Maya FaceFX Exporter

To view the FaceFX Exporter panel, first install the plug-ins with the FaceFX installer. Then from Maya go to Window->Settings/Preferences->Plug-in Manager… and check the loaded and auto load checkboxes next to FaceFX.mll. Then source the FaceFX.mel script in the Maya Script Editor. Once opened, the FaceFX Panel can be used like any other panel in Maya and incorporated into saved layouts.

From the File menu, you can load an existing actor file (*.FaceFX), save the current actor file, or create a new actor file. The Panel menu duplicates the functionality that Maya users are familiar with.

The FaceFX Panel consists of three collapsible windows: Reference Pose, Bone Poses, and Animations.

Reference Pose

Lists the bones in the reference pose of the currently loaded actor. You can Import or Export the reference pose to/from the current frame. The bones in the reference pose should must have unique names in the scene.

Bone Poses

Lists the bone poses in the currently loaded actor. The Import and Export buttons facilitate importing and exporting a bone pose to/from the current frame. You can also perform Batch operations using the text file format described here or with a MEL script. Bone poses are stored based upon how they differ from the reference pose. For this reason, if you change your reference pose, you have to re-export all of your bone poses.

Animations

This window lists the animations in the actor. You can switch between the various animation groups in the actor from the combo box. To import an animation onto your bones or morph-based character, just select the animation and click on the Import button.

Logging information

The Maya FaceFX plug-in outputs debug information to the FaceFX_Log.txt file in the MAYA_APP_DIR directory, which is usually in My Documents/maya. Check here to view details on the number of bones pruned out of each pose.