Autodesk® FBX® 2011

Autodesk® FBX® 2011 asset exchange technology helps facilitate higher fidelity data exchange between several Autodesk content creation packages, and provides new support for certain third-party and proprietary applications. Whether using FBX within an entertainment pipeline, or as part of a design production, files are more easily transferred, more data is retained, and workflows are more efficient. Moreover, games developers using the Unreal® Editor (UnrealEd) can directly import FBX files, while developers can now use Python™ programming language to integrate FBX technology into pipelines not based on C++. And, with a new file format, FBX 2011 helps deliver both faster read and write performance and a reduced memory footprint.

Animation Layers

Engage in improved workflows between Autodesk^® Maya^® 2011 software and Autodesk^® MotionBuilder^® 2011 software with extended support for animation layers to match the updated toolset in MotionBuilder 2011; baked evaluation of layers is also supported. In addition, auto key behaviors are now unified and are preserved between Maya and MotionBuilder.

Python Binding

Create and manipulate FBX data using Python. FBX technology can now be integrated into pipelines without the requirement to write C++ code.

FBX Importer for Unreal Editor

Create and animate models in Maya, Autodesk^® 3ds Max^® 2011 software, or Autodesk^® Softimage^® 2011 software, export as FBX, and then import them into the Unreal Editor; supports static and animated meshes and skeletons.

New File Format (v7)

Save time, disk space, and memory with an improved version of the FBX file format that produces smaller files and offers improved read and write performance.

Smooth Mesh Preview

Enhanced support for the Smooth Mesh Preview modeling technique available in both Maya 2011 and 3ds Max 2011 means lighter models can be transferred to games, and, with a Microsoft^® DirectX^® 11 enabled graphics card, automatically rendered at the required level of detail.

Autodesk Material Library

Exchange models between Autodesk applications that support both FBX and the Autodesk Material Library,  allowing a one-to-one mapping of materials.

Instances

New support for instances helps eliminate unnecessary duplication of identical structures within a scene graph, helping increase efficiency.

FBX File Referencing

Directly reference FBX files within Maya 2011 and 3ds Max 2011, without the need to first convert them to the application’s native format.

Sun and Sky Environment

Use FBX to seamlessly exchange Sun and Sky Environments

Levels of Detail (LOD)

Levels of detail can now be written to and read from FBX files in both Maya 2011 and 3ds Max 2011.