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title: "Live Link from Maya"
canonical: "https://documentation.chaos.com/space/LAV/124522647/Live%20Link%20from%20Maya"
format: markdown
---
This guide shows you how to set up a Live-Link from Maya to Chaos Vantage. For more information about Live-Link, see the  Tools in Maya  page. Overview The Live-Link feature makes it possible to instantly see changes made in Maya without the need to export and import  .vrscenes  in Chaos Vantage.  Additionally, you can export and send an animation for rendering directly from Maya. Live-Link Setup For Live-Link to function properly, please follow the steps below: I. Installation Live-Link works  only  with  V-Ray 5 , update  2.2  or newer. 1.  Download and install the latest official  V-Ray for Maya  build from the download button. Make sure you have appropriate licenses. If you experience problems, please contact Chaos Support using the  online form . 2.  Download the latest Chaos Vantage build from the download button. Make sure you have appropriate licenses. If you experience problems, please reach us using the  Support Form . II. Initiation After installation, Live-Link can be initiated. If you are initiating Live-Link from Maya running on macOS or Linux, note the following: Chaos Vantage has to be loaded on a host Windows machine  before  the Live-Link is initiated. The port number for the Live-Link is 20703. Live-Link to Vantage Use the  Initiate a Live-Link to Chaos Vantage  button in Maya from the  V-Ray shelf  or the option in the  V-Ray  menu. Click the button and a Live-Link session is initialized between Maya and Chaos Vantage. It automatically: Starts Chaos Vantage if it is not already running. Sends the scene to Chaos Vantage on 20701 port for DR or 20703 for DR2 . When Vantage is initiated: This temporarily changes the render settings of the scene. Distributed rendering is enabled. All IP addresses are replaced with a single local Vantage host. The Vantage window opens, if it is not opened already. The Vantage server starts and you can now make changes to the Maya scene and they will be visible in Vantage. Live-Link cannot start while a render is running and vice versa - a render cannot start while Live-Link is running. In these cases, an error message appears in the Script Editor.   Once a Live-Link session is started, the scene is transferred to Chaos Vantage, a blue outline appears in the Vantage viewport and a message is displayed at the top of the Maya viewport saying  Vantage live-link running .  Use the V-Ray shelf to stop . The  Pause when app loses focus  option in the  Preferences  menu is ignored when in a Live-Link session. To stop a Live-Link session, click the  Stop the Live-Link to Chaos Vantage  button in the V-Ray shelf. Once the session is stopped, all render settings go back to their original state. Render Animation You can export and send an animation to Chaos Vantage for rendering directly from Maya. Select the  Render Animation with Chaos Vantage  option from V-Ray shelf or V-Ray menu. An export of the current animation starts and sends it to Chaos Vantage. In Chaos Vantage, the Common settings window opens with  Sequence  selected in the settings. You can adjust the render settings and select a directory, where the animation is written. Note that the animation considers the Time Slider's Animation Start/End options and the scene's FPS.  Once the animation starts rendering, Maya interface freezes. To abort the animation, use the  LiveLink Animation  window that pops up. After the animation is exported and the animation frames are written, the Live-Link between Maya and Vantage stops. If you want to keep it active, use the  Keep live link active on render end  option in Maya. If initiating a Live-Link from a macOS or Linux machine, animation is not supported.  Supported Features Not all V-Ray for Maya and Maya plugins are supported.  For a full list, please visit the  Supported Features  page.