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Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 31 Jul 2012, 00:51
by mehdiravan
hey guys. its not my work but i thought that might be useful for someone here. i searched too much about sending xsi camera to after effects. i found some tools but none of them work perfectly as this i found in google softimage mail list group. created by Thomas Volkmann. i must say a big thanks to him. it save me alot of time. working fine on softimage 2013 and After Effects CS6.

# Put the scene-Camera and the nulls that you want to export into a group.
# Select the group and run the script.
# A .jsx script is created that you can run inside AfterFX. It creates a new Comp with Camera and Nulls.

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 31 Jul 2012, 11:28
by Ramon
Hm.. Not working
Don`t match coordinates camera and null in AE and XSI.
Don`t match position null with sequence.

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 31 Jul 2012, 15:19
by mehdiravan
make sure your render dimension in render setting is the same as script output height and width size.

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 01 Aug 2012, 01:41
by dwigfor
Thank you very much for this!! I've only tested it with a simple still render of a cube with nulls attached to each of the corners. It exported/imported flawless! Working at 1920x1080 24fps.

Because a lot of effects use 2d coordinates, you can use this expression to convert 3d coordinates into 2d screenspace coordinates:
L = thisComp.layer("null"); fromComp(L.toComp(L.anchorPoint))

Big thanks! :ymparty:
-Dave

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 01 Aug 2012, 11:45
by mehdiravan
dwigfor wrote:Thank you very much for this!! I've only tested it with a simple still render of a cube with nulls attached to each of the corners. It exported/imported flawless! Working at 1920x1080 24fps.

Because a lot of effects use 2d coordinates, you can use this expression to convert 3d coordinates into 2d screenspace coordinates:
L = thisComp.layer("null"); fromComp(L.toComp(L.anchorPoint))

Big thanks! :ymparty:
-Dave
Glad to hear that!
and thanks for the expression. it would be very useful!

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 04 Aug 2012, 20:22
by Ramon
Working! strange that tested in old scene 768/576 and have bugs. Now all working.
Some questions
SI coordinates -28.7/19.5/38.09
AE coordinates 96.7/92.2/-380.9
why don`t match 3d coordinates?
will be nice to create a menu(shelf) with script in AE
1) To apply corner pin by 4 nulls and convert 3d to 2D coordinates to match corners in plane
2) Convert SI plane to new composition with the same picture ratio or create corner pin with the pins in corners.

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 26 Nov 2013, 14:37
by SquirrelSa
This is brilliant - thanks so much . . . works like a charm

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 13 Apr 2016, 00:23
by sirdavid32
I´m trying this script on CS6 After effects, run it but nothing appear into the composition.
How do I know if it´s working? Doesn´t create anything.
I´m running python from softimage. I see the dialogs, and export the .jsx

Please help.

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 13 Apr 2016, 17:50
by funky75
Would it be difficult to do the same with Fusion ?

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 13 Apr 2016, 18:22
by rray
Sir David can you post the generated script here?

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 14 Apr 2016, 11:39
by NNois
Hi,
Maybe you can try this version of mine.
This one is to install in you plugin folder and create an export entry in the file menu.

If I recall well I've had squashed some bug like the framerate and some size and ratio problems plus the in/out export range. Maybe you can try it...

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 16 May 2016, 22:05
by kaimano
Hi NNois, first thanks for the useful script.
But I have some trouble and perhaps you help me.

I dowloaded the script, tested an all worked fine. Now I need to repeat the process but the script export only static nulls, no animation.

I have a root model (like null) whith rotation animation and, all the object under this model rotate accordingly including the three nulls that want to export.

I created a group that contains the camera (all the camera hierarchy) and the three nulls, I selected this group and run the script, I select the three nulls in the "is it Moving" section, done.
The result in the jsx file is the camera and the three nulls without animation.

This is the jsx file generated:

Code: Select all

var newComp = app.project.items.addComp("HOLOCUBE_EVO2A", 1920, 1080, 1.000000, 8.961600, 25);
var newCamera = newComp.layers.addCamera("XSICamera",[0,0]);

var newNull = newComp.layers.addNull();
newNull.threeDLayer = true;
newNull.startTime = 0;
newNull.inPoint = 0;
newNull.name = "null";
var newNull = newComp.layers.addNull();
newNull.threeDLayer = true;
newNull.startTime = 0;
newNull.inPoint = 0;
newNull.name = "Arnold_Camera_Root";
var newNull = newComp.layers.addNull();
newNull.threeDLayer = true;
newNull.startTime = 0;
newNull.inPoint = 0;
newNull.name = "null1";
var newNull = newComp.layers.addNull();
newNull.threeDLayer = true;
newNull.startTime = 0;
newNull.inPoint = 0;
newNull.name = "null2";
Any suggestion?

Re: Xsi to After Effects (camera and nulls)

Posted: 17 May 2016, 12:38
by NNois
hello,
Be aware that script takes infos from the current pass so if your pass doesn't have a frame range yes you will export a static frame.

Also If i recall well, the script leave a property page at the scene root if you end it prematurally.
In this case you must remove the property before running it again.