Alembic is an interchange file format for computer graphics commonly used by visual effects and animation professionals as it distills complex animated scenes into a non-procedural, application-independent set of baked geometric results. It can handle animations with changing topology, making it useful for simulations such as fluids.
Alembic efficiently stores the computed results of complex procedural geometric constructions, with a primary focus on the interchange of geometry (models) between different groups working on the same shots or assets. It is not for storing the complex dependency graph of procedural tools used to create the computed results.
ABC files supports common geometric representations including:
- polygon meshes
- subdivision surface
- parametric curves
- NURBS patches
- particles.
It also supports transform hierarchies and cameras, as well as initial support for materials and lights. The format also allows for arbitrary data to be stored.
3ds Max leverages this to store information such as object properties and custom attributes.
Note: Since the Alembic format does not include
3ds Max specific data, it might not behave as expected in other content creation tools.
Note: The aspects of the file format supported by
3ds Max are detailed in the Import and Export topics.
For technical information about Alembic, see http://code.google.com/p/alembic/.