Importing and Exporting With Point Oven

To Read an MDD File

MDD files can be used to displace geometry by applying the PO_XSI_Reader operator.

1. Select the polygon mesh object.

2. Choose File Import Point Oven Point Oven MDD Reader.

   The operator is applied and placed in the polymesh stack and the PO_XSI_Reader property editor opens.

3. Specify in the FileName text box the MDD file you want to apply to the selected polymesh.

4. Scrub the timeline to displace and animate the geometry.

To Bake an MDD File

The Point Oven Baker plug-in lets you bake your mesh and function curve data to various supported file formats.

1. Choose File Export Point Oven Point Oven Baker. Lock the Point Oven Baker property editor.

2. On the Main tab, specify which items in the scene should be baked.

   You can select scene elements within the viewports or from an explorer window, then add them to the list box by clicking the Add Selection button, remove them from the list by clicking the Remove Selection button, or clear the list completely using the Remove All button.

3. On the Meshes tab, set the file paths and mesh export options to enable mesh baking to MDD displacement files (which contains shape animation data). You can also specify to which object file format to save the geometry: EMDL or LWO format (which contain geometry data only, with no animation).

4. On the Scenes tab, specify the scene file formats and paths for export. Choose LWS (Lightwave), FXS (Messiah), and PSC (Point Oven Scene) file formats. These scene file formats contain data that describes the relationships between the objects in your scene.

5. On the Motions tab, set the options required for motion processing (baking function curves). For motions to be processed, enable the Motions checkbox and select the type of objects for which motions will be stored: cameras, lights, nulls, and mesh objects.

   By default, Point Oven Baker embeds the motion data into the scene file provided that a scene file is selected for output on the Scenes tab. If you want to bake the motion of an item without requiring a scene file, then also enable the Separate Motion Files checkbox.

6. Click the Process button on the Main tab.

To Import an LWO File

1. Choose File Import Point Oven Point Oven LWO Import.

2. The LWO Import property editor opens where you can specify the file you want to import in the Pick LWO file text box. In most cases you get good results with the default settings.

3. Click the Import button and your LWO file is imported as follows:

   • A new model is imported under the scene root.

   • All layers from the LWO file are nested under the model as polygon mesh objects.

   • Morphs are imported under the model's mixer node.

   • Use the morph property plug-in to automatically set up custom sliders that link to the morphs you imported. To use the property, select the imported mesh and choose Get Property Point Oven Morph property. The PO_MorphProperty is nested under the mesh and the custom slider interface is displayed.

   • UVs, Surfaces and Weights are placed in the clusters folder under the polygon mesh (each surface cluster having a material attached).

To Export to an LWO File

1. Choose File Export Point Oven Point Oven LWO Export.

2. The LWO Export property editor opens where you can set the file name and the location where it will be saved.

3. Before exporting, make sure you selected the geometry you want to export. If you select several polymesh objects the exporter saves a single file with each polymesh defined on a different layer within that file.