3d exchange format like ASE and FBX

[Devhill]

Hello guys,
can someone explain exactly how prepare any 3d scene (geo) in for Fusion ?
Let's say i have an animated scene (camera only) and i want to re-create the same scene in Fusion to add some environment in 2.5D by using the same camera movement without making a 3d track. So i can place some image planes in the scene with different elements but mantaining the original camera movement.

I've already tried the ASE and FBX file format from 3dsmax but sometime ASE export the camera in a good way and sometime not.
I tried ASE for the camera movement only but i saw that this format can export also geometries.
FBX is a very misterious format that also works sometimes.

Not very clear what these format support and how thet works in Fusion.
I also noticed that i need to scale down the scene 100 times when i import the file in Fusion.
3dsmax also use Z as Y so i can convert the scene but can i also convert the camera coordinates ?

If someone has some correct workflow or link or even a better script tha can replace the file format solution will be very helpfull !
thanks

[pingking]

first you should bake all your animations

for fbx import you should use fbx2009 as export from 3dsmax, this seems the most reliable format to export/import

[Devhill]

Hi again pingking
FBX sometimes works and older version like 2009 sometime are better but i red that FBX format was design from Autodesk to exchange data between their 3d package.
ASE from max works good with camera only. This format also support geo and other properties but camera animation usually works fine.

Do you know some other file format that i can use in Fusion to import geometries and camera ?

What about my example ? I received a rendered scene with all multipasses and a matte for each element. I have to create a 3d environment around the rendere scene.
Which is the correct workflow ?
e.g. import geo, project beauty pass over the geo, insert 3d elements and shot elements with image planes ? Or maybe is better to use the p-pass to place cards and work with multimatte to separate elements in z-space. Or again for next time ask the 3d department to render empty mapped planes and re-texture these planes in Fusion with UV pass ?

Any solution / approach will be appreciated.
thanks

[pingking]

the problem with fbx is that autodesk changes stuff in every version and all other software developers must hope the get access to the new stuff.

for your example i would import the geometry (as fbx or obj) and import the camera. then place my cards in 3d space and depending of the complexity of the occlusions render with or with out the imported geometry as black holdouts. i wouldnt reproject the renders on the geometry, but maybe thats also a good idea to get a seamless image. for that your renders should have no dof and no MoBlur


Fusion can import a wide range of formats: lightwave scene, xsi stuff, ase, fbx, collada

for the scale of the imported scenes: this comes from the scene size of the 3d programm. if you have set your 3d scene to work in cm and build an object that is 3m long (300cm) then it will be 300 units big in fusion. fusion doenst care about scene sizes, it matches 1 unit in the 3d program to 1 unit in fusion space. so be aware to set your scene size in the 3d programm to an approviate unit (= dont use mm if you build house of several meters)