Alembic Export skipping frames ???

[Gregory]

Hey Tyson,

I'm afraid I have another serious problem with alembics.
This time is Max related, not UE.

So, when exporting alembic spline meshes, either using Tyflow's export operator, or native Max's alembic export options. the resulting alembic have random empty frames throughout the animation. I've tried all I could think of like adding an EditPoly, EditMesh, or other modifiers on top of the TySpline Meshes, but with no luck.

Attached is a video showing the problem.

Here's a test scene file that shows the problem; generated alembic also attached.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7vz2w42im...1sah0&dl=0
This is kind of urgent I'm afraid, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Greg

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Okay, looks like I can "fix" this by adding a Normalize Spline modifier in-between the TySplines and the TySplineMesher.
This is not always desirable though, as it adds more "geo" than needed to the spline meshes, or change the shapes.
Need to verify this with other setups as well; maybe this was a "lucky" export.
Verified with another export; looks like this trick works.

Would be great if you could figure out the initial cause of this, either way.

Thanks,
Greg

[tyFlow]

Max's Alembic importer has some issues and it's not a great litmus test for whether or not the Alembic data is intact or not...I prefer VRay's Proxy object, which can import Alembic data and doesn't have some of the bugs that Max's native importer has.

If you have VRay installed, try loading the problem Alembic file with a Vray Proxy object and see if the disappearing frames occur.

If they do, the next step would be sending me the Max/ABC file(s) so I can do further testing.

[Gregory]

Hmm, you are right.
VRayProxy does not exhibit the same issue as native Max alembic.

But, if I want to use Redshift then, I can't.
I need to take this to the Max team then, right?

[tyFlow]

I think if you put an Edit Mesh modifier on the VRay Proxy object it'll render as a mesh, and should be renderable in Redshift...

Otherwise yes, you'd have to notify Autodesk about the bug.

[Gregory]

I think if you put an Edit Mesh modifier on the VRay Proxy object it'll render as a mesh, and should be renderable in Redshift...

Otherwise yes, you'd have to notify Autodesk about the bug.

Aha okay, will try that; thanks for the tip!
I'll talk to the team in any case; this is an embarrassment to have a broken alembic importer/exporter for so long.