Maya

Maya is a popular 3D modeling/animation/rendering suite from Autodesk (formerly from Alias). It is a powerful tool for modeling, texturing and animating props and characters. It also contains many advanced features which are not applicable to Source modding (dynamics, rendering, etc.). While Valve favors XSI for modeling and animating, some users may prefer Maya's rich feature set.

There is also a free version of Maya called the Maya Personal Learning Edition (PLE). It is based on the latest edition of Maya Complete but suffers from some limitations:

• rendered images contain watermarks
• scenes can only be saved to the non-commercial .mp file format
• plugins are not supported unless they are specifically designed to interact with the .mp file format

For a complete list of restrictions, see the Maya Personal Learning Edition question and answer page at Autodesk.

Plugins

• .smd Exporter by Prall
• Steam\SteamApps\username\sourcesdk\maya Valve's .smd scripts supplied in the Source SDK

Installing Valve's Maya 7 Plug-in

1. Edit the sourcesdk\maya\7.0\runmaya.bat and make sure that the path setting to maya.exe is correct. The default is C:\Program Files\Alias\Maya7.0\bin.

2. Run C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\ \sourcesdk\maya\7.0\runmaya.bat

3. When Maya comes up go to Window|Settings/Preferences|Plug-in Manager...

4. Look for vstSmdl0.mll and check the "loaded" and "auto load" boxes.

5. When you go to export you should see the new choices:

Valve SMD Model

Valve SMD Animated Model

Valve SMD Physics Model

Valve SMD Animation

See Also

• Modifying a Source Model in Maya

External links

• Autodesk Maya Official site.
• Introduction to the Maya 8 User Interface Noesis Interactive video tutorial.
• Introduction to Custom Props for Source Powered Games with Maya Noesis Interactive video tutorial.
• Stieffers' Maya to Source: A Model Exportation Guide
• Palmer's Maya Prop Exporting Tutorial
• Obsidian's Maya --> Source Tutorial