| 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:
For more information about these plug-ins, see Using Crosswalk for 3ds Max and Using Crosswalk for Maya [Data Exchange].
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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). |
| 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 Animation |
| 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 [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. |
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.
When Plot All Animation is on:
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:
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.
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.
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.
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].
This option group is only available when the Crosswalk File Type is set to COLLADA 1.4.1.
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
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