Stance

Before you characterize a model, it must be in a T-stance or rest pose, and it must be facing the positive Z-axis.

For biped models, the rest pose is a T-stance with all fingers and thumbs out straight. For quadrupeds, it is a stance where the four limbs in your model and all toes point towards the floor.

Stances A. Biped T-stance B. Quadruped stance

This stance is important because when you characterize a model, MotionBuilder takes the current pose of the model as the starting pose. All future movement is based on this starting pose.

Creating a T-stance

The T-stance (or rest pose) is often used as the default position for a character. For example, Ragdoll solves recommend that characters are in the T-stance for pose matching.

To put your character in the T-stance:

Load a character into the scene.
In the Character Controls window, click > Edit > Controls > Stance Pose.
The character assumes a T-stance position.