B3D Flipbook
The process of exporting flipbooks is pretty tedious. A faster way is to export a single B3D file with the entire flipbook sequence embedded into it. This will create one single, very large file with your whole animation in it. Consider some steps to reduce the file size before you use this option:- use low poly models
- reduce the frame rate - use 12 fps instead of 24, or less.
- keep animation sequences short
The flipbooking option is at the bottom of the Exporter Options dialog box for the B3D exporter. Turn it on, then set the beginning and end frame of the sequence you want to export, and the frame rate you want for playback. You may also want to set the Hierarchy option to Static or Full which preserve the grouping structure of the model, if you are exporting something with multiple objects instead of one single mesh. Otherwise, the exporter often treats each individual part of your model as its own frame!
You can take advantage of this unusual "feature" to do some interesting things, though. Without doing any animation in Maya at all, create a number of objects , or repeatedly duplicate and sculpt an object. Export them all as a B3D flipbook, and each individual object will become one frame in the animation.
(c) Ben Chang