File > Export Selection, Export All >
Export Selection Output
If objects do not change, reprocessing before exporting to .mi is not required, and the export process is significantly shortened as a result.
Export selection as a mental ray file so that it can be used as a render proxy in your scene. Use this option to export your complex geometry into a mental ray file, then replace it in your scene with a placeholder object that references this file. See Using render proxies in your scene for more information.
In addition to the selected nodes, this setting also exports any material assignment that they are connected to. For example, if your selected geometry is assigned to a Phong shader, selecting this option as well as the Export Materials option will export the geometry, its association with the Phong shader, and the Phong shader itself.
This option is most useful when exporting render proxies to a .mi file. See Using render proxies in your scene Managing your scenes using render proxiesfor more information regarding the use of render proxies.
This option supports material propagation from Maya with render proxies. For example, if you generate a render proxy without assigning to it any material or shading group, and then assign this render proxy to a shape placeholder, then any material assigned at the placeholder level (Maya shape node / instances) is automatically propagated to all objects in the render proxy file. This option allows for the separation of geometry from materials or shading groups.
This option specifies that in addition to selected geometry, any children of that geometry should also be exported.
The standard export filters (enabled by turning on Export Selected Items Only) are also applied to the nodes identified for export. This allows you to prevent the export of unwanted node types.
In ASCII mode, all data in the exported .mi file will be human-readable ASCII text. In binary mode, certain floating-point data (points, normals, texture coordinates, and so on) will be output in binary format to reduce the size of the exported file. The ASCII mode tabulator size determines the amount of indentation in the .mi file.
When Output File Per Frame is enabled, determines the amount of padding applied to the frame numbers. Setting the padding to 2 means each frame number is at least 2 characters long (01, 02, 03, ...), setting it to 3 means each frame number will be at least 3 characters long (001, 002, ...), and so on.
The information from multiple render layers cannot be contained within a single .mi file. Enabling this option allows you to export one .mi file per render layer.
If your scene contains multiple render layers, you must turn on this option. If this option is turned off and you export to .mi format, your scene will not render properly.