I’ve some troubles while exporting a model with a Point Cache modifier. In the exported FBX file I can see references to the point cache file (either a .pc2 or a .xml) but if I try to open the exported FBX with QuickTime the animation is not played correctly: it is played only partially (1 sec, while it should last 3 seconds). I tried to animate a box that should bends and go back to it’s original un-bent state, but the animation stops almost half the way.

Is there any issue with point cache animations (either in the FBX plugin or in the SDK) that prevents either to export or play models correctly?

I’m using 3dsMax 2010 + FBX Plugin 2011.2 and the same version for the FBX Plugin for QuickTime.

One last question: is there a way to explicitly ‘embed/store’ point cache data in the FBX instead of refer to external .pc2/.xml files?

Thanks.
Alessandro

Hi Alessandro !

Thanks for calling our attention to this, yes there is a problem within the FBX QT plugin in that the timeline for the QT plugin is calculated based on the first and last keys in the scene, since PC2 does not really create any keys, the timeline stays at the default for QT ( 30 frames )

We have logged a bug for this and this should be addressed in a future release of the plugin.

In the mean-time, as a work-around, you might try to create a dummy object and add keys to it for the first and last frames of the PC2 animation, then export the FBX file ( still with the point-cache option enabled ) NOTE: You may need to add a “buffer” of 30 frames both at the beginning and/or at the end of the animation due to possible framerate differences.

As for your question as to whether a PC2 file can be “embedded” rather than an external reference, presently, there is no “other” way to do this that I know of......

Hope this helps.....
- Damon