3ds Max cannot read the control rig information that defines character animation in MotionBuilder. For 3ds Max to recognize this animation, you need to plot, or “bake,” the keyframe data into the character’s skeleton.

Set up the lesson:

• In MotionBuilder, continue from the previous lesson, or from the main menu, choose File New and then from the Asset Browser Export folder, open the file pepe_biped_unplotted.fbx.

Bake animation onto the Pepe character skeleton:

1. On the Character Controls window Character Controls pane Edit menu, choose Plot Character.

   

2. On the Character dialog, click Skeleton.

   

   On the second Character dialog, leave the default values unchanged and click Plot.

   

   The character control rig is deactivated, but the Pepe character retains all animation information.

   TipIf you need to edit the character’s movement after its animation has been plotted, simply go back to the Character Control panel Character Controls tab Edit menu, and choose Plot Character Control Rig again. When you are done, repeat steps 1 to 2 to bake the animation back onto the character skeleton.

   When you save your file, you will have not only the animated character Pepe in your scene, but the reference skeleton as well. You could delete the skeleton from the scene or select the Pepe character and save it to another file for import to 3ds Max, but this is not mandatory. As you will see, you can just as easily strip out the skeleton during the import process to 3ds Max.

3. From the main menu, choose File Save As, then in the Save File dialog, enter mypepe_biped_plotted and click Save. In the Save Options dialog, accept the defaults, then click Save.
4. Exit MotionBuilder.