< Previous | Contents | Manuals Home | Boris FX | Next >
SynthEyes can import Filmbox files. Like other 3D applications, not all Filmbox features are supported, as SynthEyes is a tracking application, not a 3D animation package. And Filmbox is not a substitute for a SynthEyes sni file.
NOTE : Filmbox files have different versions. SynthEyes can only read FBX files with the same, or an earlier, FBX version. It cannot read FBX files written be later versions of the Filmbox library used by all applications. You can see SynthEyes’s FBX SDK version in the Library Version section of this manual. You can also see the file version (slightly different than the library version) from the version dropdown of the Filmbox exporter. Other applications will generally be able to write FBX files compatible with earlier libraries as well, so you may need to write your FBX file in a version compatible with your current SynthEyes version.
Filmbox can be a useful file format for several purposes:
- Importing camera paths for "From Path" solving,
- Importing meshes, include vertex animation (aka point cache and vertex cache),
- Importing rigs for Geometric Hierarchy Tracking.
To read a single mesh, the importer is accessed via "File/Import/Import Mesh." The file can contain only a single mesh; the mesh can be reloaded from the file if it changes. When a mesh is being read, it is positioned at the origin in SynthEyes.
Use File/Import/Filmbox Scene Import to bring in much more information from the
scene.
NOTE : When you use the Scene importer on a scene with multiple meshes, the meshes cannot be reloaded from the file using the 3D panel's Reload Mesh.
The Scene importer has many more options. You'll definitely need to take a look at them and adjust them depending on what you're trying to accomplish.
Read cameras. Checkbox. When on, the cameras, their field of view, and their path information are read in from the file. Shot imagery must be set up manually, however.
Use existing camera. Checkbox. When on (and Read cameras is on), the existing default SynthEyes camera is reconfigured to be the first camera from the file, rather than creating a second camera in the SynthEyes scene. Typically, the FBX file contains a single camera which is used to configure the default SynthEyes camera.
Read nulls. Checkbox. Reads the null objects (hierarchy) from the scene, producing moving objects in SynthEyes. This is required if a rig is being read, or if the scene requires moving objects. In other cases it may produce unnecessary objects that can be deleted.
Read meshes. Checkbox. Read the meshes from the scene, creating them in SynthEyes. When a scene is being read, meshes are positioned at the locations specified in the scene file.
Keep face normals. Checkbox. Face normals can substantially increase the number of vertices that SynthEyes must produce for a given mesh; since SynthEyes generates face normals automatically when needed, it is generally a good strategy to delete them. Turning on this checkbox will keep them, so you can see the difference and in case the true original ones are required for whatever you are doing downstream. This checkbox also affects whether or not per-polygon- vertex normals are kept, which require even more vertices (one per vertex in each polygon, ie 3 or 4 times the number of triangles/quads).
Bake mesh scaling. Checkbox. When checked, the scaling factor specified in the scene is applied to the mesh's vertex data, so that the final result has no scaling in SynthEyes (ie for rigs). When unchecked, any scaling is maintained in SynthEyes (visible on the 3D panel with the scaling tool selected). Keep off if vertex caches are present.
Show backfaces. Checkbox. When set, the back faces of the imported meshes will be shown in SynthEyes, or not if this is unchecked. Saves the trouble of configuring it on the 3D panel after import.
Read lights. Checkbox. Check this to read directional and point lights from the file. (Animated intensity data is not currently read.)
Enable shadowing. Checkbox. Large complex scenes with many objects and large meshes can result in poor redraw performance due to shadowing. This checkbox gives a quick way to turn off shadow processing in the imported SynthEyes scene, so that you can re-enable it selectively if required.
Read Vertex Caches. Checkbox. When checked, SynthEyes will set up vertex caches found in the FBX file in the SynthEyes scene. Important: the .PC2 or .MCX files that contain the actual data must continue to exist after the import. You cannot delete them, or the vertex animation can no longer be generated in SynthEyes. If you move them, use the 3D Panel's Vtx Cache button to update the file location. (The older .mcc format is not supported; configure the exporting app to use the modern .mcx format.)
Read rigs. Checkbox. When checked, SynthEyes will read entire rigs with bones and Fbx Skin deformers from the file. Read nulls and Read meshes must be on. Note
that SynthEyes always uses "linear" bones mode. Be sure to check this next dropdown!
Key rigs on frame. Dropdown selector. Controls which frames will receive keys on the Lock value channels: None, First, Last, Custom, or All. If the imported rig is completely unposed, use None. If the rig has already been pre-posed to match a specific frame, from which you will continue to track, you'll want the rig keyed on the frame, either First, Last (for backward tracking), or a custom frame (see next control, for when the rig is posed somewhere in the middle of the shot). Use the All option when the rig has been pre-animated over the entire shot. You can delete unnecessary keys from the graph editor, of course.
Custom key frame. Frame number. This is the frame on which keys are generated when Key rigs on frame is set to Custom and Read rigs is checked.
Read scene settings. Checkbox. When checked, the frame rate and shot length information is read from the file. This is needed for camera paths and animated rigs, but not for reading plain meshes.
Shift to frame 0. Checkbox. When checked, the first active frame in the shot is brought down to become frame 0(1 depending on preference) in SynthEyes.
Additional scaling. Numeric factor. Use this to uniformly expand or contract the size of the scene in SynthEyes, ie to reduce very large scenes, or increase tiny ones (maybe more common), or to effect a units conversion such as converting cm to feet.
Show report. Checkbox. When checked, a report will be shown (via text editor) at the completion of the import. Note that the report is always produced so if you want, you can keep this checkbox off and only look at the report if something unexpected happened. See fbximplog.txt in File/User Data Folder.
More information. Checkbox. When checked, additional information is put into the report file.
When you import rigs (especially from SynthEyes!), you may see a number of objects such as Delete_Object05Pivot etc. These are non-animated pivot positioning bones that are unneeded in SynthEyes and have been tagged for deletion and moved out of the hierarchy. You can use them if you want, or delete them. You can delete all of them by entering the following into Synthia: delete objects starting with delete.
©2024 Boris FX, Inc. — UNOFFICIAL — Converted from original PDF.