Animating a 3ds Max Character in MotionBuilder

You can animate characters in MotionBuilder two ways: by setting keyframes manually, or using motion capture data. The following tutorials show you how to animate the 3ds Max Pepe character you imported in the 3ds Max Characters section.

If you did not perform the previous procedures in section Import and characterize a 3ds Max Character in MotionBuilder, you can use the Pepe_rigged.FBX file in the Tutorials folder located in the MotionBuilder root directory on your system.

In the first of these animation tutorials, Animate a character using motion capture data, you animate Pepe by using one of the motion capture files that ship with MotionBuilder. In the second tutorial, Modify character animation with keyframes and export it to 3ds Max you refine the animation using keyframes and bring your edited animation back into 3ds Max.

Following are the assets required for this tutorial:

• Pepe_rigged.FBX
• Iceslip.fbx

Following are the result assets for this tutorial:

• Pepe_Mocap.FBX
• Pepe_keyanim.FBX

See Adding a favorite path.

If you are new to MotionBuilder, take a moment to try a few MotionBuilder navigation techniques using the MotionBuilder keyboard shortcuts:

• Press Ctrl-Shift and drag to orbit around the scene.
• Ctrl-drag to zoom in and out of the scene.
• Shift-drag to pan the scene.

Although the procedures in this tutorial use the MotionBuilder keyboard shortcuts, you can elect to use the 3ds Max keyboard shortcuts.

See 3ds Max keyboard shortcuts.