Autodesk MotionBuilder Animation Software For Windows 2020

Autodesk MotionBuilder Features

Create actors and control rigs

Autodesk MotionBuilder is a fully-featured software utility designed to help you create and simulate 3D character animations from scratch, as well as use motion capturing techniques to control the way your actor reacts in the virtual environment. Thus, you can start off by creating a basic actor or control rig, which can then be customized and adjusted to fit your preferences.

Furthermore, you can also define and edit a skeleton simulation, which can be used as a placeholder for the human bones inside your 3D character. Every available bone can be manually assigned to a specific body part, such as the leg, shoulder or spine and they basically define the range of emotions that can be achieved by the simulated actor inside the application.

Manage animation triggers and create poses

Poses represent a certain arrangement of your model’s anatomy, which can be used to quickly change between various body positions. Thus, the character does not have to be manually repositioned each time you want to bring it to its default state and you can even create your very own poses from scratch, in order to save them inside the project.

The animation triggers, on the other hand, can be organized and stored into groups, depending on their purpose. These triggers can be controlled in a variety of ways, as well as by using a keyboard or joystick shortcuts. Hence, you can set up your character to perform a certain action whenever a key is pressed on the keyboard, as well as choose the desired motion clips from your computer.

Real-time 3D engine

Create realistic movement for your characters with one of the industry’s fastest animation tools. MotionBuilder provides you with many tools that make it easy to create a realistic movement for a character. For the sake of simplicity, this topic discusses how the MotionBuilder character engine works with biped or human skeletons. There are special conditions and exceptions when animating quadrupeds that are beyond the scope of this section. Before you can successfully animate a character, it is important to understand how skeletons move and how MotionBuilder can help you recreate believable motion.

Character motion capture workflow

In order to connect recorded motion data to a character, you need to use an Actor asset. Once this process is complete, the character can move according to the motion data defined in the Actor’s Marker set.

When you are satisfied with your mapping, you can drive the character independently of the recorded data by transferring (plotting) the data to your character’s skeleton. You can then export your plotted character and open it in other 3D software.

The following procedure summarizes the process of connecting a character to motion capture data:

1. Add an Actor asset to the scene.
2. Merge your motion data file into the scene.
3. Create a Marker set.
4. Connect the Actor to your character.
5. Adjust the connection between the Actor and character.
6. Optional: Plot the motion data to the character.

Refining Animation

Once you have set keyframes or opened a file containing motion capture data, you can continue to refine your animation. You can edit keyframe animation by manipulating function curves and modifying interpolation. You can also use filters to clean, manipulate, and modify animation.

Data Exchange

Using the single-step interoperability features, you can exchange data between MotionBuilder and Maya, MotionBuilder and 3ds Max, or MotionBuilder and Softimage. You must have matching versions of these applications installed on your system before you can use the single-step options.

A professional 3D motion creator

Autodesk MotionBuilder provides you with everything you might need in order to create 3D motion animations, using your own FBX files. In addition, it also supports motion capturing devices from the get-go, making it very simple to integrate it with your studio and simulate movement using your already existing 3D models.

Screenshots of Autodesk MotionBuilder Software

Official Video Autodesk MotionBuilder Software

Frequently Asked Questions

Autodesk MotionBuilder Older Versions

• Blender
• Modo
• Adobe Animate

What’s New in Autodesk MotionBuilder

What’s New in Story:

• Insert merged animation in Story clips
• Custom option for Clip Ghost Mode
• Ghost Manipulator Time Mode
• Assign travelling nodes to Story clips
• Change Character
• Mirror animation
• Additional changes:
• MotionBuilder 2017 also includes these additional changes to the Story tool.
• Double-clicking a Story clip now opens the Asset Settings in a floating window. The window displays with the Character Clip Settings tab open, making it easier to see options such as Interpolation settings.
• You can now copy and paste clips while aligning them with the source clip.