File > Export Selection, Export
All >
File Type
When you select mentalRay from the File
Type drop-down list, the many options appear.
File Type Specific Options
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.
- Renderable Scene
-
This is the default.
Maya exports all scene
entities (lights, cameras, shaders, globals, and so on) that are
necessary to render the selected geometry. The resulting scene will
be renderable using the mental ray standalone.
- Render Proxy (Assembly)
-
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.
- Scene Fragment (Custom)
-
Maya exports only the nodes that are selected. This
mode can be used to export particular lights, cameras, shaders,
or geometry. The resulting .mi file
will most likely not be directly renderable, so it is called a Scene
Fragment.
- Export materials
-
In addition to the selected
nodes, this setting also exports any materials that they are connected
to. This applies to selected geometry and shading nodes.
- Export material Assignments
-
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 and
Managing your scenes using render proxies for
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.
- Export all incoming shaders
-
In
addition to selected shading nodes, also exports all inputs to those
nodes. For example, if a surface shader is selected, this mode causes
any texture networks feeding into the shader to be exported along
with the shader.
- Export entire child
DAG
-
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.
- Root Group Name
-
Use this option to specify the name of the assembly
root. If you choose Use Filename, the root group
name is derived from the file name. For example, if the render proxy
file name is test.mi, the assembly
root group name is test. Alternatively,
you can specify your own root group name.
- File Format
-
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.
- Output File Per Frame
-
When animation is enabled,
Maya exports all data required to render all the frames specified by
the Render Settings animation range settings.
With Output File Per Frame off,
data for all the frames is output to a single .mi file.
With this option on, a separate file is output for each frame.
- Frame Extension
-
When Output
File Per Frame is enabled, this option determines the
convention for naming each frame’s output file.
- Frame Padding
-
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.
- Output File Per Layer
-
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.
- Export File Paths
-
Use this option to set
the file path for each category.
For each option, there
are three choices:
- None. The
filename does not contain a path. For example, hat.jpg.
- Absolute.
The filename contains an absolute path. For example, c:/My Documents/maya/projects/default/sourceimages/hat.jpg.
- Relative to project.
The relative path to the project directory is used. For example, sourceimages/hat.jpg.
- Link Library
-
Path option for shader
libraries. For example, decides the path options for mayabase.so, base.so,
etc.
- Include File
-
Path option for shader
declaration files (mi) such as mayabase.mi,
etc.
- Texture File
-
Path option for texture
files; for example, hat.jpg.
- Light Map
-
Path option for lightmap
files generated (if lightmap shader is used).
- Light Profile
-
Path option for light
profile files.
- Output Image
-
Path option for output
image files.
- Shadow Map
-
Path option for shadow
map files.
- Finalgather Map
-
Path option for final
gather map files.
- Photon Map
-
Path option for photon
map files.
- Render Proxy Placeholder
-
Path option for the render
proxy placeholder.
- Export Selected Items Only
-
This option allows detailed
control over precisely which mental ray entities are exported into
the .mi file. See the mental
ray User Manual, available from the Maya Help, for descriptions of
the various entity types that can be exported.
- Predefined Export Filters
-
Provides several useful
preset combinations of entity types for export.