Retargeting
Make an animation once and reuse it on other characters. Retargeting copies animations from another project, matching bones automatically and scaling movement to the character's size.
#Retargeting animations
- Open the character that should receive the animations.
- Choose File ▸ Retarget animations from another character… and pick the project that has the
animations (
.rigby,.jsonor.skel). - Tick the animations you want, then check the bone matches in the table: each bone of this character with its source bone and how it was matched.
- Set the options and press Retarget. It is one undo step.
If this character already has an animation of the same name, tick Replace to overwrite it; Retarget stays disabled until you do.
#How bones are matched
Bones are matched in this order:
- Your choice in the table.
- The same name.
- A similar name:
arm.LandArm_Leftmatch. - The same body part and side:
L_UpperArmandupperarm_lmatch.
Control bones such as ik_hand_l only match other control bones. Keys of bones that have no match
are left out.
#Proportions and poses
- Movement scale: translations are scaled by the ratio of the two characters' heights. You can type your own value.
- Bone frames: translations are turned from each source bone's parent frame into the target bone's, so they move the same way in the world even when the rigs are built differently.
- Mirrored bones: when a bone is mirrored in one rig but not the other, its rotations are reversed.
Rotations have two modes:
| Mode | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Relative (default) | The characters are rigged alike. Rotations are added to the target's own rest pose. |
| Match world directions | The rest poses differ, such as arms down in one rig and arms out in the other. Bones point the way the source's bones point. |
#What is carried over
| Carried over | Left out |
|---|---|
| Bone keys and their curves | Mesh deformation keys (meshes differ between characters) |
| Slot keys, by slot name; image swaps only for images the target has | Draw order keys |
| Events (missing event definitions are added) | |
| IK mix keys, by constraint name |
The log lists anything left out.
#Through MCP
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
map_bones | Previews the bone matching between two characters. |
retarget_animation | Copies one or more animations to another character. |
See the MCP guide.