This lesson shows you how to take characters created in 3ds Max and prepare them for import to MotionBuilder.

Set up the lesson:

• On the Quick Access toolbar, click (Open File), navigate to \scenes\interoperability\motionbuilder and open basics.max.
  NoteIf your system units are set to anything other than Centimeters, a File Load: Units Mismatch dialog opens, prompting you to choose which unit scale to use. Turn on Adopt the File’s Unit Scale and click OK.

  The scene contains, from left to right, a mesh character and three skeletons that can be used to drive the mesh.

  

  Mesh and three skeletons

  Left: Mesh

  Second from left: Skeleton A

  Third from left: Skeleton B

  Fourth from left: Skeleton C

  Skeleton A is made up of a conventional Bones system. Skeletons B and C are 3ds Max Biped systems.

  Before MotionBuilder can recognize a model as a character that can be animated, its skeleton bones must be characterized. A model can be characterized only if its bones are labeled in a specific way. You can rename character bones in MotionBuilder, but it is a good idea to rename them properly in 3ds Max whenever you can.

View skeleton bone hierarchy and naming conventions:

1. Region-select Skeleton A, then right-click and from the quad menu, choose Isolate Selection.

   

   Skeleton created from a conventional bone system

2. On the main toolbar, click (Select By Name).
3. On the Select From Scene dialog, choose Display Display Children and then Display Expand All. Scroll the list to view the skeleton hierarchy and see how each bone is named.

   

   This is the naming convention recognized by MotionBuilder. If you name the skeleton bones this way, you can later characterize them in MotionBuilder with a simple click of the mouse.

4. Click Cancel to close the Select From Scene dialog, and then click Exit Isolation Mode to display the whole scene again.

   

5. Region-select Skeleton B, then right-click and from the quad menu, choose Isolate Selection.
6. On the main toolbar, click (Select By Name).

   

   The Select From Scene dialog opens, showing the bone hierarchy of the Skeleton B and its identifying names. This naming convention is the default for Biped. While it is different from the convention used by Skeleton A, MotionBuilder also recognizes it, and it can be used to quickly convert skeletons for animation.

7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 to isolate Skeleton C and view its skeleton hierarchy.

   

   Even though the suffix of each bone name in Skeleton C is identical to the name suffixes in Skeleton B, the prefix to each bone name, “MIA,” is different. MotionBuilder recognizes prefix changes for biped skeletons.

8. Click Cancel to close the Select From Scene dialog, and then click Exit Isolation Mode to display the whole scene again.