Exporting from Maya to UnrealEd

[Chernuk]

Here I go again, asking for more help...

When I try to export my mesh from the MAYA 7 PLE, I get the error 'unEditor' not recognized.
- the syntax I'm using is: unEditor mesh [set name]

I double checked and the UnrealEd.mll plugin is loaded and autoloads on start-up of MAYA.

I also have the unreal system folder defined in the windows' environment path.

One thing I've noticed is the UnrealEd never auto-launches when Maya launches and this is one thing I've been told to expect when using the plugin.

Anyone have any ideas?

Is the command string different for the MAYA 7 plugin?

[[TW]DrGuppy]

As far as I know you cannot export from Maya PLE straight into ROEd because the ActorX plug-in that you need doesn't work for PLE. The only way I managed to get my models from PLE to Ostfront was through UEd that comes with UT2K4.

[Chernuk]

I am trying to export to UnrealEd (I remember you telling me that's how it was done in an earlier thread).

*edit:

After realizing I was being stupid, I got Maya exporting to UnrealEd. I hadn't used the plugin to setup the export shelf in Maya and I was following a tutorial using Maya PLE 4. Dumb eh?

However, the exporting is not flawless. I loose the static's texture once its in UnrealEd. I can manually assign it a texture, but it doesn't follow the UV projections I set up in Maya. I have changed the shader group names to the texture names in order to link them but it doesn't seem to be working. I'm only using RO stock textures right now, so I've copied them over to the Unreal folder. I have doublechecked that these texture packages were loaded in Unreal Ed before exporting. Am I using the wrong method to link the textures between Maya and UnrealEd?

The good news: What I get in UnrealEd (and manually texture) I can import over to ROed without problem.

I'm so close ... but still not there. Ah the frustration.

[[TW]DrGuppy]

I had to flip all my textures vertically (I think) in Photoshop for the UVs to line up correctly. Since you're using TW-made textures that isn't really an option but you should be able to flip the UVs in Maya for it to line up correctly.

[Chernuk]

Ya, I see what you mean. I now flip all textures I've exported from ROed before importing them into MAYA. Works like a charm ... as long as I remember that all my .tga's are mirrors of the .dds's.

More good news: I got the textures to be automatically assigned once the model is imported into Unrealed. The technique I mentioned above works for me now. I must have mispelled the texture name. To the odd person who might use the thread as a reference, changing the shader group name does work.

[SavetheJets]

theres a bind command you need to use before you can export to unreal, check your myDocuments/maya/documentation/Utsomething or other for a tutorial file

[Chernuk]

Thanks for the tip Jets but I have no idea what you mean by a bind comand. However, using the plugin for Maya7 off the UDN website I'm exporting to Unreal without problems now (well, except for the reversed textures).

[SavetheJets]

well before you can use the PLE plugin you have to use -bind Ued or something like that, otherwise the tool is not loaded into the tabs menu bar at the top of the screen.

[Chernuk]

Oh yeah, I forgot I did that.