Maya PLE dissection :)

Submitted by Kirby on
Forum
Programmers

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows how to modify a maya ple file so that it is importable into maya complete? I have heard rumours there is only a 4bit difference in the file itself and I wondered can u open ur saved file even in a txt document and try to find something to modify that would make it a complete file..Or on the otherhand is there a mel script for maya complete that allows you to import a ple?

Submitted by TheBigJ on Thu, 01/04/04 - 9:41 AM Permalink

I have no experience with maya file formats but I had a look around. Alias obviously don't want you opening .MP files in maya complete but I expect the formats will be very similar.

I compared two .MP files to a .MB and noticed some differences in the first 17 bytes of the files:
MB: Bytes 0-4 read "FOR4 ". Bytes 8-16 read "MayaFOR4 "
MP: Bytes 0-4 read "FOR4K". Bytes 8-16 read "MPLEFOR4K"
Bytes 5-7 don't seem to matter. Note that the spaces are not ASCII spaces but NULL characters (value = 0).

My suggestion:
Change byte 4 from "K" to " ", bytes 9-11 from "PLE" to "aya" and byte 16 from "K" to " ". Again, spaces are NULL characters.

I am sceptical that this will work though; it seems too easy. Also, I could only find a few files to compare so the "FOR4 " and "FOR4K" differences could be purely coincidental. The "Maya" and "MPLE" part is pretty obvious though.

You might find this link useful:
[url]http://caad.arch.ethz.ch/info/maya/manual/FileFormats/[/url]

Good Luck. Let me know if it works.

Submitted by DaMunkee on Thu, 01/04/04 - 10:59 AM Permalink

when attempting to modify a binary file, don't use things like notepad and such. I recommend either Ultra edit, or if you don't have that, just open the file in Visual Studio so you're actually viewing the hex data in the file.

Visual Studio 6.0 you can drag and drop any file into the window to view it's binary contents. Visual Studio .net 2k3 on the other hand, first try's to Open the file (meaning if it's aliased to use Maya to open the file, it will run the program instead of opening the file in VS.net.)

Anyway, It's worth a shot right :)

Good luck.
Chris

Submitted by redwyre on Thu, 01/04/04 - 8:23 PM Permalink

To hexedit in visual studio.net, got File | Open | Open file... | select the file and click the little down arrow on the "Open" button | click "Open with" | select "Binary editor"

Posted by Kirby on
Forum
Programmers

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows how to modify a maya ple file so that it is importable into maya complete? I have heard rumours there is only a 4bit difference in the file itself and I wondered can u open ur saved file even in a txt document and try to find something to modify that would make it a complete file..Or on the otherhand is there a mel script for maya complete that allows you to import a ple?

Submitted by TheBigJ on Thu, 01/04/04 - 9:41 AM Permalink

I have no experience with maya file formats but I had a look around. Alias obviously don't want you opening .MP files in maya complete but I expect the formats will be very similar.

I compared two .MP files to a .MB and noticed some differences in the first 17 bytes of the files:
MB: Bytes 0-4 read "FOR4 ". Bytes 8-16 read "MayaFOR4 "
MP: Bytes 0-4 read "FOR4K". Bytes 8-16 read "MPLEFOR4K"
Bytes 5-7 don't seem to matter. Note that the spaces are not ASCII spaces but NULL characters (value = 0).

My suggestion:
Change byte 4 from "K" to " ", bytes 9-11 from "PLE" to "aya" and byte 16 from "K" to " ". Again, spaces are NULL characters.

I am sceptical that this will work though; it seems too easy. Also, I could only find a few files to compare so the "FOR4 " and "FOR4K" differences could be purely coincidental. The "Maya" and "MPLE" part is pretty obvious though.

You might find this link useful:
[url]http://caad.arch.ethz.ch/info/maya/manual/FileFormats/[/url]

Good Luck. Let me know if it works.

Submitted by DaMunkee on Thu, 01/04/04 - 10:59 AM Permalink

when attempting to modify a binary file, don't use things like notepad and such. I recommend either Ultra edit, or if you don't have that, just open the file in Visual Studio so you're actually viewing the hex data in the file.

Visual Studio 6.0 you can drag and drop any file into the window to view it's binary contents. Visual Studio .net 2k3 on the other hand, first try's to Open the file (meaning if it's aliased to use Maya to open the file, it will run the program instead of opening the file in VS.net.)

Anyway, It's worth a shot right :)

Good luck.
Chris

Submitted by redwyre on Thu, 01/04/04 - 8:23 PM Permalink

To hexedit in visual studio.net, got File | Open | Open file... | select the file and click the little down arrow on the "Open" button | click "Open with" | select "Binary editor"