How to Characterize Your Character in MotionBuilder

[@surfingWebDaily]

Your videos are one of the best motionbuilder tutorials i've ever seen. Thanks!

[@mocappys]

Ah, you’re very welcome. Thanks for the feedback. Are you using MoBu on a project or learning for a course?

[@surfingWebDaily]

@@mocappys I'm just learning it, but I've seen a lot of tutorials. I'm planning to use mb for my work later :)

[@ChuckWilsonWilsonsStudio]

I have never been successful in saving out the definitions. Cant wait to try this.

[@mocappys]

Fingers crossed this is works for you. Let me know how you get on

[@remithivierge8528]

Thank you so much for that tutorial. i just subscribed. One question : when I want to add/Remove/Namespace... my character name doesn't appear in the window. Can you say why ?

[@mocappys]

You are very welcome. If you’re adding a new namespace, like the character name, you need to enter it in the space in the window. If the namespace already exists and you want to add, remove, or replace it, you should be able to select it from the drop down.

[@remithivierge8528]

​@@mocappys Thank you for responding that quickly. After I read your response, I went back to the scene. '' you need to enter it in the space '' So yeah. Now I see what's the mistake I did. haha I didn't write the new namespace in the writing zone. Like if I didn't saw it at first. Thank you again.

[@wheeler6768]

How do you animate the character's fingers once a motion has been added to it? Because the mocap data doesn't have any finger controllers

[@mocappys]

Import the motion capture onto your character. Then plot the animation to the Control Rig and animate the fingers using that. Something like this kzbin.info/www/bejne/pofVZnSibbacq5o

[@natashar4033]

Hello! Thank you for these videos! But I have a question. I've got a Mixamo rig on a Fuse character. Everything seems to be straightened the way you have it here (apart from the thumb). But the rotations are not set to 0. Is that going to mess things up in the future, or will it be okay?

[@mocappys]

Hello! It sounds like you’re on the right track! Not having the rotations set to zero won’t mess things up. As long as the joints are aligned or straightened as they are in the video, everything should be fine. The only advantage of having the rotation values read 0 in a T-Pose or when straight is, it’s easy to straighten a joint when needed (right-click>zero or enter 0 values) Also, it can make it easier to read values on the skeleton and bug-fix/trouble-shoot if things go wrong. Hope this help

[@natashar4033]

@@mocappys Thank you so much! And for your fast reply too!

[@scullmuffin6488]

how do i give my character a reference, im using a mixamo character and i dont have a reference

[@mocappys]

The “Reference” should be the parent object of your characters Hips or Pelvis. If there isn’t one already in your character, you can create a Null, zero or centre it in the scene, and then parent your skeleton hips to it.

[@joseelupien1835]

how do you remove a bone from the mapping list?

[@joseelupien1835]

Ok, I found it out eventually :D just select the bone in the character control interface, double-click in the bone name field, delete the name and click ok.

[@joseelupien1835]

Saving mapping definition! Thanks God for that!

[@lenneth1188]

what are the "correct values" for the fingers? how do u know it's 10 and not 11? 180, etc.

[@mocappys]

The “correct values” depend on how your rig is set up. The idea is to get your character’s fingers looking straight.

[@bstajic]

Thank you for the video! I'm having an issue with Biped roll joints, it says: "Invalid roll joints". I've read that it has something to do with the inline vs leaf roll joint structure but I can't get it to work. How are the roll joints in your rig parented? Can you maybe help me out with the biped roll joints setup?

[@mocappys]

The roll joints in this character are inline (they are a direct child in arm joints Arm>ArmRoll>ForeArm>ForeArmRoll>Hand) Normally though, I would use leaf roll joints as they are easier to work with and give better results for skin deformation. I haven't used CS Biped in a long time, so it's hard to say without seeing one - and I don't have max. Have you tried to Load the "Biped" Skeleton Definition Template (kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqOZga2fhL5rbrc) This might recognise the joints and put them in the correct slots for you. Sorry I can't be more help...

[@bstajic]

@@mocappys Thanks for the answer! I just couldn't get the Biped to work. I've tried the CAT rig and it works beautifully. In the end, I'm using my custom rig so I don't have any issues, I just wanted to test out the Biped because of the MoBu template for characterization.

[@wheeler6768]

This was useful, thank you

[@mocappys]

Perfect! This is exactly why I made it;)

[@RAYROD]

Super useful. Thanks!

[@mocappys]

Great to hear. Thanks for watching.

[@SamuelHabekotte]

Motionbuilder is still saying that my left and right arm aren't parallel to the X axis. It is okay up until the point I add the joint for the hand.

[@mocappys]

yes, it's ok until all the joints have been added. MotionBuilder needs all the joints to check the joints are aligned correctly.