Referencing

File referencing allows us to assemble objects, shading materials, animation, etc. in multiple scenes into a single scene without importing the files into the scene. The contents that appear in the scene are read or referenced from pre-existing files that remain separate and unopened. File referencing is useful for collaborative production in situations where multiple individuals need to work concurrently and share various assets in complex scenes. File referencing accomplishes this by allowing production team members to segment their scenes as required to suit their production workflow.

A scene file that references other files lower in the hierarchy is known as a parent scene. A parent scene reads or references other files that make up a scene from where they reside on disk (or on a network). These files are known as referenced child scenes.

Even though the referenced child scenes appear within the currently open parent scene they remain separate from the currently open parent scene at all times. When the currently open parent scene file is saved, any referenced scene data is not saved within it.

Users can also apply edits to the referenced objects in their currently open parent scene without modifying the original referenced child scenes that are lower in the referencing hierarchy. Any edits applied to the referenced objects while working within the currently open parent scene remain stored in a node that is created in the currently open parent scene when the child scene is first referenced. This node is called a reference node. A reference node is created for each child scene that gets referenced into a parent scene. The reference node keeps track of how the parent scene uses and modifies objects contained within a referenced child scene.

The above is adopted from Maya Basics: About file referencing

To reference a scene in Maya, open a parent scene first. Go to File -> Create Refernce... (or Cntl+R), and select the file to be referenced. Reference Editor lets you reload, unload, duplicated, replace, and remove references.

Sample files: character.mb & props.mb


Referencing a character. When you want to reference a non-animated character in a separate scene file to be driven by the character animated by mocap data in a parent scene, you need to:

• Orient constrain and point constrain the hips (the root joint) of the animated character to the hips of the referenced character.
• Orient constrain each one of all the other joints of the animated character to the corresponding joint of the referenced character.
• Point constrain each IK handle of the animated character to the corresponding IK handle of the referenced character.
• Hide the 'original' animated character in the parent scene.
• Creating a script to do the above saves you a lot of time.

Sample files: patrick_dancing.mb & character.mb