I’ve looked around online to see if there is something specific that I need to do to get Datasmith to recognise and import .wire files from Alias.
According to the compatibility section of the documentation, Datasmith should be able to import Alias (.wire) directly via the CADimporter plug-in (which i have loaded). However, when i attempt this, it is not available as an option in the file type list.
I primarily use the Linux version of Unreal but have also checked this on the Windows version to ensure it is not a Linux limitation. I’m starting to think that there may be a mandate to have Alias installed on the same machine handling the translation. Perhaps the documentation is wrong and a live link plug-in is necessary?
If anyone knows of a way to get this working or can explain why it cannot work as the documentation suggests it would be very helpful.
My workaround is to use Mayas Autodesk Translation Framework plug-in to tessellate the NURBs data into clean polygons, whilst retaining the Alias patch material assignments/material based stitch sorting and layer symmetry. I’m primarily Blender/Cycles and Unreal based these days and only use Maya as a conduit for this kind of thing. If I can get Datasmith to work with .wire files then I will no longer need Maya in my tool chain.
Yes, UE needs to access an alias library on your machine so you need to
install a version of one of Autodesk Alias product that is compatible with your .wire file.
The information is in the doc but not on the main format support page
Thank you very much for confirming this. Would it be enough to have a trial installed? I’m guessing not, as they most likely thought of that when collaborating with Epic on the translator. Or it is probably against the terms of the trial.
Unfortunately with this implementation it makes Datasmith less useful in my situation. If I had an Alias licence then I would not necessarily need Datasmith to tessellate the geometry as I can export directly from Alias as an FBX or convert the data to a .STEP to be used within another other CAD translator.
An Alias licence is currently £5388 per year for the cheapest offering and £19326 per year for the most expensive offering. Even at the cheapest tier this is a crazy amount of money required when all I need to do is convert the file to polygons or to a non propitiatory CAD format.
I’m just very lucky that Maya and Studio Tools (Alias) used to be part of the same code base. This at leasts allows the ability to open .wire files as nurbs in Maya (with limited functionality) or translate them using the ATF plugin.
I appreciate Proprietary file formats can only be utilized and integrated to the extent that the owner of the file format will allow, as this is the nature of closed source software and businesses wanting to protect their interests by using encoded file formats. I dread to think how many licences exist just to decode encoded file formats. It must be a good passive income for the likes of Autodesk.
Worst case scenario I can use a client laptop to access Alias or have them send me .STP files instead.
We also have a task to make UE load wire if the user has other Autodesk tools supporting wire import such as Maya, but that is not high priority at the moment.
