CREATING A 3D PRINTABLE DATA FROM MAYA
There are two important things to remember when preparing a 3D Print.
forward The model must be ‘watertight.’ This means that the object to be printed must be a solid surface with a thickness, and it cannot have any holes in it. If you were to fill it with water, none would leak out.
forward All surface Normals must be facing the same direction.
The Z Corp 3D Printers recognize Stereolithography (.stl) files. Maya does not export .stl files so we will use either Rhino or 3DS Max. I will explain how to use both.
forward Step 1: Export .obj from Maya
By default Maya does not load the OBJ exporter. To do this go to Windows –> Settings/Preferences –> Plug-in Manager.
In the plug-in Manager scroll down to OBJExport and check the box that says ‘Loaded.’ Check Auto-Load to have the OBJ Exporter Loaded every time you open Maya.
Note : Do not check auto-load for all the plug-ins at random. This causes problems for Maya. Only load the Plug-Ins you know you are going to use.
Once you have loaded the OBJ Exporter then click ‘Refresh’ and then ‘Close.’
Note : Do not check auto-load for all the plug-ins at random. This causes problems for Maya. Only load the Plug-Ins you know you are going to use.
Now select the object you want to export. Go to File –> Export Selection and open the dialog box.
In the dialog box select file type and scroll down to ‘OBJexport.’ The default settings are fine. Click Export Selection and save your file.
