Can .fbx files be associated with Maya so they can be opened from Unity?

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What I mean is opening a file by double clicking in the project view. My team has switched to .fbx for compatibility reasons, but we lost a lot of convenience in the process. I've looked through the Preferences with no luck; the options seem relatively sparse. If t$$anonymous$$s is possible, is it a Pro only feature?

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Answer by Anxo · Jan 27, 2013 at 09:49 PM

No.

FBX files are not linked to a 3rd party programe. But you will get the same effect as if they are if you have Maya and Unity on the same mac$$anonymous$$ne and drag the Maya file into your assets instead of exporting an FBX. Unity will then export an FBX for you and always check if you updated the Maya file, if you have, it will export a new FBX to replace the old so you will get a very smooth workflow of jsut having to save in Maya and seeing the result in Unity.

BE WARNED: If you are collaborating with someone, note that if you move the project to a computer without maya, I t$$anonymous$$nk you will run into problems with your assets.

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Phoenix2518 · Jan 28, 2013 at 03:35 AM 0

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This is interesting; it sounds like good workflow. How do I get Unity to auto-export to .fbx, though? I created a test .mb file and dragged it into my project folder, but nothing happened.

Anxo · Jan 28, 2013 at 04:25 AM 0

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You do not have to do anything, once it is in the directory you can select it from inside the project.

Phoenix2518 · Jan 28, 2013 at 04:54 AM 0

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Not trying to be thick here, but I'm afraid I don't understand. You mentioned moving the Maya file into the project directory, and then Unity would auto-export an .fbx version. Where is this .fbx created? Is there some command or setting I have to use from within Unity?

Anxo · Jan 28, 2013 at 05:57 AM 0

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use the MA, it is transparent. It does not show you an fbx, you drag the ma file in and it works the same, just in reality it exports an FBX behind the scenes.

Phoenix2518 · Jan 28, 2013 at 05:33 PM 0

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Ah! I get it now. We're all using Maya, just not the same version. (Some of our artists can't upgrade to the current year.) Maya binaries aren't backward compatible, which causes import issues, but maybe .ma is? In which case, we wouldn't need .fbx in the first place. We should be able to figure something out now, thanks.

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Can .fbx files be associated with Maya so they can be opened from Unity?

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