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Flow Studio to Maya

You can access Autodesk Flow Studio from inside Maya using the dedicated button in the Status Line (next to the Sign in dropdown).

Flow Studio allows you to generate 3D assets that you can then import into Autodesk Maya for use in your projects. Depending on the type of asset you're attempting to create (such as a 3D character, prop mesh or fully animated motion capture skeleton), you'll experience the best results by observing the following practices.

Exporting a character / prop mesh to Maya

When creating a 3D character or prop in Flow Studio, you can start from either a text prompt or from an existing image (such as a character drawing). It's important to remember that AI mesh generation has specific uses and limitations.
AI generators are good at: They are not reliable at:
Overall silhouette Clean topology
Proportions Precise joint orientation
Stylized surface detail Bind pose accuracy
Concept blocking Production-ready UVs

Realistically, you should expect to spend some time cleaning up the result (such as retopologizing, modifying UVs, adding extra details, and so on).

To create / export a character from Flow Studio:

  1. In Flow Studio, go to Wonder Tools and select either Text to 3D or Image to 3D.
  2. Enter a text prompt or load your image file by clicking Add Your Image.
    • If using a text prompt: Describe the character using a mix of visual terms and 3D structural terms. For the latter, use phrases like "parallel to the x-axis" to describe positions. If intending to generate a character to be rigged in Maya, make sure the character is generated in a neutral stance, as close to T-Pose as possible (AI can struggle with this, so don't expect for it to be perfect). It can be helpful to use Text to Image first to dial in the look and pose of the character, then use that image as input for Image to 3D. 
      Example prompt: A female biped in armor standing in a symmetrical stance. Pose her arms lifted at her sides 90 degrees to the torso and outstretched straight along the X-axis. Palms facing the negative Y-axis. Pose her legs neutral and upright, parallel to each other.
    • If using an image prompt: For characters, use an orthographic drawing of the character from the front in either T-pose or A-pose. For objects, using a 3/4 overhead view at 45 degrees gives the AI more information to infer the obscured areas. Orthographic source images may provide more accurate renderings, but they will typically interpret the depth as almost flat.
  3. Enter a seed value. You can change this value on subsequent attempts to get more variations of the output.
  4. Click Generate Mesh.
  5. Once you've found an acceptable variation, select it and adjust the options. For the best deformer compatibility in Maya, make sure to set Topology to Quad.
  6. Click Generate.
  7. When Flow Studio completes the mesh generation, select it and download either the USD or OBJ version of the file.
  8. Import the resulting mesh into Maya using the appropriate method (OBJ or USD).
Once you've imported the geometry into Maya, you can modify it using any of Maya's native tools. If you imported a bipedal character, you can quickly rig it using HumanIK.
Note: Even if the bind pose isn't perfect, you start with a default HumanIK example, then move and rotate the joints to fit your character before skinning.

Exporting motion captured animation to Maya

When using Flow Studio to export animation to Maya, you have several options:
  • Option 1: Export a Flow Studio character (animated skeleton + 3D model) and import it into Maya.
  • Option 2: Export AI motion capture (just the animated skeleton), then import the result into Maya and retarget the motion to your own character.
  • Option 3: Import your own custom character into Flow Studio, apply recorded animation directly to that character, then export it back to Maya.

Option 1 is ideal if you just want to use the Flow Studio provided character in your 3D scene. Option 2 or Option 3 is ideal if you plan to apply your Flow Studio recorded animation to your own rig.

To export an animated character from Flow Studio to Maya (Option 1):

  1. Follow these steps to produce a 3D scene from a camera recording using Live Action Easy, Live Action Advanced, or Animation / Video to 3D Scene.
    • In the Export Scene settings, make sure to enable Maya Scene (optionally, you can output as USD as well).
    • (Optional) Export Camera Track if you'd like to maintain the same camera movement in your 3D scene.
  2. Once Flow Studio is finished generating the animation, download the .zip file and extract it, then open the .ma file.
    Note: If Maya displays a warning that file references are broken, you can manually update the paths using the dialog that appears (for example, the character rig can typically be found in the usd > asset > character folder).

To export mocap data from Flow Studio to Maya for retargeting (Option 2):

  1. Follow these steps to produce mocap data from a camera recording.
  2. Once Flow Studio is finished generating the animation, download the .zip file and extract it, then import the mocap data (FBX or USD).
For imported mocap data, the last frame of the animation will contain the mocap skeleton in a T-Pose, which you can use to either define a HumanIK rig, or retarget to your own custom rig.

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