Hi everyone,

This is probably a very basic question, but I'm just a few days into Houdini.

I've followed this [cmivfx.com] tutorial on audio driven animation from cmiVFX and I'd like to export the object into 3dsMax. I'll be using the animated piano keys to drive some parameters within max.

The problem is, it exports the piano keys as a single object and this gives me nothing to work with in max. I've not been able to do any successful workaround in max.

How might I divide a single geometry into multiple pieces so that seperate pieces are able to be selected in max?

I've attached a file, but it references some geometry so it might not appear right away.

It's a pretty buggy mess in there, I just edited some parameters pretty blindly to get the effect of the keys rising instead of rotating .. it ended up doing some other things too but it'll do if I can export it properly.

Thanks,

Or perhaps, in more easy terms, how do I divide an object that's used a copy SOP to act as multiple geometries and not just one big object?

EDIT: I've learned to use copyGroup$PT instead of the default, and while this gives me more accurate primitive groups, it still doesn't export as multiple objects.

I've tried OBJ sequences but that was very slow all around and the obj sequence script I used still made everything one object in MAX anyways..

I ended up getting it to work.

After changing the copy parameters in the edit above, I found this shelf tool which then takes the different groups and makes them into objects : http://www.houdinitoolbox.com/houdini.php?asset=25 [houdinitoolbox.com]


that really shouldn't have taken 6 hours of troubleshooting …

now to find out how long this FBX export of multiple frames is going to take, or how to speed it up.

To continue the conversation with myself, I've now realized that when the FBX is imported into MAX, although the FBX animates, it doesn't carry any of the transform data, so I can't drive other parameters from it..

I don't even know where to start on this one. I'll update my progress as I research, but if anyone has any leads, it would be appreciated.

What if you attached NULLS to the points that are moving then do an export FBX? Then when you get to Max you will have some basic transforms that you can use from the NULLs.

Is Alembic an option?
Using packed primitives and Alembic I was able to get RBD shattered objects into Maya using Alembic with separate objects and animation on the Transforms. I am not a Max guy, so no idea how Max would do this.
Might be worth a try.
Create packed primitives (Should be easy since you are using a Copy SOP…Pack before Copying is an option on the SOP)
As long as you have a point per object (Maybe need a point name attribute as well) you should be good to go.
The secret trick with the Alembic export is to put $F as the last part of the file name: myexportthing_$F.abc
This won't write out a sequence, it just makes it write the animation to the transforms…god only knows why it works. But it does…for Maya.
If that works, let me know.

To separate these objects you can also use SOP Partition and Connectivity like in this video https://vimeo.com/202661289 [vimeo.com]