Characterize tab
To retarget character animation in Maya you must define each character’s structure by completing the Mapping List in the Characterize tab.
Click to automatically map your character’s joint objects to the Mapping List.
Whether you can automatically map your character depends on the naming of its joints. If you have named the joints using the naming conventions found in the Mapping List, the mapping can be completed automatically. If you have a character with joints that are named differently, you must manually map out the joints.
Click to characterize the character skeleton. This creates a link between your character’s joint objects in the Mapping List and the character engine in Maya. Since all characterized characters link to this same engine, you can create a library of characters whose animation can be interchanged. Clicking Characterize also stores the stance pose of your character, which acts as a starting or neutral pose.
It’s a good idea to create your character models in the same stance pose when you plan to animate them in Maya. There is a separate recognized stance pose for biped and quadruped characters. Refer to Prepare your character for full body IK for more information.
The Mapping List is where you define the structure of each character whose animation you want to retarget in Maya.
Essentially, the Mapping List contains all of the data that Maya needs to understand the structure of your character and how it can move. For any skeleton that you introduce, Maya requires that you map a minimum of fifteen objects to the Base(Required) group of slots. After you have completed the character mapping, you can characterize your character model to ready it for retargeting.
The names that Maya recognizes as part of the structure of an HIK character are listed to the left. Slots that define particular areas of a character’s body are organized into groups that you can expand or collapse as you complete the mapping process. The Mapping List is divided into the following slots or groups of slots.
While you do not need a Reference object during the mapping process, this slot lets you define an object to act as the root of your entire character. This object lets you translate, scale, and rotate your entire character. The ideal reference object is a joint or locator parented to your character’s hips.
The Base(Required) slots define the required set of joints for any skeleton you plan to use in your HIK retargeting pipeline. You must map these joints for Maya to understand the structure of your character.
Refer to the following table for a description of each slot in the Base group.
The slots in the Auxiliary group are optional. They let you enhance your character by defining objects for the neck, shoulders (collar bone), and FingerBase/ToeBase (carpal/tarsal) joints.
Auxiliary joints serve specific purposes but may not be needed for all characters.
Lets you define an additional nine spine vertebrae. (One spine joint is included in the Base(Required) slots.
Lets you define an additional nine neck joints. (You can also map one main neck joint in the Auxiliary slots.)
The slots let you define objects that influence the roll of the joints in the arms and legs. Roll joints are optional joints with no real anatomical equivalents that let you create realistic twisting motions in the limbs of your characters. Defining these bones can help to achieve more realistic deformations when the skeleton moves.
Depending on your skeleton and the amount of control you want over your animation, you can split translation and rotation of the hips between two different joints. The Special group of slots contains the Hips Translation slot that lets you define a second object for translating your character’s hips. If you define a Hips Translation object, the hips translation data goes to that object, while the hips rotation data goes to the original Hips object defined in the Base group.
You can split the translation and rotation of your character’s pelvis between two different joints by specifying a HipsTranslation joint in addition to the Hips joint. By default, the HipsTranslation joint will control the translation of your character’s hips and the Hips joint will control the rotation of your character’s hips.
These slots let you define finger joints to add realistic hand and finger movements to your character. You can map joints for each finger using slots for the thumb, index, middle, ring, pinky, and extra finger.
Each slot is numbered 1 through 4, where 1 corresponds to the first joint of the finger (the base of the finger), and 4 corresponds to the last joint of the finger (the finger tip).
Map up to four joints for the following fingers of the left hand:
And up to four joints for the following fingers of the right hand:
These slots let you define joints to add realistic toe and foot movement to your character. You can map joints for each toe using slots for the thumb (big toe), index (second toe), middle (third toe), ring (fourth toe), and pinky (baby toe), as well as slots for an extra toe.
Each slot is numbered 1 through 4, where 1 corresponds to the first joint of the toe, and 4 corresponds to the last joint of the toe.
Map up to four joints for the following toes of the left foot:
And up to four joints for the following toes of the right foot:
See also Left and right feet.
These slots let you define additional finger joints (metacarpal and metatarsal joints).