Why do you need motionbuilder if you can animate in the same applications you model and rig? I looked up on the internet and didn’t find anything. Seem that motionbuilder is not very popular, why’s that?

Hi Norsul,

Q: Why do you need motionbuilder if you can animate in the same applications you model and rig?

A: Motionbuilder can speed up a lot the production process. It has a built-in rig creation utility with fk/ik solving. Easy retargeting between characters(you animate on one huge character and you could transpose the animation on another tiny character with one click). It has a non-linear editing tool which allows you to loop and scale clips/motion files and edit them at the same time. Motion capture is also a big strength with Motionbuilder.

Q: Seem that motionbuilder is not very popular, why’s that?

A: Motionbuilder is gaining in popularity as more and more studios are using it for productivity increase and versatility. Games, film, online.

‘’This powerful command center is the perfect environment for previsualization, and in fact, the toolset was designed just for that use as employed by the visual effects team on The Matrix. Motionbuilder was the hub for all sorts of data and video feeds that could not be mixed live in a traditional NLE on-set. This capability is unique to MB’’

-review found on digitalcontentproducer.com

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/ser...d=12338456&linkID=6761620

There is still relatively few training ressources on the web for motionbuilder but the Area and 3dBuzz can be a starting point for you. There is a free trial version of Motionbuilder on the Area also.

Motionbuilder still is mainly for editing motioncapture, huge amounts of files and lots of frames and lots of characters, Motionbuilder deals with all of that very well and all in realtime, what you see is what you get with your animation.

that said,

Most of the time you can stay in your own software but the lack of realtime feedback, (waiting for playblasts over and over again is frustrating) and the fact that other software don’t give you the flexibility or speed of both creating and managing large amounts of animation data with out lots of custom tools is frustrating.  try dealing with large scale changes to start poses on hundreds of animation files on multiple characters and you will wish you were in motionbuilder.

I have seen and used custom tools and built in tools for max and maya and they get the work done but its not with out lots of backend effort or artist grunt work.

You will find motionbuilder in use in more places than you know, it gets overlooked or undervalued in marketing and in most sites including autodesk and the area.
you can find links to the new training I created for autodesk as well as free tips and tricks and links to purchase our masterclass dvd .

motionbuildertraining.blogspot.com/

http://motionbuildertraining.blogspot.com/

Brad Clark
Co-Founder: Rigging Dojo-Teaching the art and science of character rigging
Author: Inspired 3D Advanced Rigging
The Character Animator Toolkit for Motionbuilder :available now:

It’s also a powerful tool in all the framing process ... Realtime playback and “open” to cameras rigs & Co.....