Export Rhino to Maya

Introduction

Geometry created within Rhino is usually NURBS-geometry. The easiest and cleanest way to export geometry from Rhino to Maya is to use the IGES-filetype. This means the geometry will still be NURBS-geometry when importing the file in Maya.

When your Rhino model contains polygon geometry, you can use either FBX or OBJ.

General preparations

The most important step when exporting your model from Rhino to Maya is the preparation. It is paramount to optimize your model. To be able to more easily add different materials to imported geometry in Maya, it can be useful to organize your model in layers. For example, one layer for every material. Other things to keep in mind are:

• Only export the part of the model you need (eg: don't export curves if you don't need them in Maya)
• Keep the level of detail as low as possible

Exporting from Rhino

To avoid namespace problems when importing files in Maya, make sure the name of the export file contains at least a few characters (a-z)! If you filename only contains numbers, you will get an error when importing the file in Maya (with default namespace settings).

NURBS surfaces/curves only

1. Select the parts you want to export. You can use layers to hide parts of the model you don't want to export.
2. File » Export Selected...
3. Set Save as type to IGES (*.igs, *.iges).
4. Choose a path and a file name to store the IGES file.
5. Click Save.
6. Set Iges type to Maya.

Polygon geometry or mixed

1. Select the parts you want to export. You can use layers to hide parts of the model you don't want to export.
2. File » Export Selected...
3. Set Save as type to FBX (*.fbx). Alternatively you could use OBJ.
4. Choose a path and a file name to store the FBX file.
5. Click Save.
6. OBJ Only: In the OBJ Export Options Window, choose:
   • Save Objects as: 'Polygon Mesh
   • Check Y-up
   • Optionally check Export material definitions if you have specified materials in Rhino
   • Click OK.
7. In the Polygon Mesh Options windows, select the precision for the approximation of curved surfaces. More polygons results in higher detail, but also results in a large model. You can use the Preview option to decide. Click OK.

Importing in Maya

First you have to make sure the Direct Connect plugin is loaded:

1. Window » Settings/Preferences » Plug-in Manager
2. Locate DirectConnect in the list and check both Loaded and Auto load.
3. Click Close.

Then you can proceed to import your model:

Importing an IGES file (NURBS)

1. Open a new scene (or the scene you want to add the geometry to).
2. File » Import...
3. For IGES, set Files of Type to IGES_DC.
4. In the Import options, make sure group is checked.
5. Browse to the location where you saved the exported file. Select the file.
6. Click Import

You're model is automatically scaled to the units Maya is set to (default: centimeters), which means 1 unit in Maya is 1 cm.

You will probably have noticed that your model is rotated. This is because Maya uses the Y-axis as the up-axis, while IGES by default uses the Z-axis as the up-axis. Rotating your model shouldn't be too much of a problem:

1. In Maya, select a part of the geometry you just imported.
2. Hit the up-arrow on your keyboard, until all the geometry is selected. Depending on your version of Maya this is either once (Maya 2012) or twice (Maya 2013).
3. In the Channelbox enter -90 for Rotate X and press enter.
4. If the geometry is larger or smaller than it should be, it's because of the different units used by different. This usually means that scaling the geometry accordingly (1cm is 10mm, etc.) will solve this. In the Channelbox enter the right scale factor for Scale X, Scale Y and Scale Z.

(If somehow the geometry is in the wrong place in the scene, you might wanna go back a few steps and start again at the beginning by selecting a part of the geometry you've imported)

Importing an FBX or OBJ file (Polygon only or mixed)

1. Open a new scene (or the scene you want to add the geometry to).
2. File » Import...
3. For OBJ, set Files of Type to OBJ, for FBX to FBX
4. Browse to the location where you saved the exported file. Select the file.
5. Click Import

You're model will probably be very large, depending on the units you used in Rhino. You may even not see it right away in your viewport. If you've used 1 unit = 1 millimeter in Rhino, a model of a building will be thousands of units. In Maya it's easier to use 1 unit = 1 meter. So you will have to scale your model down a factor of 1000.

1. In Maya, open the Outliner, Outliner, and select the imported geometry.
2. Group it, Group (or Ctrl + g)
3. In the Channelbox enter 0.001 for Scale X, Y and Z, assuming you used millimeters in Rhino and are going to use meters in Maya.
4. FBX only: FBX uses the Z-axis as the up-axis. So you'll have to rotate the group you created by -90 degrees on the X-axis.