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Export from Shogun Post

Export from Shogun Post

Owned by Adaptavist ScriptRunner for Confluence Cloud (Unlicensed)
Jan 06, 2025

When you are happy with the quality of your data, you can export it from Shogun Post in a format that is appropriate for your chosen animation software.

If you are exporting to FBX, to ensure you choose an appropriate frame rate, see also Frame rates supported by the FBX file format.

If you are exporting an FBX file for use in Maya® software, see also Export an FBX file for use in Maya® software.

To export a take:

  1. If you want to export only particular aspects of your take (eg bones), select them in your preferred way (eg, in the Selection panel, or by using the Selection Filters options in the 3D Scene view, etc).

  2. To specify the required options for your export, on the General menu, select Preferences, and in the Preferences dialog box, select the File Export tab.

  3. Select the required export file format and, if you made a selection for export in Step 1, be sure to select the Selected objects only box. Select any other options needed, such as the appropriate frame rate (for FBX, see Frame rates supported by the FBX file format), and then select Close.
  4. On the File menu, select Export.
  5. In the Export dialog box, if necessary, change the location of the export and enter a name for your exported file.
  6. Select the appropriate file type (e.g. FBX).
  7. Select Save to export your file to the specified location.

Frame rates supported by the FBX file format

The following are the frame rates supported by the FBX file format and so are the only frame rates that can be exported from Vicon Post to this format.

  • 120 fps
  • 100 fps
  • 60 fps
  • 50 fps
  • 48 fps
  • 30 fps (black and white NTSC)
  • 30 fps (use when display in frame is selected in MotionBuilder, equivalent to NTSC drop)
  • ~29.97 fps (drop color NTSC)
  • ~29.97 fps (color NTSC)
  • 25 fps (PAL/SECAM)
  • 24 fps (Film/Cinema)
  • 1000 milli/s (use for date time)
  • ~23.976 fps
  • 96 fps
  • 72 fps
  • ~59.94 fps
  • 119.88 fps (requires custom MotionBuilder version)

Export an FBX file for use in Maya® software

When exporting an FBX file for use in Maya® software, note the following points.

If a timecode is used in Post, the FBX export writes out a JSON file to the same location as the exported FBX file.

In the Preferences dialog box, the Export data starting at timecode offset frame option for FBX export also enables you to choose whether the exported data starts at the timecode start or from frame 1.

When the option is selected, the exported data starts at the timecode start.

When the option is cleared (the default), the exported data starts at frame 1. By running a supplied Python script, you can then use the exported JSON file to set the timecode in Maya, provided a timecode was used in Post.

To use the FBX in Maya:

  1. In Maya open (don't import) the FBX file.

  2. With the file open, run the CleanupFBXImport.py script, by default found in: C:\Program Files\Vicon\ShogunPost1.#\Scripts\Maya\
    The script sets the scene in a number of ways (see the following list) including setting the correct timecode and linking the MOV file to the correct camera.

    (tick) Tip: To get Maya to show the video as time changes, you may need to click in Overlay view or select the camera in the Outliner and in the Attributes panel, select the texture tab (see following image).

  3. Set the playback speed to the same speed as the video capture rate (eg, 30 fps, as shown in the following image).

In total, the script does the following:

  • Sets the timecode start in Maya using the JSON file that is saved with the FBX if timecode was present in Post.

    This allows the animation and video overlay to start at frame 1, yet maintains the timecode.

  • Switches image planes to movie mode.
  • Switches image planes to point to MOV files instead of image sequences.
  • Switches image planes to only show when looking through the camera.
  • Locks the transforms of image plane cameras.
  • Sets the Frame Offset attribute on video texture to account for video starting at frame 0 and the start offset from the JSON file.

BVH export

With Shogun Post 1.6 and later, you can export takes in BVH format.

If a retargeting skeleton is present, it is exported. If no retargeting skeleton exists, the solving skeleton is exported, if present. As the BVH format permits only one skeleton per file, before you export the scene, ensure that it contains only a single subject/skeleton.

If errors are displayed when you import the resulting BVH, ensure all bones have at least one active DoF before export. (It doesn't matter if they have no keys to go with the DoF(s).)