Save hair, fur, or instanced geometry as XGen presets

Save your grooms or instanced geometry as XGen presets, which can be applied to any mesh object. Saving a preset creates an XGP file that contains all of the Description's attribute and XGen modifier settings, guides and expressions.

Save Descriptions as presets for transferring and sharing grooms and instanced geometry within your production pipeline. After creating an XGen preset, you can add it to the XGen Library.

Important:

• You cannot create XGen presets from a groomable splines Description.
• If you save a preset that contains Ptex-based mask or region maps, Maya creates a Ptex map expression with the necessary connections in the preset file. You must repaint the map values on the preset's target mesh. See Create hair or fur using XGen presets.
• XGen presets do not support animated attributes.
• You must have the mental ray for Maya plugin loaded to save hair, fur, or instanced geometry as XGen presets.

To save hair, fur, or instanced geometry as an XGen preset

1. Select the groom or instanced geometry Description you want to save as a preset.
2. Do one of the following:
   • In the Modeling menu set, select Generate > Export as Preset.
   • In the XGen Editor, select File > Export as Preset.
3. In the Export Preset window, select the Collection and Description you want to save as a preset.
4. To save the XGP preset file to a specified location, click the browse icon beside Preset File Name.

   By default, Maya saves preset XGP files to the user's xgen folder. For example:

   C:/Users/<username>/Documents/xgen/.

5. Turn on Export activated modifiers only to save only the modifiers affecting your groom or instanced geometry.

   Otherwise all modifiers in the Description are included in the preset.

6. (Optional) Add a thumbnail image to identify the preset in the XGen Library by doing one of the following:
   • Click Viewport Snapshot to create an image from current scene view.
   • Click Browse to locate an image file .
7. Click Export.