MotionBuilder 6.0 is the first release under the Alias brand. All images © 2004 Alias Systems Corp.

When Alias announced last summer that it had acquired Kaydara, the publisher of MotionBuilder, it was close on the heels of the announcement that Discreet was integrating Character Studio, its own $1,000 character animation and previs package, into 3ds max. It seemed inevitable that Alias would rush to offer a competitive bundle of MotionBuilder with Maya. No such luck. MotionBuilder 6.0, the first release under the Alias brand, remains a standalone product, and at $999 for the basic package and $4,500 for MotionBuilder Pro, it’s hardly free, but at $2,000 for Maya Complete, and $1,000 for MotionBuilder Standard, the tandem is remarkably competitive with Discreet’s 3ds max 7. Since Alias isn’t talking about future bundle plans, we set out to answer the question: Is MotionBuilder 6 worth the money?

MotionBuilder is a highly-specialized character animation tool. Unlike Maya, 3ds max or SOFTIMAGE XSI, MotionBuilder has no modeling tools, no realistic rendering capability, no soft- or hard-body dynamic system or particle effects engine and only a rudimentary texturing system. MotionBuilder functionality is so specific, that even some essential functions of setting up characters, such as creating basic skeleton of joints and painting skin weights, are barely afterthoughts: Alias recommends using other programs to perform these steps. Also, many realistic rigging and character finaling features included in high-end film animation systems are lacking in MotionBuilder. What MotionBuilder does have is a very powerful engine and interface for rigging and animating realtime characters, working with motion capture data and animation libraries and creating previs and game-style animation.

MotionBuilder is a highly specialized character animation tool and offers a very powerful engine and interface for rigging and animating realtime characters, working with motion capture data and animation libraries.

Who is It For?
Among 3D artists, character animators are among the most resistant to the technological underpinnings of what they do. Animators working in game studios, and previs artists in film production, spend too much time rigging characters, matching cameras to storyboards and live-action background plates, animating everyday action like walking and talking, and editing animation takes into finished sequences. MotionBuilder, which is unmatched at manipulating, re-using and blending animation data from many sources, as well as creating character performances from scratch, is tailor made for the needs of these artists.

On the other hand, film animators interested in creating highly-realistic animation are likely to need a more extensive toolset than MotionBuilder’s, since the product lacks features such as lattice-, spline- and wrap-deformations, and finaling tools, such as hair and cloth simulations, not to mention a film-quality renderer needed to propel a compelling character performance from mere believability into total realism. MotionBuilder’s excellence is in the realm of quick-and-effective animation for rendering in realtime, or for in-game engines, not for creating film-final animation frames.