Rapid Export for Maya
"The Autodesk Maya plugin for exporting with a single click"
v1.1





www.RenderHeads.com
Last Updated 18 November 2009



Contents


  1. Introduction
  2. Getting Started
  3. Using REM
    3.1 Basics
    3.1.1 Setting up the Export
    3.1.2 Exporting
    3.2 Other
    3.3 How it Works
  4. Notes
    4.1 Release Notes
    4.2 Thanks
  5. Support


1. Introduction

1.1 Overview

Find yourself exporting your scenes a lot?  Painful isn't it? 

Normally you have to do most of these things:

Step 1) File -> Export All
Step 2) Browse to the folder
Step 3) Type in the file name / select the file
Step 4) Choose your file type
Step 5) Change export settings
Step 6) Click export
Step 7) Confirm file overwrite

Talk about breaking workflow!  And what if you need to iterate quickly?  Terrible...

Introducing:

Rapid Export for Maya (REM)
the one-click export system that remembers your export targets and settings per scene!


1.2 Features


Other Features:



1.3 Workflow Features

  1. Export Settings Stored In Each Scene
    REM saves each scenes export settings within the .MB/.MA file so the settings are never lost and other artists on the team can also export the scenes with a single click.

  2. Smart File Browser
    The file browser doesn't just open up in a random folder/directory.  Instead it uses the information from the last export or the file path that is currently entered into the REM dialog window.

  3. Automatic Path, Filename and Extension
    By default the path of the export is set to the path of the previous export and the name of the Maya scene is used as the export filename.  As you switch through the list of exporters it automatically changes the extension of your filename.
  4. Recent Exports History
    REM has a list of recent exports which you can click on to call up previous export settings.  It also maintains a list of favourite export paths and filenames.

  5. Smart Scene Change Handling
    Whenever the current scene changes (through creating a new scene or loading an existing scene), the REM dialog detects this and updates itself.  For a new scene or a loaded scene without REM information it will popular the dialog with a probable export path based on the last export and the current scene filename.  For a scene with REM information this is loaded and the dialog is updated.

  6. Wrapped Path Display
    REM displays the file path in a wrapping text box so you can more easily see long file paths.

  7. Progress Window
    Unlike Maya, REM creates a progress window when exporting so you can more easily see when an export has completed.

  8. Export Stats
    Just for fun we've included statistics on your exports, such as how many exports you've done and how long they've taken in total so far.


2. Getting Started

2.1 Requirements

The following versions of Maya are supported:

Microsoft Windows:

Apple Mac OS X:
Linux:

Please let us know about your platform requirements.


2.2 Installation

2.2.1 Windows Installation

REM is downloadable as an executable installer file.


  1. Once the file has downloaded, double-click the installer to launch it.
  2. The first screen asks you to select the folder that you would like the plugin to be installed to on your system.
  3. Now you can click 'Install', and after a few seconds the plugin will be installed.
  4. Launch Maya.


2.2.2 Windows Uninstalling

  Simply run the uninstaller from the Start Menu in "RenderHeads > Rapid Export for Maya".


2.2.3 Mac Installation

  1. Decompress the archive to the directory where you want the plugin to live.  This should be somewhere like "/Applications/RapidExportForMaya/".
  2. Open the file RapidExportForMayaModule.txt, and edit the path at the bottom to be the folder where you've put this plugin in step 1.
  3. Copy RapidExportForMayaModule.txt into the "modules" folder of Maya, which is usually found in:

          /Applications/Autodesk/maya2008/maya.app/Contents/modules/

    (The folder may need to be created if it doesn't already exist)
    (To open maya.app, go the the gear icon in Finder and click "Show Package Contents")

  4. Launch Maya.


2.2.4 Mac Uninstalling

Simply delete the folder containing the plugin, and remove the RapidExportForMayaModule.txt from your maya.app/Contents/modules folder.


2.2.5 Linux Installation

  1. Decompress the archive to the directory where you want the plugin to live.  This should be somewhere like "~/RapidExportForMaya".
  2. Open the file RapidExportForMayaModule.txt, and edit the path at the bottom to be the folder where you've put this plugin in step 1.
  3. Copy RapidExportForMayaModule.txt into the "modules" folder of Maya, which is usually found in:

          /usr/autodesk/maya2008

    (The folder may need to be created if it doesn't already exist)

  4. Launch Maya


2.2.6 Linux Uninstalling

Simply delete the folder containing the plugin, and remove the RapidExportForMayaModule.txt from your Maya/modules folder.


2.2.7 Network Installation

REM can also be installed centrally on a server with all the clients just accessing that single instance of the software.  This makes maintaining software versions and upgrades much easier in a multi-user environment.

  1. On the server copy over all the Rapid Export for Maya files and make the folder publicly available.

  2. For each client you'll need to create an entry for the plugin in their /modules folder pointing to the plugin location on the server.

For more information on how to do this please contact RenderHeads.

2.3 Launching the Script

To launch the plugin type "RH_REM" into the command-line window in Maya.  This will display the main REM window.



You may want to then add the shortcuts to your shelf.  The user interface has a button in the settings tab labelled "Add to Shelf" which will add the 3 shortcuts to the current shelf.



The following three button icons are added to the shelf:



Export All
This will export the whole scene, but if the scene has not been exported with REM before, the scene options UI is launched.


Export Selection

This will export the selected objects, but if the scene has not been exported with REM before, the scene options UI is launched.


Scene Export Setup (main REM UI)
 This will launch the main UI for setting up the scene exports.




2.4 Licensing

2.4.1 Licensing Options

Non-Commercial/Educational Use

REM is FREE for non-commercial and educational use and does not require licensing.


Commercial Use

Licensing is required for:


Licenses can be purchased via our secure online store.


2.4.2 Licensing Notes



2.4.3 Licensing

To obtain and install a license key:

  1. Go to the "License" tab and click "Open License Manager":



  2. Choose either a Non-Commercial or Commercial license type.  If you choose non-commercial the plugin will be licensed and ready to use:


  3. If you've chosen a commercial license this dialog box will appear:


  4. If you don't already have a license key, you can either click "Get 15-Day Free Trial Key" which will take you to our website where you can claim your free trial key or "Purchase Key" to launch our license store website.  Our online store will automatically generate your license key and send it to your email address.

    The license key will look something like this:

    bill@initech.com-(1 user license)-Bill Lumbergh-Initech-Vertex Chameleon 1.x-3ABC-5Q2T-6A0N-2C13-0I0K-5Q2T-6A0N-9Z13-634M-0A4S-5Z1Y-3I3W

    This whole key must be entered

  5. Once you have a key, paste it into the box below.

  6. Click 'OK'.


3. Using REM

3.1 Basics

There are two stages when using REM:

  1. Setting up the Export
  2. Exporting


3.1.1 Setting up the Export

First you must set up your export.  This is generally only done once for each scene, however you can always go back and edit the export settings at any time.

This shelf icon launches the main REM user interface from which you can configure the export settings for the current scene:


- Show REM UI

Alternatively you can enter "RH_REM" in maya's command-line window to launch the same window.

The main window looks like this:


Now you just need to:

  1. Click on the "Browse" button to browse to the path you want to export to and type in your target export filename.

  2. Select the exporter to use.

  3. Set exporter settings.

  4. Export! (see next step)  If you close this dialog box without exporting first the information will be lost.

Now when you save your scene (.MB/.MA) this information will be saved in the scene so you can just export it directly using the step below.


3.1.2 Exporting

You can use the shelf icons to export your scene.


  - Export All
 

  - Export Selection

Alternatively you can just launch the REM UI (Mel command RH_REM) and press either Export All or Export Selection:



3.2 Other

3.3 How it Works

REM creates a hidden Maya node in each scene which stores the export settings for the scene in it's attributes.  This node persists inside the .MB/.MA maya file.  This node can be selected via the Debug menu in the Options tab of the REM UI window.  It is not recommended to manually alter this node.  The node is not exported.


4. Notes



4.1 Release Notes

Version 1.x
Version 1.1 - 18 November 2009

  • Maya 2010 support
  • Added pre and post-export command feature
  • Tool context now maintained after export
  • Fixed bug where folder browser would open up one folder too high
  • Fixed bug where changing UI options would erase settings

Version 1.0 - 16 November 2009


4.2 Thanks

Special thanks fly to:

Saehoon Lee, for all of his testing and great suggestions
Mike Thompson, for all the help and awesome suggestions
 

5. Support


Website

Rapid Export for Maya has it's own website where updates and news can be found:

http://www.RenderHeads.com/portfolio/REM/


Discussion Forum

Use the discussion forum to post your questions, opinions, submit feature requests, report bugs and show off ways you've used the plugin:

http://www.RenderHeads.com/forum/


RenderHeads Details


For further support please contact the developers directly:


Web: www.renderheads.com

Email: contact@renderheads.com

Phone: +447970692070