Export and import XGen Collections and Descriptions

You can save XGen Collection (.xgen) or Description (.xdsc) files then load the grooms and bind the Descriptions to geometry in other scenes or the same scene. Access the export and import options from XGen Editor File menu or Generate XGen menu.

Tip: Alternatively, you can save your XGen grooms as XGen presets and then apply them to any mesh object in your scene. See Create hair, fur, and instanced geometry using XGen presets.

For saving and loading groomable splines Descriptions, see Export and import groomable splines.

When exporting and importing XGen Collections and Descriptions for default and archive primitives, consider the following general workflow guidelines.

• When you import a guides-based Description into the current scene, the target surface geometry must have the same topology as the original geometry. Otherwise, Ptex maps or guides associated with the Description have no effect.

  If your Description is controlled by attributes only, there is no topology requirement unless you have expressions that use custom parameters, such as key frames or masks.

• To ensure that the guides from a guides-based Description get rebuilt when imported, export the Collection rather than just the Description. Guide information gets saved in Collection files, but not in Description files.

  If you want to export and then import the Description only, do the following:

  1. Use the Guides To Curves utility to convert the source guides to curves.
  2. Export the curves to an Alembic cache.
  3. Import the Description and Alembic cache into the new scene.
  4. Select the curves and convert them back to guides using the Curves To Guides utility.
• If you get prompted to rename or overwrite existing files when importing Descriptions, be aware that renaming files breaks the connections to any masks, maps or other files on disk since they do not get copied over to the new Collection or Description.
• The name of the target mesh object must have the same name as the Ptex map files being imported.
• When creating a Description on referenced or namespaced geometry, be sure to add the correct namespace to the name of the Collection.

  For example, <geometry namespace>:<Collection name>.

  This ensures that the Collection and Descriptions are in the same namespace as the referenced geometry.

• You can export Masks to separate locations to build a library of Masks for different uses when grooming, and then import them as needed.