Maya Tracking

[KevinJW]

I'm relitivly new to 3D modeling and Maya. I currently own Maya 6.0. And I use it mostly for film editing. And I was wondering if it has a way to track things in maya, or do I need to buy a different program to do that?

[Sifer]

Hey KevinJW,

If you have Unlimited it comes with Maya Live. It's a built in tracking system in Maya, or you can pick up After Effects 6.5. Just place a locator to what you want to track, and then export the locators only into After Effects as a composition. Hope this helps you.

[KevinJW]

Ok, one more thing. I know you can import .mov files into maya. But is there a way to import .avi. I don't have any way to convert .avi to .mov.

[Sifer]

I usally convert my .avi files by importing them into After Effects, and in the make move comp settings I set it as a quicktime movie then render the movie. Do you have After Effects?

[KevinJW]

No, I'm afraid not.

[Sifer]

Hey Kev,

I found this link to convert .avi to .mov files and vice-versa, and it's freeware to.




http://www.videohelp.com/mov2avi.htm

[KevinJW]

Thanks :D Now I have to figure out how to fix maya, I think I may of screwed it up trying to install a avi to mov converter. Not the one you gave me, a differen't one. If you could help with that, that would be great. Because I don't want to have to re-install it.

[KevinJW]

Um, with that program I can't convert .AVI to .MOV just .MOV to .AVI.

[Sifer]

Hey Kev,

What I suggest is to down load a trail version of Affter Effects so you can us it for the task at hand. You never know you might like it and want to buy it. It's a great program, and key for post-production work.







http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/main.html

[KevinJW]

I tried it and it converted it to a .mov but when i tired to import it into maya it said it couldn't read the file. And .mov is a option to import so dunno.

[Sifer]

Hey Kev,

If you downloaded the trail version of After Effects there are somethings that need to be set in the output module setting before rendering your movie. To render your movie just go to Composition > Make Movie, and once you name your movie the Output Module Setting box will appear.

These must be set in order to get your movie to import properly into Maya.

1. The format must be Quicktime Movie.

2. Compression settings must be set to animation.


I attached a screenshot to help illusrate, and I hope this helps you further.

[arillious alyas]

i have done the quick time format and made it animation file as you said but i still cant load the mov.

whats wrong? this is what i get in the script editor

// Error: Missing a required keyword: animVersion //
// Error: Error reading file. //