Baya - Blender to Maya bridge

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#1

Blendermarket

Gumroad

Baya is a Blender tool that generate Maya source file (.ma) inside Blender.

  • It is a quick way to exchange data with other artists who might use Maya
  • You can iterate quickly when you work with Maya oriented game engine exporters by quickly generating Maya source and exporting using Maya

Note: Baya is compatible only with Blender 2.80+.

Other note: Currently supports only mesh data.

Converts Blender scene directly to Maya source file format:

  • Preserves objects visibility and hierarchy
  • Applies visible modifiers
  • Transfers
  • Geometry
  • Objects transform
  • Materials
  • UV Data
  • Vertex Color Data
  • Shading Information
    hard and soft edges
    custom vertex normals

Installation

  • Go to Blender settings -> addons -> Install From .zip file
  • Enable the addon by checkbox in the addons list

How to use

  • Specify file name
  • Locate export folder
  • Click Generate Maya File button

Planned futures:

  • Linked collections support
  • Full material export with textures and other things
  • Maya to blender import (import Maya source file contents into Blender)
  • Havok nodes
  • Armature support (not sure yet)
7 Likes
#2

Do I need to have Maya installed for this to work?

1 Like
#3

No, you don’t

1 Like
#4

That’s fantastic, thanks for sharing!

1 Like
#5

Thank you!

#6

Fantastic indeed :slight_smile:
I see there’s planned support for linked Collections. is there already support for Collections in a scene?
If so, how do they translate to a Maya Scene? Will they become Maya Groups?

cheers!

rob

1 Like
#7

Thanks! Yes, collections are supported, though there are some problems with them at the moment due to the fact that there could be multiple collections particular object might be in. And the other problem is that there isn’t 1 to 1 relation to the maya groups, meaning that collections don’t have transforms.
So, right now I treat them as maya groups, but ignore transforms. I might add a solution where empty can be treated like group origin.
And I didn’t decide yet what to do with objects being in different collections at the same time…
At the moment I advise to just don’t link objects to multiple collections.
If you have any ideas, please let me know.

#8

Cool!
But yeah, I know what you mean.

I say it now, and I said it before on this forum, but the way Collections work and are interwoven with layers and visibility/rendering isn’t my favorite solution. And it shows it immediately with your addon.

I think you should treat Collections as being Groups in Maya, and be clear about a ‘one Collection for a object’ rule. People who are going to use this will understand just fine.

Our workflow is to ‘group’ anything under a Empty anyway, and that hierarchy can be added into a Collection for scene organization or linking later.
There’s even a command for it in the ‘Extra Objects’ addon that comes with Blender.

Moving data between applications is always hard, and Blender has some ‘oddities’ that will not work great with the other 3d applications out there.

1 Like
#9

Am I right by supposing that development is dead?
Last update was at september, quite a while.

#10

I hope its not this is a pretty cool concept I think you are aright

#11

I got the addon but it does not work. I wonder if I did something wrong. Getting this error when I click “generate maya file”

Python: Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\artem\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.93\scripts\addons\baya\operators\operators_maya_scene_generator.py", line 1127, in execute
    self.GenerateNodes(context)
  File "C:\Users\artem\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.93\scripts\addons\baya\operators\operators_maya_scene_generator.py", line 1024, in GenerateNodes
    location = Vector3(tr.x * scale, tr.y * scale, tr.z * scale)
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for *: 'float' and '_PropertyDeferred'

location: <unknown location>:-1
#12

Hi Sorkkaelain!

I fixed the issue, it was due to a few changes in the blender API which prevented addon properties from being initialized. Just update your addon to version 1.1.0 and it should work.Reply here if you have any feedback/suggestions. Thanks and sorry for late reply!

#13

Thanks,
I installed the new one now and tested it out.
Few issues appeared or I wonder is this the normal behavior?

If I have “Replicate viewport” disabled it seem to rotate 90c the object when you load it with Maya.
If you have “Replicate viewport” enabled it seems to break the grid in Maya. (bugged vertical grid because of too big grid probabbly https://polycount.com/discussion/211790/maya-grid-went-vertical-how-do-i-make-it-horizontal-again)

#14

Hi,
Does this addon work with Blender 3.1 and if not is there an alternative?

#15

What about using USD ?
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/3.2/files/import_export/usd.html

#16

I was looking for a simple bridge rather than exporting USD,Fbx etc. But Thanks.

#17

This still work?

#18

Ok so a lot of the functionality still works. Unfortunately the entire scene is rotated 90 degrees and I haven’t figured out why yet.

Another note:

It would also be really cool if there was a tick box for using emptys and empty hierarchy the same way you’re using collections

#19

Seems like the addon support is dead… Are any volunteers to bring it back alive? :slight_smile: