Rendering 3D Models with Autodesk Maya

There are two ways to preview and render 3D elements in Toon Boom Harmony. You can render your scene using the OpenGL preview, or render calling Autodesk Maya, Pixie or 3Delight in the background.

If you do not set up a plugin to preview your model with Maya or your 3D software, the preview and rendering will be done using the OpenGL preview. The result will look flat and jagged, but it can be very handy while working and exporting shots for approval.

If you render a scene calling Autodesk Maya, Pixie or 3Delight, you will get a smooth result with texture and lighting.

Before you can render the 3D objects you imported in Harmony through Autodesk Maya soft render, you must prepare your system by setting some environment variables, and adjusting the Node view in Harmony.

This section is divided as follows:

Preparing the Project Directory
Setting the Path on Windows
Setting the Script on Mac OS X
Setting the Path on Windows
This section is very technical; if you need help, or experience problems while setting up the 3D rendering, contact store.toonboom.com/contact/support.

Preparing the Project Directory

Setting the Path on Windows

 

The path needs to be set up so that when Harmony launches Maya, it knows exactly where to look for the application. On Windows, this can be set up using an environment variable.

Setting the Script on Mac OS X

The Path needs to be set up so when Harmony launches Maya, it knows exactly where to look for the application. On Mac, you can set this up by placing a script in usr/bin.

Follow these steps to create the script to call Maya and to set it up.

From the Terminal, you must create a file in which to save the script.