Max 9 vs. Maya 8.5 pivots

Pivot information is not present in Maya DAEs. In Max I create a cube, modify it’s pivot point and the resulting XML shows 2 transforms for the node clearly representing the pivot transformations. This is good and allows me to collapse hierarchies and such for real time application.

Now, on the other hand, in Maya, when I create this same cube and modify it’s pivot point in the exact same manner as I did with the cube in Max. The resulting XML doesn’t contain a pivot transform for the box. !!?? In fact, whether or not I modify the pivot point in Maya, the resulting export is identical!

I can’t find the pivot transform information in the maya export. All export options are the same between max and maya, i.e, bake transforms…etc…

This doesn’t make any sense. I thought for a second that maybe moving the pivot point in maya causes the vertex positions to be recalculated in such a way as to not need an additional transform, but nope… they don’t change either.

This doesn’t make any sense. I need the pivot information. Can anyone shed some light?

Thank you very much.

So, steps to reproduce are.

  1. Create a box in maya and a box in max.
  2. Modify the pivot point of both boxes in the same manner, for example move the pivot to the left 10 units so the box will rotate around a new pivot.
  3. Export both boxes and compare the visual scenes in XML, max will have pivot information, maya will not.

:frowning:

Why do you need the pivot point? Heh, I feel a repeat of this discussion coming on :). Also see this recent post.

Yeah, I was hoping to start fresh so people wouldn’t get confused with that old article. :frowning: But, it’s essentially the same problem. There was never really a conclusion so we’ve been ignoring Maya output.

The pivot point is essential for many different applications. Let’s say an artist builds an object in a DCC. They use the pivot point to control how the object rotates. Then they export this object and import into a game engine. Then an engineer tells the object “rotate around your X axis” in code. Well, without the pivot information, the verts will just spin around their local X axis, which is NOT the pivot point.

That’s why I mentioned I looked at the vert positions to see if they were pre transformed in the XML when moving the pivot point in Maya… but they aren’t.

So, at the end of the day, the box doesn’t rotate around the same X axis in Maya vs. the game.

Does that help?

Thanks.

Ok, I see what you’re trying to do. Could the artists redefine the origin of the object to be the pivot point? That is, actually change each vertex of the geometry? Then the pivot point is the origin, and everything works out as you want. I’m not sure if that’s possible to do in Maya though.

Another option: at run time, instead of saying “rotate around your X axis”, say “rotate around the X axis using location [1 2 3] (or whatever) as the pivot”. I understand that it’s easier to use the pivot that the artist sets in Maya though.

Or you could ask Feeling Software to export the pivot position from Maya, like they do for Max. The Max and Maya plugins are done by Feeling Software, so any questions about them should really be posted on their forums. I don’t think any of their programmers read this forum.