The Area

Maya crashing when opening file

2012-05-26T03:53:46+02:00

I had scene with nparticles and generated mesh...I create cache with Alembic (it was 1.3GB) than save scene and close maya...(everything was fine) than I delete Alembic cache .abc file from Explorer and open Maya (everything looks fine) But now, when I'm opening this .mb file maya crashing I need to open this scene, all my work there... please Help

Compositing Fire

2012-05-25T15:24:50+02:00

Hi, how does one go about rendering Fire/Fluid dynamics so it can be composited correctly in After Effects. I have rendered against a black background but when overlayed in after effects it appears washed out? Thanks

Upgrading to 2013

2012-05-25T08:43:32+02:00

Hi! I have Autodesk Maya 2012, student version. I want to upgrade to 2013. How do I do that without having to download the whole software again? Plus, can I use my 2012 files with 2013? Please help. Keep in mind that it is the student version, that is, the free version that lasts 3 years.

Problem building Python module on OSX for Maya2012

2012-05-25T07:27:00+02:00

I've created a python module (using SWIG to wrap my C code) and I'm trying to link it to Maya2012's python library so to ensure compatibility. On my system though, the libpython2.6.a file I need to link to does not exist that is located in Python.framework/Versions/Current/lib/python2.6/config. It's a sym-link to "Python" and as I cannot cp the file either, I assume it does not exist. The headers are there in the Current/include directory, but not the .a file. On the PC I can correctly build against the headers and python26.lib file and I can import my python module. Currently I include the maya python headers and use the -lpython2.6 linker switch. The result though is it crashes out with a version mismatch. otools reports its linked to the 2.6 library (compatibility version 2.6.0, current version 2.6.7) from System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/Python The only other issue is that I rename the created libxxx.dylib to _xxx.so. otool still reports the libxxx.dylib on the first line. Should I be changing that reference with install_name_tool somehow? I am about to try to compile under Linux as well, and I assume that I will also have these problems. Any help would be *very* gratefully received .... I'm tearing my hair out with this issue! Just to outline what I'm using: OSX 10.7.4 Maya2012 QtCreator to compile/link (using g++) <-- I'm not using any Qt though, just straight C. Best Regards, Simon.

Painting fur attributes

2012-05-25T01:43:13+02:00

Hi all, Gonna try this again. I'm updating a character with fur and I've had these problems before and it's getting a bit ridiculous now. I'm trying to paint the direction attribute of the fur with a map that's 4096x4096. My UV samples were initially set to 256, but it left the fur with a lot of patchiness. So now my UV samples area 1024x1024. Painting individual strand directions is fine, but if I make the brush bigger and stroke, Maya hangs for about 5 minutes. Here are my specs: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz 8 Gigs DDR3 nvidia 9800GT Windows 7 Professional 64bit Maya 2012 SAP SP1 I'd assume it has to do with the map size and UV samples, but I really need this character detailed. What sort of specs should my machine have to do this smoothly? Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated. I could take a look shave and a haircut, but I mean, this is Maya, fur is supposed to be awesome, right? Kind regards, Ed

compositingInterop.mll and MentalRay issues

2012-05-24T02:19:14+02:00

When Maya starts for the first time (no preferences created yet, so fresh start) it gives me this error in the script editor: // Error: Plug-in, "compositingInterop.mll", was not found on MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH. // I checked the plugins folder and I found that Maya is right, there isn't that plugin. Another one is this: if I set Mentalray as default renderer and I open the render settings windows, go to the Quality tab, close the render settings window, and then create a new scene, Maya gives me this error message: // Error: No object matches name: mentalrayGlobals.imageCompression // Anyone knows something about this issues? Thank you very much

Artifacts ...

2012-05-23T12:39:48+02:00

I create a cv curve. Revolve it. Convert Nurbs to Polygons. Delete history. Set my Normals so they're correct and center my pivot. Now I get this flickering artifact pattern appearing. When I send this object to ZBrush and rotate it around various sections will disappear, as though Backface Culling were on ... which it is not. Whats up ?

Rotation manipulator selection

2012-05-23T08:19:40+02:00

Hello, While using Maya 2012, I've found that the Rotation Tool acts a little differently than in previous versions. Maybe it's a problem with my installation, but I'm seeing it on every other workstation as well, so I'm guessing it's just a new feature in Maya 2012. While using the rotation tool, when trying to grab the center to rotate (Center as virtual trackball option checked) I inadvertently select the axis of whatever happens to be directly in-line with the point at which I grab the virtual track ball, which I can't see because they do not show, as if the rotation tool's "backface culling" isn't working correctly. In other words, when I try to click the center to free-rotate the manipulator, I accidentally select one of the 3 axis that I can't see. Is there an option to turn this "feature" off?

Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) support for Maya on the Mac

2012-05-23T04:34:43+02:00

Important notice for Autodesk® Maya® 2012 software, and prior Maya version, users regarding the latest Apple® Mac OS® X operating system release, version 10.7 “Lion”. Testing Maya 2012, and prior versions of Maya, on the Mac OS X 10.7 operating system, has identified platform compatibility issues. The issues: Installing Maya on Mac OS X 10.7 may cause the installer to hang. Operating Maya on Mac OS X 10.7 may cause stability issues. When submitting a crash report while operating Maya on Mac OS X 10.7, may cause the crash error reporting system to hang. If you upgrade to Mac OS X 10.7, you may encounter these issues. Autodesk recommends that users of Maya 2012, and prior releases of Maya, do not upgrade to the Mac OS X 10.7 until the compatibility issues have been addressed by Autodesk and Apple. Teams from both companies are working closely to resolve these issues and a notification will be issued once the issues have been addressed. Note: As of this time, Autodesk® Maya® 2012 software has not been certified to run on Mac OS X 10.7. Please consult the certification charts for more information. Thanks, Owen

MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH parser error

2012-05-21T10:01:12+02:00

Hello. I'm writing this in case it helps others with some strange problems. When Maya starts up, it creates the MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH based on what you specify for it, plus any folders in MAYA_MODULE_PATH, plus a number of other default locations and their subfolders. Except it doesn't do a good job on certain cases (at least in my Win7 x64 system). Using a standard plugin, you'll have no problems with whatever it does. But if you use some plugin (say mtoa) that uses Python during its startup, some strange things might happen. In the example case, Maya crashes. The reason for the crash is a conversion error because of malformed folders in the MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH (a number of non English characters followed by 'scripts' -- could be more than one such folder). So how did they get there? If you happen to have an entry in MAYA_MODULE_PATH that points to some folder, say in Program Files (86), Maya can't handle the parentheses for some reason, probably corrupts memory, and adds these strange folders. Weird eh? Solution is to take these folders out of MAYA_MODULE_PATH and just drop their file into the default Maya modules folder.