Maya to PFTrack camera export fails

[Anonymous]

Hi there!

Trying to import a camera from maya2013 into pftrack2011.4.1 using fbx2010.

When the camera is imported the translation seems ok, the translateZ values are negative, but this is expected because maya is right handed and pftrack is left handed.

Rotation is a different story. The values in pftrack are off by 0.004-2.8 degrees and the Y rotation seems to have 90 degrees added.

When I flip the Y rotation in maya and offset it by -90 degrees I get a camera in pftrack which resembles the one I made in maya, but with offset rotations on all channels. We have no idea why this is happening, perhaps someone can help us out…

Thanks in advance!

[Kane Borchert]

what happens when you export as a .ma?
Also take a look at your curve editor in pftrack and make sure this is not a gimble lock ishue. You can add an additonal offset with orientation node at the end of youe node graph if need be. This does sound like a strange bug if it is.

Nathaniel Westveer
Nathanfx

[Anonymous]

Geometry created in Maya or pftrack? Try parenting the geometry to a locator. Although normally you shouldn’t have to. This has happened to me before, can be a very fiddly process!

[Anonymous]

Hi there,
Here’s a take on your problem.
Before exporting your camera from maya.
1. Have it parented to world (no parent basically). This takes out the possibility that the camera is being exported with extra influences not being interpreted correctly by pfTrack.
2. Go to the graph editor. from the “curves” dropdown, apply euler filter to your camera. This will take out any unwanted 180deg snapping. You won’t need to manually select and manipulate points within pfTrack (god forbid you do a mistake and “undo”. whats with the view reset on undo in pfTrack).
3. Export your camera as fbx2009. Why autodesk breaks this basic functionality in every release, I will never understand. Some SP updates fix the issues but they seem to be able to break it between updates. If I have to export fbx, I tend to go straight to fbx 2009. Obviously try to find a working update because you would want to think Autodesk actually updates/streamlines/betters their code between versions instead of just putting an iterated number on the box.

hope this helped …and not too preachy 🙂

cheers,
S

[Author]

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