Adobe After Effects - Maya Camera + null

Author

Maya Camera + null_object import to AE

wiso@adobeforums.com

2006-12-06, 8:14 pm

Hello all,

I have read the previous posts dealing with this issue, also have scoured the various places on the net that might have info on importing maya camera and null_object info into AE.

The scaling issue for me was two fold, and a bit ill-defined . . . what I mean is that there seem to be scaling issues on several levels.

The first one that was tackled was the comp size. I had rendered frames at 640x480 and the .ma file info was coming into AE as 320x240. This seems to be an issue with default settings. Probably more technical than that, but the workaround is to just defin
e a custom size . . . for me it was 1000x750. Now the rendered frames and the .ma file camera info and null_objects are the same dimensions.

Next are the lining up issues. Even with the comps at the same dimensions, the footage does not line up. The null_objects are not lining up to the rendered frames. fps is the same in both comps. I noticed that when I imported my rendered frames, they took
up 10seconds, where my .ma info took up 12:14seconds. So I stretched the rendered frames to 12:14, a bit better.

Unfortunately, after this, the .ma info and the rendered frames still do not line up perfectly, or even close to anything useful. What is the issue with this? I do not have the option at this moment to move to other 3D/Compositing combo, have to stick wit
h Maya/AE. Is there any foolproof/simple streamlined way to get the camera/null_object information to line up with the rendered frames in AE? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-stev=o@adobeforums.com

2006-12-06, 8:15 pm

Sorry, wiso.
Just wanted to let you know that you're not alone. I've been running into the same exact issues. Unfortunately I have no solution for you. I'll post if I ever encounter a solution, and please do the same.

-stev=o

wiso@adobeforums.com

2006-12-06, 8:15 pm

Wow, I think I just got a lot closer . . . I was looking in AE7s help (what a place to look eh?) and in one results returned by searching "maya" it says:

"If you apply FilmFit camera setting, make sure to use either Horizontal or vertical FilmFit, not fill"

I went back to my maya file, checked my camera attributes, under Film Back settings my film fit was set to fill. I switched this to horizontal, rerendered the frames and reexported the camera and null_objects, brought back into AE, and things are lining u
p perfectly . . . I have only messed around with a test scene, 100 frames, will try later to apply it to the project I am working on to make sure everything still works. Try this out, let me know if you get similar results.

-stev=o@adobeforums.com

2006-12-06, 8:15 pm

Hey wiso.
Yeah, I saw that in the help files too. Even after setting my maya scene to match, my locators (nulls) still didn't line up properly. I'm glad you've got it working. I'll double check my maya scenes.

Thanks for posting back!

-stev=o

wiso@adobeforums.com

2006-12-06, 8:15 pm

currently my render globals and camera aspect ratio do not match, using filmfit horizontal and things are lining up. Still need to try this with the same aspect ratios . . . hopefully get some more time later tonight . . .

good luck

wiso@adobeforums.com

2006-12-06, 8:15 pm

hey, sorry to keep posting, but I just tried old footage that was not lining up, rendered with the old camera not matching aspect ration and not filmfit. I took the camera and just matched the aspect ration, exported that, tossed it on top of the old foot
age and they are lining up perfectly. I made sure to set my AE import settings to bring in sequence footage at 24frames per second so everything should be sync'ed up.

-stev=o@adobeforums.com

2006-12-06, 8:15 pm

Thanks again, wiso.
I'll give it another shot double-checking all of those settings.

-stev=o