Integrating AEM 3D with Autodesk Maya

You can optionally integrate AEM 3D with Autodesk® Maya® software to enable support for native Maya files (.MA and .MB) and to let you render 3D assets in AEM with any available Maya renderer.

This integration is for Windows only.

When integrating with Autodesk Maya, you must install and configure Autodesk Maya, add the path to the Maya executable folder, enable Maya for ingestion and rendering, and test the integration.

See Advanced configuration settings.

See also Integrating AEM 3D with AutoDesk 3ds Max.

To integrate AEM 3D with Autodesk Maya:

1. Install Autodesk Maya 2016 software on the same servers where AEM is hosted.

   Following installation, verify that you can open and use Maya and that there are no licensing issues.

   NOTE

   AEM only uses the Maya command line rendering tool (render.exe). A single Maya network license allows up to five servers to process or render Maya content simultaneously.

2. In Maya, enable the Autodesk FBX® Plug-In.

3. Install the MentalRay render plug-in or another desired renderer.

   Following installation, verify that MentalRay is available in Maya.

4. Add the path to the Maya executable folder to the Windows PATH environment variable.

   For example, on Windows Server 2012, tap Start > Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables. Append the full path to the Maya2016\bin folder to the Pathsystem variable.

   

5. To enable Maya for ingestion and rendering, open CRXDE Lite and navigate to /libs/settings/dam/v3D/assetTypes/maya and set the Enabled property to true.

   

6. To enable the JT (Siemens PLM Open CAD) file format, navigate to /libs/settings/dam/v3D/assetTypes/jt and set the Enabled property to true.

7. In AEM, enable Maya as a renderer. Begin by navigating to Tools > General > CRXDE Lite.

8. From the CRXDE Lite page, in the left panel, navigate to the following:

   /libs/settings/dam/v3D/renderers/maya

   

9. Set the Enabled property to true.

10. Near the upper-left corner of the CRXDE Lite page, tap Save All.

    Maya is now enabled as a renderer.

Testing the integration of AEM 3D with Autodesk Maya

1. Open AEM Assets, then upload the .MA files located in sample-3D-content/models to the test3d folder.

   Note that sample-3D-content.zip was previously downloaded for validating the basic 3D functionality.

2. Return to the Card view and observe the message banners shown on the uploaded assets.

   The Converting Format banner is displayed while Maya is converting the native .MA format to .FBX.

3. After all processing is finished, open the logo-sphere.ma asset and select the stage-helipad.ma stage.

   The Preview experience is the same as with logo_sphere.fbx and stage-helipad.fbx.

4. Near the upper-left corner of the page, tap or click the drop-down list and then select CRender.

   

5. In the Renderer drop-down list, select Autodesk Maya, then tap Start Render.

6. Near the upper-right corner of the page, tap or click Close to return to the Card view.

   Observe the message banner on the image asset that is rendering (logo-sphere, unless a different image name was specified). A progress bar on the banner shows rendering progress.

   NOTE

   Rendering is very CPU intensive and may take several minutes to complete

7. After rendering completes, open the rendered image asset.

   Check that the rendered image reasonably matches the image that you were viewing at the time you clicked Render Now.

Enabling Additional Formats Supported By Maya

(Optional) Maya supports a number of 3D input formats, any of which can be enabled so that AEM recognizes the file type. When enabled, AEM sends the file to Maya to convert it to an intermediate format that can be ingested directly by AEM.

Depending on the format, feature support may be limited (for example, materials may not be passed through) and quality/fidelity may be limited (for example, reversed faces). Adobe only supports the general mechanism, but not any specific format conversion.

See Supported Data Import Formats | Maya for information about the formats supported by Maya.

To enable additional formats supported by AEM:

1. Using CRXDE Lite, navigate to /libs/settings/dam/v3D/assetTypes.

2. Make a copy of the jt node. Right-click on the jt node and select Copy, then right-click the assetTypes folder and select Paste. This should produce a new node /apps/cq-scene7-v3D/config/assetTypes/Copy of jt.

3. Rename the new node to give it a unique name which represents the file type to be added. The file suffix might be used or any other unique identifier.

4. Set the Enabled property of the new node to true.

5. Set the Extension property of the new note to the file suffix/extension of the format being added.

6. Set the MimeType property to an appropriate value. application/x- followed by the value of the Extension property should work for most file types.

7. Make certain that the Conversion property is set to fbx and IngestRegime to Maya.

8. Click Save All near the top left of the page.

The following screenshot illustrates an added file format, using COLLADA DAE as an example: