Importing 3ds mesh into maya 8
 

Friend of mine made a model in 3dsmax and I want to import this into M8. What plugin do I need and where can I find it? How to install (Mac!)

thx
M.
some 3D I composited last months.

http://files.czar.be/simply_maya

crits and comments always welcome

you would have to export from Max as an *.obj, then in Maya go to Windows>Settings/Preferences>Plug-in Manager, then scroll down the list until you see OBJImport and tick the two boxes. Now you can import the model into Maya.

So...
 

ok
but that would implicate that my friend has to re-export the files (or rather the meshes) like *.obj?
So are you saying that there is in NO way a possibility to import a *.3ds file into Maya? I would prefer to go about that way, eventhough it makes my search for the plugin longer. He gave me some old models he did, but there like 30+. I don't think he'll want to re-export that. Am I stuck if he doen't want to do that?


thx
M.
some 3D I composited last months.

http://files.czar.be/simply_maya

crits and comments always welcome

Isnt that one of the new features of maya 8? Being able to import and export as an autodesk file type (dont know the name) that 3ds Max uses??

Have a look at the release n otes on autodesks site for the file type that they can use, it will save you exporting each object sepperatly as an obj file.

I am not sure if this will help. I import 3Ds files all of the time from Total Texture files on there disk of wheels, brake disks, rotors, gauges, and the like. I use Maya 7's Bonus tools which has 3DS import. When you load it go to WINDOW - SETTINGS/PREFERENCES - PLUG-IN MANAGER and at the bottom (shown in picture) you can lead 3dsimport.mll. Then you can go to IMPORT OPTIONS and in the pulldown window set it to import 3ds. One thing though I have noticed about importing 3DS files is they just kill Maya because of the size it imports the file. It will be VERY LARGE.

Hope that helps.