Welcome to What's New in Autodesk MotionBuilder 2012! 

Updated Interface

Interoperability

You can now send new scene data or updates to currently open scenes from MotionBuilder
to Maya or 3ds Max. You can access these new options from the File menu.

FCurves window improvements

Isolate selected curves
Quickly narrow your focus in the FCurves window by showing only the curves you want to work with. The new Isolate Curve option lets you easily view curves for selected channels only.

Auto tangent type
This new tangent type replaces the Bezier-Auto and Bezier Clamp options. As you move keyframes in the FCurves window, Auto tangents can automatically self-adjust to ensure smooth transitions, without overshooting maximum and minimum values. Auto tangents can save animators valuable time when roughing out animation, as tangents are naturally adjusted to avoid creating spikes. The Auto tangent type is common to several other Autodesk applications, and is the default tangent type for new keys.

Simplified toolbar option
The FCurves contextual menu now includes a Classic Mode option which toggles the FCurves window between the classic, full toolbar, and a more simplified toolbar that displays a smaller set of options. Switching off Classic Mode gives animators who primarily use MotionBuilder as part of a suite a more streamlined display of curve editing tools.
 

Physx Point Cache recording

Physx point cache recording is only for Softbodies and Cloth and does not support Fluids.

Hybrid MoCap Device

The plotting requirement after recording has been removed and users can now record both
optical and bone data simultaneously.

NURBS Curves support

MotionBuilder now supports NURBS Curves from Maya.

Updates to Layouts

MotionBuilder now has three basic layout types: Editing, Scripting, and Preview.
Layouts

Supported Screen Resolutions

Each basic layout now supports six screen resolutions:
1024 x 768
1440 x 900
1280 x 1024
1440 x 960
1600 x 1200
1920 x 1200

Visibility and Visibility Inheritance

The visibility of a parent node can now be inherited by all children. A new Visibility Inheritance
property has been added to allow users to adjust this default.

Help preferences

New Help Location options have been added to the MotionBuilder Preferences to accommodate the new way that the MotionBuilder help is published.

Profiling Center

The new Profiling Center window includes tools that allow you to monitor scene performance and determine where performance cost is highest. Access the window from the Window menu.

Image Sequence

Now, you can import the first frame of an image sequence and have all frames of the sequence display and play back. The Image Sequence option is located on the Video settings pane.

Live Video Input

You can now record live video directly inside MotionBuilder using a webcam. To use a webcam with MotionBuilder, it must be configured on your system.

New Character setup tools

The new Character Controls window and Characterization Tool improve your character workflow. These tools are designed to build on the existing HIK retargeting workflows, and add new features like keying groups and rig synchronization. Character Controls window The new Character Controls window gives you a visual interface for interacting with the FK and IK effectors on your Control rigs. The Character Controls let you activate different manipulation and keying modes depending on whether you want to work on the entire body, specific body parts, or only the current selection. The Figure representation gives you constant visual feedback on which parts of the character are active for keying, reach and pull values. Other controls let you quickly pin and unpin Control rig effectors, create auxiliary effectors and pivots, and adjust the reach and pull properties between a Control rig and its retargeting source.

Characterization Tool

The new Characterization tool provides character animators with an improved, more visual tool for mapping and defining the structure of characters. Designed to be consistent with other Autodesk applications, the Characterization Tool helps to enhance your character animation pipeline, with improved error reporting and an intuitive, visual interface.

New Actor Controls window

With its improved visual interface, the new Actor Controls window echoes the look and feel of the new Character Controls window.

New Character solver

Now, the default character solver in MotionBuilder is HIK 4.5.

Maya Interoperability

You can now use Send to commands to transfer character data between MotionBuilder and Maya. This means you no longer need to export your characters from Maya to FBX to import them into MotionBuilder. To see the Send to Maya commands in the MotionBuilder File menu, you must have Maya installed on your computer. Maya interoperability is a feature of the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites.

Dynamic Baking

Now, dynamic baking automatically detects what constraints need to be baked before sending objects to remote applications using the new one-click options.
 

Stereo camera

MotionBuilder now has a stereoscopic camera that is based on the Maya/Flame default stereo camera rig.

Frustum Culling

Frustum Culling prevents the rendering of anything outside the confines of the Viewer window. This option can toggled on and off through the new Profiling Center window.

MotionBuilder Help on Autodesk.com

Starting this release the MotionBuilder Help is being published to the Autodesk.com website as a browser-based help system. By default, MotionBuilder 2012 will not include documentation and learning materials with the software installation. Instead, MotionBuilder calls the help and other resources from a web location to provide you with the latest documentation available. This shift to publishing directly to the web means we can provide regular updates
and additions to content in an ongoing manner. This change also significantly reduces the footprint of locally installed data to your machine and makes the install and uninstall of MotionBuilder quicker. A download version of the 2012 MotionBuilder Help will be available for those who prefer a local copy from autodesk.com.