XGen not saving files

[Anonymous]

Hello,

My XGen files won't save anymore. I created a project folder and created some mesh. When I got it ready, I added hair. For the first 16 saves after this, everything saved correctly. That is, my scene saved in the scene folder and the .xgen file saved underneath. For some reason, the xgen files stopped saving when I save my scene. I can import one of the older .xgen files from the Getting Started menu, or, if I copy one of these files and rename it in the same format as my latest scene then it will open with the scene and this collection will work and is recognized. But, it will not save.

Also, and more problematic, while I can create new collections and/or descriptions, they don't save with my scene either. Likewise, I can't export them to any folder, not the 'Project' or 'My Documents' or 'Documents'. So, I can't make any more hair than I have and I can't just start over because no new .xgen files get created anywhere on my computer (I have searched for new .xgen files and I always have the same amount). The odd thing is that I can create a new collection and use it as usual. But when I save, close and reopen the scene, all of the collections, descriptions and guides show up in the outliner but they are not recognized. I can select them from the outliner but they are invisible and frozen. So, when I open the XGen window I just get the Getting Started screen. I assume all of this is because there is a problem saving .xgen files but I have no idea where to look to fix this.

The only thing that I have changed during this time is to change the auto-save interval but I reset the Preferences back to original so I can't see how any stray influence might be causing any problems or how this would cause a problem in the first place.

I appreciate any ideas or suggestions. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

My experience with xgen and autosave is that you shuold turn autosave off, they don't play well together. Also, check if the xgen folder has the read-only flag active, it happens from time to time.
There should be a way to versión maya files with xgen collections without having to duplicate the entire palette folder and repathing

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. I guess that I forgot to say that when I reset the preferences, the autosave option was cancelled. I checked to make sure because I was going to turn if off but it was. So, this is not the problem. As I said, it's very strange in that the files cannot be saved or exported (no new files are ever created). I have modified the file path in the XGen window (by loading an older save as previously described) but this didn't seem to make any difference.

At any rate, I guess that this topic can be considered closed and/or deleted. I had been learning May for a few months, with my previous (somewhat extensive) experience being with Blender. Even though Maya may be superior in some ways, I have never had any problems like this with Blender and so, since I am not interested in finding employment as an animator, I am going back to Blender which I find is not only adequate but excellent. You know, I am not a fan of constantly restarting projects to fix some random software error. Thank you again for your effort in trying to help and have fun in your endeavors.

[Anonymous]

I had the same problem and I still dont know what the issue is, but instead of opening your .ma or .mb file try importing it. That fixed it for me. Your render settings will be defaulted but everything else should be present.

[Anonymous]

Hit this thread from a google search so just adding my experience for others who run into something similar.

So my xgen file stopped saving with my Maya file as well. I found the problem was that I had renamed the base geo for one of the descriptions. Xgen complained that it couldn't find such and such an object when i hit save. So I deleted that description and saved again, this time everything saved normally.

I might have also tried renaming the emitter object back to the original name, but the description in question was a temp thing, so in this case deleting it left me with a cleaner file.

lesson learned: don't rename objects xgen is using, it will "corrupt" your scene file.

may or may not have anything to do with the OP's problem, but I thought it was worth sharing anyhoo.

[Michael_Todd · Accepted solution]

I'd very much recommend NOT using autosave. At ALL. It can cause all kinds of problems and I'll just say that it's potential benefits are FAR outweighed by the problems it can lead to.

If you create manual save iterations, you will get a separate XGen file for each Maya scene iteration, but the XGen files will still all point to the same location for the collection and description.

Renaming the Geo is bound to is not recommended if it can be avoided. If you absolutely have to rename it, there are ways to update XGen for the new geo name but it's not a one click fix, you have to export the Collection, rename the geo, delete the collection in the scene and import the XGen collection but don't have the bindings option turned on. if you have maps and masks, as the ptex files are named for the geo they are painted on, those files will need to be either copied over and renamed or repainted. You'll also have to rename the patch for the XGen description, either manually or with the Collection/Fix Patch Names tool.

You then select the geo or faces and bind the description/s to selected. If you had guides, you have to convert the guides to curves first, then go through the above steps then convert the curves back to guides. 

the upshot is, renaming is to be avoided if at all possible. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Michael (just realised I posted from the company IT account)

Is there a repository for these kinds of best practice tips? Xgen is a highly sophisticated tool and the tutorials available don't often cover the finer points

-matt

[Anonymous]

---

@Michael_Toddwrote:

 Renaming the Geo is bound to is not recommended if it can be avoided. If you absolutely have to rename it, there are ways to update XGen for the new geo name but it's not a one click fix, you have to export the Collection, rename the geo, delete the collection in the scene and import the XGen collection but don't have the bindings option turned on. if you have maps and masks, as the ptex files are named for the geo they are painted on, those files will need to be either copied over and renamed or repainted. You'll also have to rename the patch for the XGen description, either manually or with the Collection/Fix Patch Names tool.

You then select the geo or faces and bind the description/s to selected. If you had guides, you have to convert the guides to curves first, then go through the above steps then convert the curves back to guides. 

the upshot is, renaming is to be avoided if at all possible. 

---

So renaming objects is to be avoided... Doesn't it sounds off to you?

Is the procedure (the 16 steps explained above as to what to do if renaming occurred) described somewhere in a help file/documentation/tutorial detailed in a step-by-step and easy to follow manner?

Are you guys planning to fix this?

It sounds to me that restarting a groom from scratch might be easier and faster than going through the renaming process and just the idea of it is haunting me. 

[RonaldvanVemden3444]

Renamed some objects and just ran into the same problem.

What a joke, coming from Softimage, Maya is like a bad trip back in time. It's still this limping monster of Frankenstein, cobbled together with bits and pieces that don't fit properly.

[EderSouzadesigner]

It solved but importing the file. 

[newtaov]

Generally this happen when you rename your poly. To make things work again you have two options:
- Open the last .Xgen document created using a text editor, find Name and see the the old poly name and in Maya rename your poly with that same name and save the Maya file. 
- Open the last .Xgen document created using a text editor, find Name and rename the poly name with the same name your poly has in Maya. Now Maya will recognize that .xgen file when you open Maya file again.

[animalunae]

This fixed it for me! Renamed the source object back and it creates the xgen file correctly again.

7 year old bug... looks like Autodesk is spending my yearly subscription money wisely!