Creating Assets Groups

Before adding the character, select its top-most joint in Maya from the skeleton that is used to animate the character. This ensures that the complete skeleton of the character will be included when exporting it to a FBX file.

 

With the root joint node selected, to create the character, select the Assets tab in the Assets Management Window and click on the + button. You will be prompted to enter a name for the new character. If no joint node is selected in Maya, a warning prompts the user to select one before going further.

 

 

Once the name is entered, the character appears in the assets view. The root joint of the character is displayed in the Additional Data column. The character also contains an empty Geometry Group. This means that the character geometry hasn't been exported to a FBX file yet.

Multiple characters can be created this way.

 

 

The next step in creating the character is adding asset groups to it. To add a group of assets to a character, select the character in the Assets view and click on the + sign. The tool will prompt to enter the name of the group, after which the group is created and displayed in the Assets tab. When the node selected in Maya contains meshes, the tool will attempt to create a group that contains several mesh assets, matching the nodes that are on top of the meshes in the Maya selection, containing the meshes in the selection. If nothing is selected in Maya, or the selection contains no meshes, the group will be empty.

 

 

When there is no need for mesh variability on the character, the easiest way to add the desired meshes is as described below:

The following figures show an example of what can be obtained with the method described above. Keep in mind that a mesh can only be used once, so even if it is selected again, it won't be taken into account.

 

 

More elaborate characters, with mesh variability, can be created in the same way. In this example, three assets groups were created on a soldier character:

Adding an empty asset in the Weapons and Shields group means that it is allowed for a character to have no weapon or no shield. To add an empty mesh asset to an assets group, make sure that nothing is selected in Maya, then select the group and click on the + button in the assets tab. The [empty] mesh asset is added to the group.

 

 

Individual meshes can be added to a mesh asset (except to the empty mesh asset). To add the meshes selected in Maya, select the mesh asset on which will be added the meshes and click the + button. The meshes will appear in the assets view.

 

Any item in the assets view, Character, Assets Group, Mesh Asset or Mesh, can be removed by selecting it and clicking the - button.

 

A checkbox (Show Selection in Maya) allows selecting in Maya the meshes contained in the item selected in the assets view.