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In this tutorial I will show you how to setup a Maya scene for use within AwayBuilder. First off you’re going to need a copy of Maya. (http://www.autodesk.com/maya). Download the 30-Day trial. (If you want to send me a free copy that would be awesome… but I use the trial)

Along with that you’re going to need the Collada Exporter plug-in for Maya. I’ve included them in the source files for this demo. awaybuildertutorials. So Lets get going:

Step 1: Setting up Maya

Plane creation

1. Make sure “Interactive Creation” is turned off.
2. Create a Plane
3. Size it to the size you want it within your scene.

While your plane is selected, open up the script editor, then load up “BasicPlane.py”. Execute it, then pop open the “Attribute Editor”.

Plane Extra Attributes

1. For “pPlane1″, expand the “Extra Attributes” section
2. Fill in the attributes:
   1. Geometry Class: Plane
   2. Geometry Width: 1.000
   3. Geometry Height:1.000
   4. Material Class: Color material
   5. Geometry Segments H: 3
   6. Geometry Segments W: 3
   7. Check: Material Smooth
   8. Check: Geometry Bothsides
   9. Material Color: 0x33FFFF

Save You file.

Now add a Polygon Primitives >> Cube. Then size it as you want. The size of the Cube is important, because unlike the Plane, you actually will use it in the Extra Properties. With the cube selected, Open up the script editor again, load up “BasicCubeInteractive.py”. Execute it. Then open up the Extra Attributes of “pCube1″ and enter the following:

The Width(x),Height(y),Depth(z) correspond to the actual size in MAYA, replace these values with the ones in your scene:

1. Geometry Class: Cube
2. Geometry Height: (y-Value)
3. Geometry Width: (x-Value)
4. Geometry Depth: (z-Value)
5. Material Class: ColorMaterial
6. Material Color: 0x00FF00
7. Check: Geometry Use Hand Cursor
8. Check: Geometry Mouse Up Enabled
9. Geometry Target Camera: cubeCam

I’ll let you Figure out how to do the Sphere on your own, but if you get stuck just refer to the demo files, it’s in there.

Next open up the “Hypergraph Panel”, and group the Panels according to the next image. Not sure if Andreas has fixed this issue yet, but the order in the Hypergraph is VERY IMPORTANT. By creating Groups(Control+G) Make 3 Groups: Sections | Cameras | Geometry. Drop Cameras into sections FIRST, then drop in Geometry. You’re going to need to create TWO cameras, name one “overviewCam” and the other “cubeCam”. Set them up as you will so that they are looking at your objects. To move objects around in the Hypergraph, first select them so they turn yellow, then with you MIDDLE MOUSE button, drag and drop to where you want them to go.

Note: overviewCam is going to be your initial camera, so what you see in it, is what you will see once you render your swf.

In the hypergraph drop both of you cameras into the “cameras” section, and drop pPlane1, pCube1, and pSphere1, into the “geometry” section. Make sure it looks like the following.

Make sure that your collada plug-ins are enabled by accesing your plug-in editor menu, and click “loaded.

Menu is located under: Window >> Settings/Preferences >> Plug-in Manager

Once you’re certain their loaded its time to export.

File >> Export All… >> Select “Collada Exporter” and certify your settings are the following:

Those are the settings I use… I’ve heard you can do other stuff as well. But thats for a later post. Click “Export All” and direct it to the maya folder within the BasicTutorial Folder. You’re done with the Maya Portion.