3dsmax to After Effects

[White Wizard]

3dsmax Compositor Link for AE sounds great to get cameras and nulls/dummies from 3dsmax to After Effects but it's near impossible to get working and auto desk support for it is atrocious. Does anybody know any scripts or cheap plugins that are reliable?

I've tried a few scripts that claim to do this but things were always off in After Effects.
Rpf sequences work great for importing camera data actually but I still need something to export/import planes and nulls.

I'd much rather have control over my background plates in AE than rendering out BG passes from 3dsmax and dummies into nulls is necessary for tracking lights for lens flares

[squintnic]

use fusion and fbx export scene?

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

i ve tried this:
http://www.timecore.org/fbx-to-ae/

but wasnt successfull much

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

use fusion and fbx export scene?

if he does that will he be able to reexport it to AE from fusion???

[kagemaru]

This workflow got me headaches too, and it still does. I've to say though that i've always managed to get it working at the end. Try to bake everything before exporting: if you have complex hierarchy flatten the export with a per-frame animation on separated nulls and so on. Also check your scene and objects scale.
It's just so simple in nuke with openEXR camera information from vray and obj/fbx...

[NicoC]

Hello,

Depending on what you need, I guess Nyx Voltron is worth trying

[joconnell]

Max2ae from boomer labs?

[White Wizard]

Hello,

Depending on what you need, I guess Nyx Voltron is worth trying

Voltron looks promising but looks a little too heavy for my needs. I really just want to import an object or two. I'm hoping to find a simple script rather than having to install server software and such. Very cool if you do lots of mograph work I can imagine.

Max2ae from boomer labs?

This was my first consideration but I can't justify the price for a simple import here and there.

[joconnell]

Tbh if you count up the time you've wasted trying other scripts to get this work and how much you've been slowed down not being able to get the reference objects you wanted it might come to more than the $250 for the license. Otherwise you're looking at getting someone to write a script for it and that'll end up being at least the same cost :/

[White Wizard]

Tbh if you count up the time you've wasted trying other scripts to get this work and how much you've been slowed down not being able to get the reference objects you wanted it might come to more than the $250 for the license. Otherwise you're looking at getting someone to write a script for it and that'll end up being at least the same cost :/

You certainly make a good point.

[crazy homeless guy]

There is something on Scriptspot that is free and works well. I don't have time to look it up.

[kagemaru]

As i said before, even though it has problems, we always managed to export things with the compositor link, baking as much as possible is the key. We have Max2Ae and while it proved its utility, it still got flaws with complex scene so don't expect a one click solution that will always work in every possible scene.
Alternatively another way that you can try is exporting to fbx, then in After Effects create a cineware layer, open cinema4d and import your fbx. Then tag whatever you need and extract the data via cineware. I tried and it works. Getting to export stuff correctly with physicalCam, Vraylights, etc with fbx can be another problem though.

[White Wizard]

As i said before, even though it has problems, we always managed to export things with the compositor link, baking as much as possible is the key. We have Max2Ae and while it proved its utility, it still got flaws with complex scene so don't expect a one click solution that will always work in every possible scene.
Alternatively another way that you can try is exporting to fbx, then in After Effects create a cineware layer, open cinema4d and import your fbx. Then tag whatever you need and extract the data via cineware. I tried and it works. Getting to export stuff correctly with physicalCam, Vraylights, etc with fbx can be another problem though.

I'd love to just use the compositor link but the install file from auto desk is broken. It refuses to detect any installation of after effects. Would you be able to send me a zip file of the after effects plugins? I know there's two files that go in the AE support folder and one that goes in the plugins folder. It's silly that auto desk only offers an exe installer.

I'm using 3dsmax 2016 and after effects CC 2015.3. All I really need to import is a BG plane and a handful of lights, so shelling out money to boomer labs makes my heart hurt.

[crazy homeless guy]

I thought the compositor link only worked with AE6 or earlier. Just another thing Autodesk abandoned quickly.

[kagemaru]

I'd love to just use the compositor link but the install file from auto desk is broken. It refuses to detect any installation of after effects. Would you be able to send me a zip file of the after effects plugins? I know there's two files that go in the AE support folder and one that goes in the plugins folder. It's silly that auto desk only offers an exe installer.

I'm using 3dsmax 2016 and after effects CC 2015.3. All I really need to import is a BG plane and a handful of lights, so shelling out money to boomer labs makes my heart hurt.

3dsmax_compositor_link.zip

I zipped everything i have.
Adobe.AfterFX.dll and Autodesk.Plugins.Adobe.AfterFX.SceneIO.dll goes in the main "Support files" folder.
Autodesk.Plugins.Adobe.AfterFX.SceneIO.Loader has its own folder named "AEGP" that goes in the plugins folder.
I'm sure you can get want you want with the compositor link.

I thought the compositor link only worked with AE6 or earlier. Just another thing Autodesk abandoned quickly.

It's still working though.