Why is FBXImporter Scale Factor = 0.01??

Why is the FBXImporter Scale Factor .01 and not 1.0? Is there a way to automate a scale conversion in Unity to make it 1.0?

Since 1 Unit in Unity = 1 Meter, it seems logical that if I:
1. Set my Maya Units = Meters
2. Create a 1 Meter Cube with a scale of 1.0
3. Set my FBX Export Units = Meters, which is a Scale Factor of 1.0.
4. Import the FBX cube to Unity.

that the cube would have a scale of 1.0 and the FBX Scale Factor would be 1.0. But since the FBX Scale Factor in Unity defaults to .01 (with no apparent way to change it aside from manually setting the value in the Inspector), the cube has a Scale = 1.0 but is in fact 100 times smaller than a 1 Unit Cube primitive created in Unity.

The only way I've found to make units work automatically (where a scale of 1.0 in Maya is a scale of 1.0 in Unity) is to set:

Maya Units = Meters
FBX Export = Centimeters (Scale Factor = 100)

This results in a Unity scene object with a scale of 1.0 that is the same size as a 1 Unit Cube primitive created by Unity. So to get a seamless export from Maya to Unity it appears your FBX Scale Factor MUST be 100. This eliminates the possibility of using Feet, which are the units I'd like to be using...

Since the Maya FBX exporter only allows you to select from the menu a series of predefined units/scale factors, the only solution to using feet is to script the export process and set the Scale Factor = 100.

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. //mel
3. FBXExportScaleFactor [float]
4. FBXExportScaleFactor -q
5.  

 

Didn't work. The following code results in a cube with a scale = 100 and scale factor still = .01.

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. FBXExportScaleFactor 100.0;
3. FBXExport -f "C:Cube.fbx";
4.  

 

Yeah, I get the same thing with SketchUp. It's like gambling to figure out what you should set your units to and no matter what, it's either 10x too big or 100x too small.

Someone out there must know the magic formula to export 1:1, so I can stop wasting time adjusting things in the inspector.

 

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. //Maya Units = Feet.
3. //Converts from feet to meters * .01 Unity Scale Factor
4.  
5. global string $exportPath ;
6.  
7. global proc getFilePath (string $fileName , string $fileType) {
8.     global string $exportPath ;
9.     $exportPath = $fileName ;
10. }
11.  
12. proc ExportToUnity() {
13.     global string $exportPath;
14.     fileBrowserDialog -mode 1 -fileCommand "getFilePath" -fileType "Fbx" -actionName "Specify" -ds 1 -wt "Specify output file"  ;
15.     FBXExportScaleFactor 3.2808399;
16.     FBXExport -f $exportPath;
17.     print "Export complete. \n" ;
18. }
19.  
20.  

 

There's an additional issue I've run into with regards to animation where the bones are scaled differently than the entire FBX asset, so the skin mesh is distorted. Seems like the best way around this (and still keep your units in feet) is to script the following:

1. Switch Maya Units to Meters
2. FBX Export Units = Centimeters (Scale Factor = 100)
3. Export FBX.
4. Switch Maya Units back to Feet.

Will post some code if I get this working with animations.

 

Here's the finished code for exporting to Unity if you want your units in Maya to stay as feet, and have characters in Maya and Unity to have a scale = 1.0.

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. global string $exportPath ;
3.  
4. proc ExportToUnity() {
5.     global string $exportPath;
6.     currentUnit -linear "meter";
7.     fileBrowserDialog -mode 1 -fileCommand "getFilePath" -fileType "Fbx" -actionName "Specify" -ds 1 -wt "Specify output file"  ;
8.     FBXExportScaleFactor 1;
9.     FBXExport -f $exportPath -s;
10.     print "Export complete. \n" ;
11.     currentUnit -linear "foot";
12. }
13.  

If you want to use an FBX Preset file, start with the standard Autodesk preset, change the Units to centimeter and save a new preset. Then use the following code to load the preset file when exporting. Why the ScaleFactor in the code above = 1.0, and the Scale Factor in the preset = 100.0 is still a mystery to me...

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. global string $exportPath ;
3.  
4. proc ExportToUnity() {
5.  
6. global string $exportPath;
7.     currentUnit -linear "meter";
8.     fileBrowserDialog -mode 1 -fileCommand "getFilePath" -fileType "Fbx" -actionName "Specify" -ds 1 -wt "Specify output file"  ;
9.     FBXLoadExportPresetFile -f "C:/Unity.fbxexportpreset";
10.     FBXExport -f $exportPath -s;
11.     print "Export complete. \n" ;
12.     currentUnit -linear "foot";
13. }
14.