How to Create a Dog Actor in MotionBuilder
AutoDesk MotionBuilder is a 3-D animation program. If you have a 3-D dog model, you can use MotionBuilder to turn it into an actor, the name for a character on an animated stage, with a skeleton. This allows you to move the model in nearly infinite ways using MotionBuilder's sophisticated physics and anatomy engine, creating a realistic dog that can run, jump, roll over, and do all the other loveable things dogs do.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Import your 3-D model of a dog into MotionBuilder. MotionBuilder is not used to make 3-D models, but to animate them. Save your 3-D model with the file extension .trc or .c3d, which are motion-capture data files. Select "File" and "Import" to import the model.
-
2
Choose "Create Optical Segments" under the Import options. This configures the imported model to be ready for segmentation and skeleton-building. Press "Import."
-
-
3
Select the "Asset Browser" tab in the "Asset Browser" panel on the right side of the user interface. Open the "Character" folder. Select your model. Drag the model into the "Viewer" panel, which initializes it as an actor.
-
4
Press the "Character Definition" tab. Select the "Characterize" check mark. Click on "Base" and choose "Quadraped."
-
5
Press "Ctrl" and "W" to change the Viewer window to the Schematic view, which helps you map your dog model's body parts to MotionBuilder's skeletal hierarchy.
-
6
Select the body part you wish to map and drag it into the corresponding open slot in the "Character Definition" tab. For example, click on the "head" node and drag it into the "head" slot. Continue this process until you have completely mapped your dog's body to MotionBuilder's skeletal node system.
-
1
