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Script

Sk-Films: Camera Exporter

By deathevor · Credited author: Sergei Kozin · 2013-05-09

Version
0.9.6
Version requirement
Tested on 3D Max 2013
Other software required
AE CS6 (or lower)
Votes
4
Homepage
http://sk-films.com/
Download
Download
Description

Sk-Films: Camera Exporter

Sk-Films: Camera Exporter is similar to some other camera exporters (incl. StateSets Autodesk Link). Except its pipeline is a bit different and it includes some useful features. One of them is that Exporter takes in account animation length for each object. So every item in lists that has keyframes will be trimmed in AE and will not have any extra keyframes. This animation based workflow no longer needs you to set ranges for export (even if any of the key-frames are outside of track-bar range) and creates nice and sorted composition in AE.

Key-Features:

  • FreeCamera and TargetCamera Export (accordingly: One-Node/Two-Node camera in AE)
  • Supports Omni, Spot and Direct Lights (Free/Targeted) (Any unsupported lights will be Exported as Omni)
  • Supports Spot Light Hotspot and Falloff.
  • Automatically determines Composition length based on keyframes (If absent the trackbar range will be used)
  • Trims layers individually based on their animation range.
  • Automatically sorts out any Picked/Added item into lists.
  • Any Selected objects (on Script execution) will be automatically added.

 Installation:

  • Drag and Drop script onto 3D Max
    or 
  • via MenuBar (Maxscript->Run Script-> <Choose script file>)

Changelog: 

   v. 0.9.1  

  • Changed some names which were conflicting with reserveed variables 

   v. 0.9.2

  • Sunlight support added

   v. 0.9.3

  • DayLight Support added
  • Parrallel light falloff option support temporarly disabled. 
  • Added StartFrame info Mark to AfterEffects camera layer for easier footage sync in case if camera layer needs to be moved on timeline.
  v. 0.9.4
  • Export Playback Range (Animation Range) added.
  v. 0.9.5
  • IMPORTANT! Camera Target animation fixed.
  v. 0.9.6
  • Scale animation export added (For Objects)

Know issues: 

  • Script comes back with error using some Vray Lights (partly solved).
    Possibe workaround - is to create a helper,  align it to light and export helper insted of light.
  • Script gives "Undefined Selection Error" if selected object has an ' (apostrophe) in the name.
    So please make sure you don't use one, if you want this script to work correctly. 

 

!The script is in beta test stage, so if any errors found or any features that you might want to see please report via this form: http://sk-films.com/contacts.html

Tags: 3d max camera exporter, 3d max to Ae, After effects camera, Sk-Films, camera exporter

Comments (21)

Thank you!!!!

Tom Ford · 2017-10-19

Created an account just to say thank you for this amazing script! After trying several free and paid options this was the only solution that worked without any issues and took just a few seconds to get my camera to AE. Keep up the great work!

deathevor · 2017-01-07

Download Link fixed.

No download available

stevesideas · 2017-01-06

I can't seem to download this script any more. Does anyone have it or a link ?

Great script, missing desimals ruins it on smaller scale

happydaydreamer · 2016-12-18

Great script, fantastic work!

Could you add a desimal value counter in the export, so it gets more accurate when exporting high presision numbers for very small scale keyframes?

Had to go back to RPF render and use camera solve from RPF for now, but the script is a massive time-saver. Keep up the great work!

Scene large scale

paranoidx · 2014-12-25

Hi, thanks for great script, it work perfect on all general scale project.

On a large scale scene (meter), objects seem moving super far away from its original in After Effect after export from 3D Studio Max. Is there any limit for this script on scale or the way I am using was something wrong compare to this script original design ?

Thank you,

To paranoidxCurently script

deathevor · 2015-05-20

To paranoidx

Currently script directly converts 3d max units to after effects units.

There is an idea to add scale spinner. Will do it as soon got time. 

But currently it is still possible to link all exported layers and cameras to null and rescale it After Effects.

 

z camera roll not exported

haraldgoetz · 2014-11-16

firstly, thanks for sharing this great script !!!

i have a max project where the z axis of the 2node camera itself is animated. script doesnt export that... would be a neat feature :-)

Tested, roll works.Could you

deathevor · 2015-05-20

To haraldgoetz 

Tested, roll works. Could you tell if you using any constrains? Or is it Free or Target camera? Thanks

Roll with target camera

kysterama · 2017-02-08

Loving the script! Thanks so much for sharing it.
I've currently got an issue where rolling on the z axis with a target camera doesn't get exported properly. Roll works great with a free cam though. Any idea why? Thanks!

Scene scale

Laserschwert · 2014-01-31

This is a very cool script, but I'm having a slight problem (that's probably an easy fix):

Very often I'm working on a millimeter scale in Max and when I export the scene with your script, the scale of the scene is very small in After Effects, so that moving object in the viewport (using their coordinate crosses) is very difficult, since the movement steps are huge.

Would it be possible to add a scale spinner in the script window? You can have it set to "1.0" as a default, and on export all position coordinates get multiplied by the spinner value. This way I can easily scale the exported scene up to whatever I need.

deathevor · 2014-03-28

Got your idea. Yes it's definitely possible, and looks useful, will try to make it some time.

Temporarily you can try to change max system units (without saving) just for this export. This should give you multiplied values.

Thanks,

ilya · 2013-11-12

this is a really great script - I was trying to figure out how to translate the rotation from max to ae for a while.

There is a bug however - I have an object with an ' (apostrophe) in the name and the script throws an undefined selection error. Otherwise works really well.

deathevor · 2013-11-17

Thanks for feedback Ilya.

I will check it when I'll have time.
But will post a warning for others. Thanks

Scale Animation Export

deathevor · 2013-08-18

As requested:

Scale animation export added.
Works only on objects. As other types (cameras, lights) doesn't have such property in After Effects.

cool!

C00PER · 2013-08-18

Hey, now everything works perfectly! Thanks for such quick responce and for such useful and convenient script!

scale

C00PER · 2013-08-14

Hello, thanks for a very useful script. Could you add ability to export Scale track for objects in future versions?

camera target

C00PER · 2013-08-14

also, it seems that it ignores animation of camera target

Camera Target - Fixed

deathevor · 2013-08-15

Fixed!!! Thank you very much for feedback COOPER.
This one was a major mistake there - it was only looking on very first keyframe.

That's good idea. Thanks will

deathevor · 2013-08-15

To C00PER:

That's good idea about exporting scale. Thanks will add it in next update.
What do you mean animation of camera target? Should work, but I'll double check.

UPD: True. Probably happened in one of updates. Fixing it now.

dsp_418 · 2013-08-14

I did a first very rough test but this seems to work incredibly well!
I'll keep testing it at this point, because if it works how it seems to work I'm not sure I need to export via State Sets anymore.

Thank you!

vitalquaD · 2013-05-15

Thanks. I give it a try on 2012.