits. This information may not be understood by other tools and applications. This option does not apply to dotXSI files.

Note that custom properties are always exported as <extra> elements. If your scene contains items imported from a third-party application, any "foreign" <extra> elements are also always exported.

Info

From the drop-down menu, choose a Crosswalk export grid to get a listing of all supported scene elements and attributes. These are described in more detail in the topics below: