Depending on where you are in your retargeting workflow, you can bake the retargeted animation either to the target character’s skeleton or Control rig.

Typically, you bake animation to the target character’s Control rig when you no longer need the link to your source character or, for example, if you want to export the rig to MotionBuilder. (See Send HumanIK rigs to MotionBuilder.)

You can bake animation to the target skeleton when you finish making all adjustments to the retargeted animation and are satisfied with the results.

To bake retargeted animation to the target character

1. In the Character Controls, select the character you want to bake to in the Current character menu.
2. Click , then select one of the following:
   • To bake to the skeleton, select Bake > Bake to Skeleton.

     (Or select Bake > Bake to Skeleton > to edit Bake Simulation Options before baking.)

     Note

     When you bake to the skeleton, the character’s Control rig is automatically disabled.

   • To bake to the Control rig, select Bake > Bake to Control Rig.

     (Select Bake > Bake to Control Rig > to edit Bake Simulation Options before baking.)

   The retargeted animation plays in the scene as Maya bakes to either the target Control rig or skeleton. For each frame of the retargeted animation, Maya sets one key on each effector or joint.

   Important

   If you added the Control rig to an animation layer during retargeting, the layered animation overrides the baked animation. Mute or delete the layers to view the result of the baked animation on the Control rig.

3. (Optional) If you are finished working with the source character, you can delete it from the scene.