Cross referenced (xreffed) scene files in Maya

Xreffed scene file use in Maya is available with the following caveats and notes:

• Xreffed scene files may be in .mb (Maya binary) format as well as .ma (Maya ASCII) format, but the scene file being rendered still has to be in .ma format.
• Xreffed scene files must still be prepared like any other Maya scene file. All external file assets must be referred to using relative pathing. The easiest way to accomplish this is to store all of your scene files in the “scenes” subfolder of your project root folder.
• Many Maya versions insist on using absolute path definitions to point to Xreffed scene files from your primary scene file. There does not appear to be a way around this in the Maya GUI. As such, our agent will warn you when submitting the main scene file for rendering that absolute path links exist in the scene file. The good news is that can be safely ignored provided you store your scene files in the “scenes” subfolder of your project root folder.