From a Maya scene to a WebGL animation, where to start?

Question

I've got some time, and I really would like to learn to get my Maya animated scenes into WebGL. I'm not sure where to start really. It would be amazing if I could make a Canvas element and place a Maya scene into it so that it's animating. Does anyone got a tutorial or some hints?

PS. Answers about 3ds Max are also welcome!

Answer 1

have a look at http://www.inka3d.com Directly from Maya to WebGL without coding.

Answer 2

I have no experience with it, but Coppercube apparently can import Maya animations and export to WebGL. A little more info on the pipeline is here. The software is not free, but has a trial version.

Answer 3

Copperlicht seems to be a pretty complete solution, utilising Copperlight as the world editor. It can import 3ds files, so you're good to go with 3DS Max.

GLGE also looks like it's worth a shot. Works with blender, but Collada support is coming, so that should open it up to XSI, Maya and Max.

To be honest though, you aren't going to be able to go get animations straight out of any major 3D package and into WebGL without at least a little bit of legwork / faff right now; the tech is just too new...