Character models are 3D objects that can resemble bipeds, quadrupeds, or any other type of figure. They are composed of a skeleton covered by a geometric skin or mesh. The geometric skin is what gives a model its outer appearance.

In many production pipelines, characters are modeled in other software such as Maya. This means that the geometric skin that shapes the model, as well as the bones and joints of the model’s skeleton are laid out, and the whole model is exported to MotionBuilder.

To take advantage of the character and facial animation features in MotionBuilder, keep the following guidelines in mind when creating character models:

• Name your skeleton using MotionBuilder recognized naming conventions. See Bone naming conventions.
• Create your model in a T-stance to aid the characterization process. See Stance.
• After creating your model’s geometry, your character model should be properly skinned. See Skin.
• If you intend to take advantage of MotionBuilder’s facial animation and voice recognition capabilities, you should also create specific shapes or clusters for your model’s head. For a complete list of recommended shapes and more information on facial animation, see Animating faces.