Working with Maya

Keep Maya for the scene, rigging and animation, and sculpt in SculptForge: the SculptForge shelf for Maya sends the selected meshes to SculptForge, and File > Maya > Send to Maya sends them back, replacing each Maya object's mesh by name. It works like GoZ between ZBrush and other apps, on Linux, Windows and macOS.

The two apps exchange files through one folder that you choose in both, and nothing else: SculptForge opens no ports or connections for this, reads and writes only inside that folder, and never runs anything it finds there. The bridge is off until you choose the folder.

Install the shelf in Maya#

1. Download sculptforge_maya.zip from the latest release and unzip it.
2. Copy sculptforge_maya.py into your Maya scripts folder: Documents\maya\scripts\ on Windows, ~/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/scripts/ on macOS, ~/maya/scripts/ on Linux.
3. In Maya open the Script Editor, and in a Python tab run import sculptforge_maya and then sculptforge_maya.install_shelf(). A SculptForge shelf appears with Send, Get and Folder.

The script uses plain maya.cmds and Maya's own OBJ exporter; it needs Maya 2022 or newer.

Choose the exchange folder#

1. In SculptForge choose File > Maya > Exchange folder... and pick a folder of your own, for example an empty Documents/SculptForge Maya.
2. In Maya click Folder on the SculptForge shelf and pick the same folder.

File > Maya shows the folder; Turn the Maya bridge off forgets it (nothing in it is deleted).

A round trip#

1. In Maya select one or more meshes and click Send on the SculptForge shelf.
2. In SculptForge choose File > Maya > Get from Maya. Each mesh becomes a SubTool with its Maya name; a SubTool with that name already there is replaced (one undo step on that SubTool).
3. Sculpt, paint, divide, remesh: anything SculptForge does.
4. Choose File > Maya > Send to Maya. Every visible SubTool goes.
5. In Maya click Get. Each object that came from Maya gets the new mesh and keeps its transform, parent and shading groups; a SubTool you added in SculptForge becomes a new object. The whole Get is one undo step in Maya.

Get automatically (in File > Maya, off by default) loads what Maya sends as soon as it arrives: SculptForge checks the folder's manifest once a second.

What comes across#

Polygroups, the mask and polypaint stay in SculptForge. Normals, creases, construction history, deformers and skinning stay in Maya: Get replaces the mesh shape, so send a copy of a skinned or deformed mesh. A SubTool named "Body Hi" arrives in Maya as Body_Hi (Maya names allow letters, digits and _), and comes back to the same SubTool.

The exchange folder#

<folder>/maya_to_sculptforge/manifest.json + r<revision>_<k>.obj   written by Maya
<folder>/sculptforge_to_maya/manifest.json + r<revision>_<k>.obj   written by SculptForge

Each manifest is a small JSON file: {"format": "sculptforge-maya", "version": 1, "revision": 3, "sender": "maya", "unit": "cm", "objects": [{"name": "pCube1", "file": "r3_000.obj"}]}. Both sides check it strictly before reading anything: at most 256 KiB and 256 objects, every field of the right type, and each file must be a plain .obj name in the manifest's own folder (no folders, no .., no absolute paths, no links). Each send removes the files of the previous one; anything else in the folder is left alone.

The commands are maya_send folder=<folder> and maya_receive folder=<folder> (see Scripting and automation).

Troubleshooting#

• "Nothing has been sent from Maya yet": check that both apps use the same folder (open File > Maya in SculptForge; click Folder in Maya to see or change it).
• Get in Maya says nothing has been sent: choose File > Maya > Send to Maya in SculptForge first.
• A mesh came in as a new object instead of replacing one: Get matches the transform's name; renaming the object in Maya or the SubTool's Maya name breaks the link.