Import Alembic cache files

You can import Alembic caches into a Maya scene as separate object hierarchies You can also add the cached objects to an object hierarchy that is already in the scene. When adding Alembic objects to an existing object hierarchy, you choose to parent selected geometry to the Alembic objects, or merge the Alembic objects with the original Maya geometry. See Merge Alembic and Maya geometry.

To import an Alembic cache as a separate object hierarchy

  1. In the Animation menu set, select Cache > Import Alembic > .

    For information, see Alembic Import Options .

  2. In the Alembic Import window, select Cache > Alembic Cache > Import Alembic.
  3. Click Import.

    The Alembic objects are imported as a separate hierarchy at the root of the scene.

To import an Alembic into an existing object hierarchy

  1. In the Outliner or in the scene view, select the object hierarchy you want to parent to or merge with the Alembic objects.
  2. Select Cache > Import Alembic > .
  3. In the Alembic Import window, select Import under current selection.
  4. Under Import under current selection, do one of the following:
    • Select Add to parent the imported Alembic objects to the selected object hierarchy.

      When imported the Alembic objects appear in the hierarchy under the selected scene object.

    • Select Merge to merge the Alembic objects with the selected geometry.

      When imported, the Alembic objects and original geometry merge into a single object hierarchy.To be merged, the Alembic objects must have the same name and object hierarchy as the selected Maya geometry. See Merge Alembic and Maya geometry.

  5. If you selected Merge, you can choose to Add non-matching content from file or Remove non-matching content from the scene.
  6. Click Import.
    Note: If no shading appears on merged objects, ensure that the Alembic cache file contains the source object's UV information. See UV Write.
Important: If you export an Alembic cache that does not use the default Maya scene units of cm and then import it into a scene that does, the Transform values of the Alembic geometry will be incorrect.

To correct the values, select the imported cache, and in the Node Editor, select the unitConversion node and set its Conversion Factor attribute value to 1.

Related topics

Parent topic: About Alembic Caches