# Welcome
Motorica is an end-to-end tool that empowers creators of all sizes to create AAA level character animations in seconds.
Built on top of our proprietary AI model and datasets, our products help streamline motion matching workflows so you can spend more time doing the creative work you love!
### Jump right in
Cover image
Getting Started
Read an introduction on what Motorica is and how Motorica's products fit within animation pipelines.
# Introduction
Orientation to Motorica's suite of animation products.
Motorica is a suite of tools for generating and iterating on 3D locomotion animation.
It allows animators to generate single takes, batch datasets, custom styles, and integrates with front-end engines and DCCs.
### What you’ll use
* [**Motion Stage**](/documentation/motion-stage): generate and export single-take locomotion animations.
* [**Motion Factory**](/documentation/motion-factory): generate locomotion datasets for motion matching pipelines.
* [**Style Cloning**](/documentation/style-cloning): build custom Styles from your own mocap.
* [**Integrations**](/documentation/integrations): plugins and tooling for Unreal and other front-end engines.
### Where to start
1. Open the app and get started: [Try Motorica Now!](https://app.beta.motorica.ai)
2. Learn the fundamentals: [Concepts](/learn/concepts)
3. Consult the docs to animate what you need: [Documentation](/documentation/overview)
{% hint style="info" %}
If you already know which product you need, start with our [Documentation](/documentation/overview).
{% endhint %}
# Overview
Motorica provides a suite of animation tools for generating believable locomotion animation for films and games. Learn how to use these products via our Tutorials and Concept pages.
## Tutorials
{% hint style="info" icon="person-digging" %}
Coming soon!
{% endhint %}
## Concepts
Understand the context behind each product's features and their purpose within animation pipelines. The building-blocks and fundamentals lie within our Concepts.
# Tutorials
Learn how to use Motorica's suite of Motion Engine products by creating animations datasets for zombies, goblins, and humans.
## Overview
In these tutorials, we'll walkthrough how to create specific animations to get a better handle of Motion Stage, Motion Factory, and how to integrate animations into Unreal Engine's motion matching systems.
## Table of Contents
| Tutorial | Description |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- |
| [Animate a Walking Zombie](/learn/tutorials/animate-a-walking-zombie) | WIP |
| [Animate a Sneaking Goblin](/learn/tutorials/animate-a-sneaking-goblin) | WIP |
| [Generate and use animation datasets in Unreal Engine](/learn/tutorials/generate-and-use-animation-datasets-in-unreal-engine) | WIP |
# Animate a Walking Zombie
\[This tutorial will demonstrate how to create a single styled animation in motion stage. Meant for complete beginners (possibly free trial users).]
# Animate a Sneaking Goblin
\[This tutorial will demonstrate how to animate a mix of two styles with unique motion settings in motion stage. Meant for beginners, but must be customers that have full access to Motion Factory.]
# Generate and Use Animation Datasets in Unreal Engine
\[This tutorial, split into two parts, will demonstrate how to use motion factory to generate a dataset for use in Unreal Engine. Meant for users that have a very basic understanding of Motorica.]
## Table of Contents
| Tutorial | Description |
| --------------------------------------------- | ----------- |
| Part 1: Animate Datasets of a Woman Crouching | WIP |
| Part 2: Utilize Datasets in Unreal Engine | WIP |
# Part 1: Animate Datasets of a Woman Crouching
\[Part 1 encompasses the Motion Factory part of this tutorial]
# Part 2: Utilize Datasets in Unreal Engine
\[Part 2 will demonstrate how Motorica integrates seamlessly into Unreal Engine and Unreal's Motion Matching system]
# Concepts
Understand the context behind Motorica and each product's features. The building-blocks and fundamentals of Motorica lies within our Concepts.
## Table of Contents
# The Motion Engine
Learn the foundational technology behind Motorica's products: The Motion Engine
## Virtual Mocap Studio
Motorica uses the cornerstones and principles behind real mocap technology to replicate a virtual mocap space. This allows animators to bypass the unpredictable variables and constraints behind physical mocap — instead, generate fully-covered locomotion animations in minutes instead of months.
### Virtual Actor
In Matorica, animators have full deterministic control and creative direction over our virtual actor: Tango.
Tango: Motorica's virtual acting model
Tango is fully customizable by sliding parameters for their gender and weight. Additionally, you can select to view Tango's skeleton and root path when previewing animations.
All of Tango's animations come from a human performance. Just like real motion capture, Motorica uses hours of in-house recorded mocap to train our proprietary learning models for generating animations. Motorica constantly updates its LMs with new and unique mocap so animations are guaranteed to be real, believable, and grounded.
### Motion Controls
The heart of animation lies in movement; Motorica provides an extensive Motion Control toolset so you can direct Tango with precision. Adjust parameters for Tango's speed and duration of animation, and use advanced movement controls to fine-tune values for acceleration, deceleration, turning behaviors, movement simulation types, and animation variations.
Motion Controls in Motion Stage.
Motion Controls come with preset trails for Tango designed to fit perfectly for motion matching systems, but you can also upload custom root motion `.fbx` files for more tailored trails.
{% hint style="info" %}
Enterprise customers can create their own trails directly within our engine using Trail Set Manager.
{% endhint %}
### Style Controls
For animation to be believable, the characters involved must have actual character and *style*.
Motorica uses Styles to inject personality into each virtual mocap performance. Styles come in all different shapes and sizes: from humans with normal and expressive movements, to creatures like goblins and zombies.
A selection of different Styles in Motion Stage.
To create completely unique performances, the Styles Controls allow you to mix two styles together and customize which style is more prevalent in Tango's character.
If there isn't a Style (or mix of styles) provided by Motorica that suits your needs, you can also use the Style Cloning product to create your own Style Clone by uploading just 5 minutes of mocap data.
### Phase shifting
To create variations of the same animation, the Phase Shifting feature can create 2 or 4 variations based on foot placement.
For example, 2 variations gives two identical animation with the left and right feet swapped, while 4 variations gives four animations with each feet 1/4th of a phase apart.
## Generated Datasets
Every animation is generated as a `.fbx` file and is ready to integrate with leading front-end gaming and animation software.
Animations can be seamlessly imported onto provided skeletal models for single-take animations and motion matching systems. For example, Motorica has provided Unreal Engine plugins including skeletal meshes and models for easily importing animations, retargets, and for setting up pose search assets for Unreal's Motion Matching system.
# Styles
Learn about the Styles system: directing your virtual actor with select personality and character based on real motion capture performances.
## Overview
In Motorica, the virtual actor's performance are always generated based on the model's selected Styles.
## What are Styles?
Styles shape the expression, emotion, and character behind an Motorica's animations. They do not impact the root motion selected for animations.
Styles are trained using our proprietary ML models grounded in Motorica's Motion Synthesis research. Motorica uses real mocap data, recorded in our in-house mocap studio, to train Style Clones, ensuring that every generated animation comes from a real, human performance.
## Customization
The Styles Control tab for both Motion Stage and Motion Factory allows you to select the virtual actor's model, the Styles that shape the model's performance, and the model's scale within its digital space.
### Model
Free trial users have access to the provided Public Tango model. For enterprise customers, there are Private Tango models that provide more up-to-date motion capture data for generated animations and additional Styles.
### Style
Styles are categorized by their expression, personality, and character. There are currently 7 Style categories:
1. **Basic:** traditional human motions.
2. **Creatures:** non-human characters like zombies and goblins.
3. **Warrior:** characters wielding medieval and fantasy props.
4. **Personalities**: characters based on their status and identity.
5. **Expressions**: emotion-based performances.
6. **Soldier**: modern warfare characters weilding guns and similar props.
7. **Miscellaneous**: unique and varied use-cases.
### Style Mixing
The best way to generate unique animations is to combine two styles together.
In both Motion Stage and Motion Factory, two styles can be mixed and customized based on each Styles' mix percentage.
For example, if you want to mix the `Zombie` Style with the `Normal (M)` Style, you can give the `Zombie` Style a `70%` mix and the `Normal (M)` Style a `30%` mix. With this configuration, the `Zombie` will be more prevalent in generated animations.
### Scale Character
Models are scaled based on their hip bone height. The default hip bone height value is `97.1` centimeters for both Motion Stage and Motion Factory.
Larger and smaller values will adjust the motion of the animation to correctly fit the values determined in the Motion Controls. For example, increasing the hip bone height will cause the model to take less steps and general movements in their animation, whereas decreasing the hip bone height causes the character to take more steps and increase the movements required to reach the end of an animation.
Adjust this value accordingly so your generated animations fit perfectly within your gameplay system and existing character models.
### Seed
Animations are deterministically generated based on the Style's seed.
Every time an animation is generated, the Style's seed is randomized so you get entirely new animations even when using the same Style and Motion Control values. This also means that generating an animation with the exact same seed value will create an identical animation, as long as the Style and Motion Control values remain the same.
# Motion Stage
Learn about Motorica's free-to-use product for generating single-take animations for films and games.
## Overview
Example of an initial startup in Motion Stage.
Motion Stage allows animators to freely test Motorica's Motion Engine and generate single-take animations. This product is best used for cinematics that only require single locomotion movement.
## Workflow
There are three tabs in Motion Stage: Styles, Motion, and Options
### Styles
The animation's model, personality, and scale are adjusted within the Styles tab. For more information, view the [Styles](/learn/concepts/styles) Concepts page.
### Motion
Motion Stage uses a streamlined interface to easily select a preset trails and motion for the virtual actor to use for their animation. Motions can be customized based on various variables for speed, duration, angles, arc rates, and more.
If you don't want to use Motorica's preset root motion, you can upload your own `.fbx` files with root motion data for the model to use instead.
Advanced controls can also be used to changed the motion's simulation type, acceleration and deceleration rates, and more advanced turning rates and styles.
### Options
The Options tab provides three features for looping, mirroring, and phase shifting an animation.
* **Looping** an animation seamlessly cycles the animation so there are no cuts or stutters from start to finish. The outcome of a loop depends on whether the chosen motion allow for seamless transitions. For example, it's difficult to loop an animation with start and end points that are not synchronized, have differing velocities, and are short in duration.
* **Mirroring** reflects the overall animation.
* **Phase shifting** creates foot variations of the same animation. For more information, view the [Phase Shifting](/learn/concepts/the-motion-engine#phase-shifting) section in The Motion Engine's Concepts page.
# Motion Factory
Learn about Motorica's enterprise solution for generating batch locomotion datasets for motion matching systems.
{% hint style="info" icon="exclamation" %}
Motion Factory is an enterprise solution, not available for free-trial customers. Contact Sales for more information.
{% endhint %}
## Overview
Example of an initial startup project in Motion Factory.
Motion Factory eliminates mocap recording and data cleanup by generating fully-covered locomotion datasets for motion matching systems.
Similar to Motion Stage, Motion Factory uses the same [Motion Engine](/learn/concepts/the-motion-engine) technology for generating locomotion animations. We recommend testing how animations can be fine-tuned and generated within Motion Stage first before generating batch datasets with Motion Factory.
However, Motion Factory includes more tooling for customizing trailing behavior with the Trail Set Manager module.
## Trail Set Manager Module
The virtual actor always follows a trail when performing any given animation. Motion Factory, alongside Motion Stage, comes with preset trails for most motion matching use-cases. For more control over these trails, you can use the Trail Set Manager to customize our preset trails or create your own from scratch.
Trails are split into Segments with settings and parameters for defining the Segment's Gait (overall speed), duration, turning angle rate, and more. This system allows Trails to encompass any range of motion, from walking breakout circles to jogs that turn into sprints after arcing turns.
Unreal Engine users can also capture capsule movement and upload said movement as a Trail in a specified JSON format. Learn more about this feature in Motion Factory's [Pure Root Motion Format](/documentation/motion-factory/reference/pure-root-motion-format) reference doc.i
## Workflows
There are two workflow options when using Motion Factory: Simplified, and Custom Trail Sets.
### Simplified
A fast and streamlined workflow that's built based on our research from motion matching experts, studios known for their motion matching quality, and our own internal testing. This workflow fits most dataset use cases for common motion matching systems.
### Custom Trail Set
A fully customizable workflow that allows you to use custom Trails created with the Trail Set Manager module instead of the predefined Trails in the Simplified workflow.
## Finalizing Datasets
After using either the Simplified or Custom Trail Set workflow, you'll have additional options to override an animation's Seed, choose whether animations loop, and choose whether to generate animations with foot variations using the Phase Shifting feature.
# Style Cloning
Learn about Style Cloning and how you can create completely original Styles for use within Motion Stage and Motion Factory.
{% hint style="info" icon="exclamation" %}
Style Cloning is an enterprise solution, not available for free-trial customers. Contact Sales for more information.
{% endhint %}
## Overview
The Style Cloning dataset dashboard.
If you have a specific style in mind for an animation that's not already provided by Motorica, you can create a Style Clone using your own mocap data.
## Style Clone Datasets
Style clones require at least 5-10 minutes of high-quality mocap data so our training models can generate a well-performing Style.
Anytime you create a new Style Clone, Motorica will prompt you with our guidelines for uploading high-quality data, but you can also view the Style Cloning's [Reference](/documentation/style-cloning/reference) documentation for additional guidelines and information.
### Data files
Files can be uploaded and viewed in your Style Clone's dataset dashboard. \
\
Whenever uploading files, the data must always be relevant to the desired Style so our training models can't misinterpret and miscreate a Style.
### Root Motion Extraction
Motorica automatically extracts root motion data from uploaded files and will provide warnings and errors based on: whether the extraction was fully completed, if additional root motion values need to be manually edited, or if the data is unusable for our training models.
Root motion data can be easily edited and given reassigned positioning values within the dataset dashboard. If a file is given an error, you must manually edit the file in your DCC so it aligns with Motorica's guidelines.
#### Viewing root motion data
Motorica's root motion extraction system allows you to see the root motions provided by Motorica in the same exact engine interface as Motion Stage and Motion Factory. In this interface, you can scrub, playback, rotate, view character orientation along the root motion, and view the degree at which the character is facing off of the rooted zero during any spot within the animation.
We highly recommend viewing all of your uploaded files within the dataset dashboard. Even if there are no warnings or errors attached, viewing the training data can help spot differences and inaccuracies with root motion fields and parameters not caught by Motorica.
## Fine-tuning a model
Once all your uploaded data has been reviewed, you can name the fine-tuned model of your Style and send a request to Motorica to generate the Style.
All fine-tuned models can be viewed in the Fine-tuned model dashboard.
Requests can take from 1-2 weeks to fully generate.
# Front-end Platform Integration
Learn how Motorica easily integrates with leading game and animation software with provided plugins, and toolsets.
## Overview
Motorica's generated animations are always fully-covered, dense, and generated as an `.fbx` file so they're perfect for directly importing into game and film software.
## Full Support for Unreal Engine
Motorica provides an importer plugin to simplify the pipeline between generating an animation and using said animation within your Unreal project. This plugin imports animations, retargets, and sets up pose search assets for Unreal Engine's Motion Matching system.
Additionally, Motorica provides a plugin for capturing root motion data from capsules within your project so you can upload custom root motion data for generating animations in Motion Factory.
To learn more about how to integrate Motorica into you Unreal Engine project, view our [Unreal Engine documentation](/documentation/integrations/unreal-engine).
\
# Key Idle Pose (KIP)
## What it is
When a generated animation contains an idle segment (e.g. an walk into a stop), **Key Idle Pose** lets you control the when and were an exact idle pose should exist in the idle section of the animation.
## Why it exists
This aims to give you the control and guarantee of consistent idle poses for your relevant idle animations produced from Motorica.
## How it works
* You choose a Motorica style's idle pose (or supply your own as .fbx, we take the first frame).
* During the idle portion of the generation, the animation will hit that pose.
* Control Parameters:
* **Blend in / blend out:** when (in frames) the animation transitions into and out of the key pose within the idle segment.
* **Settling time**: How soon (in frames) after the the root bone goes idle should the animation try and hit the supplied idle pose. When in the idle sequence should the idle pose appear
* **Adherence:** control how much the actual idle animation is influenced by the provided pose. Higher the adherence, the more the idle animation will represent the pose. Lower the less guarantee of what the animation will look like during idle.
* **Blend Pose Mask**: During the animation, which part of the body should the pose affect.
End to end walkthrough here: [Generate an animation with a specific guaranteed idle pose](/documentation/motion-stage/how-to-guides/generate-an-animation-with-a-specific-guaranteed-idle-pose).
## Availability
Currently in Motion Stage (beta) only.
Target is for Motion Factory with custom pose support.
# Overview
Consult our documentation for How-To Guides and Reference pages on using Motorica's suite of animation generation products.
## Contents
| Documentation | Description |
| ----------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Motion Stage](/documentation/motion-stage) | A free, readily available product for generating single-take locomotion animation. |
| [Motion Factory](/documentation/motion-factory) | An enterprise product for generating batch locomotion datasets for motion matching systems. |
| [Style Cloning](/documentation/style-cloning) | An enterprise product for creating Styles to use in Motion Stages and Motion Factory using your own mocap data. |
| [Integrations](/documentation/integrations) | Plugins, APIs, and tooling for integrating Motorica into your animation pipeline. |
# Character Authoring
Products and features that help you get the character you want.
# Motion Stage
Motion Stage: a free, readily available service for producing single take animations.
## Overview
Motion Stage is a virtual mocap studio for directing single-take animations. It's particularly useful for cinematics or for getting familiar with Motorica's Motion Engine products.
### Table of Contents
| Topic | Description |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [How-To Guides](/documentation/motion-stage/how-to-guides) | Understand how to create and customize single-take animations with our How-To Guides. |
| [Motion Stage Reference](/documentation/motion-stage/motion-stage-reference) | Consult our Reference docs for additional information on UI elements within Motion Stage. |
# How-To Guides
Walkthrough how to create simple and complex single-take animations using our How-To Guides with Motion Stage
## Guides
# Generate a Single-take Animation
Quickly and easily generate a single-take locomotion animation.
In this guide, we'll demonstrate how to:
1. Select and mix two Styles
2. Use and customize a preset root motion path
3. Generate and export the animation's `.fbx` file
## Prerequisites
* A Motorica account, created when you first open the [Motorica app](https://app.beta.motorica.ai/).
## Get Started
Open Motion Stage within your Motorica dashboard to begin.
## Select Styles
Styles add character and personality to your generated animations.
1. Choose an initial Style for `Style slot 1`.
2. Click the `Create style mix` button to add an additional Style.
3. Choose an additional Style for `Style slot 2`.
4. Adjust `Mix percentages` in `Style slot 1` and `Style slot 2` to your preferences.
5. Click the purple **Animate** button.
6. Readjust `Mix percentages` to acquire a desired Style mix and click **Animate** to preview each readjustment.
## Use a Preset Root Motion Path
1. Select the Motion tab to open the Motion Controls menu.
2. Open the `Preset` dropdown and choose your desired root motion path.
3. Click the purple **Animate** button to preview the animation on your selected path.
### Customize the Motion
Use the sliders and numerical value fields to adjust the speed, arc rates, and duration of the root motion animation.
Click the `Enable advanced controls` to do the following:
* Switch the motion's Simulation Type to either `Spring-Based` or `Kinematic`
* Change the acceleration and deceleration rates
* Adjust turning behaviour
## Export Animation
1. Click the purple **Animate** button to generate your animation
2. Click the **Export** button to download the `.fbx` of your animation. Exports should be downloaded in your web browser's default download folder.
# Generate an animation with a specific guaranteed idle pose
*This guide shows you how to apply a key idle pose to a generated animation in Motion Stage, so the animation converges on a pose you choose. For what a key idle pose is and when to use one, see* [*About key idle poses*](https://claude.ai/cowork/local_7d0cbdc7-f093-4c98-b3be-b2bebbc4e3f0#) *(Explanation).*
### Before you begin
You need to be on Motion Stage and have an Enterprise account.
### Steps
1. **Open Motion Stage.**
2. **Create an idle motion.** \
The feature needs an idle present in your motion. Open the Motion tab and set the speed of the second half to zero to bring the character to rest.
3. **Back in "Styles Menu" toggle on Key Idle Pose in the side panel.** \
The pose options appear once the feature is on.
4. **Create the idle pose from a Motorica style.** \
Select the style you want the pose derived from, then scroll down and create the idle pose.
5. **Check the pose in the preview viewer.** \
Confirm it looks right before continuing. The preview also has options that control how the pose influences the animation — see [Key Idle Pose reference](/documentation/motion-stage/motion-stage-reference/key-idle-pose-kip) for what each one does.\
6. **Click Animate!** \
When it finishes, the idle pose appears as a ghost in the 3D scene and an orange marker appears on the timeline. When the playhead reaches that marker, the animation converges on the idle pose.
7. **Click Export.** This animation will be exported and have your selected *Key Idle Pose* guaranteed in the idle segment as the parameter & timeline represent.
### Related
* [About key idle poses](/learn/concepts/key-idle-pose-kip) — what the feature does and when to use it.
* [Key Idle Pose reference](/documentation/motion-stage/motion-stage-reference/key-idle-pose-kip) — every pose option and setting.
# Import Root Motion
\[A simple guide on how users can generate animations using uploaded custom root motion fbx.]
# Motion Stage Reference
Reference for the UI elements and features within Motion Stage.
## Overview
Overview diagram of the UI in Motion Stage.
1. Y-up Axis.
2. Character Settings.
3. Playback Timeline.
4. Control Tabs.
5. Control Settings.
6. Animation Seed and Generator
## 1. Y-up Axis
Highlighted diagram of the Y-up axis in Motion Stage's UI.
Motion Stage uses a right-handed Y-Up Axis:
* X is left
* Y is up
* Z is forward.
## 2. Character Settings
Highlighted diagram of the character settings in Motion Stage's UI.
The character settings allow you to change physical aspects of the avatar and toggle certain visual features in the 3D space.
The following settings occur from top to bottom in the UI:
* **Avatar Settings**: adjusts the avatar's gender and weight.
* **Follow Character**: enabled by default, it permits the camera to follow the avatar's movements.
* **Run in Place**: disables the 3D space's grid lines and pathing arrows while the camera follows the avatar's movements.
* **Show Skeleton**: displays the avatar's skeleton and joint structure.
* **Show Root Path**: displays the root path which the avatar travels during the animation.
## 3. Playback Timeline
Highlighted diagram of the playback timeline in Motion Stage's UI.
This section includes buttons and controls for:
* Pause and playback.
* Real-time draggable timeline.
* Automatic playback repeat.
* Playback speed.
## 4. Control Tabs
Highlighted diagram of the control tabs in Motion Stage's UI.
There are three different control tabs:
1. **Styles**: adjusts the animation's personality and expression using Styles. Learn more in the [Styles concepts](/learn/concepts/styles).
2. **Motion**: fields and values for adjusting the animation's pathing and movement. Learn more in [The Motion Engine concepts](/learn/concepts/the-motion-engine#motion-controls).
3. **Options**: additional features for looping, mirroring, and adding variations to animations.
## 5. Control Settings
Highlighted diagram of the control settings in Motion Stage's UI.
Contains all adjustment and customization options for generating an animation.
## 6. Animation and Seed Generator
Highlighted diagram of the animation and seed generator in Motion Stage's UI.
* **Seed**: the unique, randomized numerical value for generating your animation.
* **Animate** button: generates your animation based on your chosen settings and the randomized seed.
* **Export** button: exports the generated animation to your web browser's download folder.
# Key Idle Pose (KIP)
Technical reference for the feature
## KIP Controls
Control Name
Description
Idle Pose (uploaded)
The first frame of a valid character .FBX file, must be retargeted onto the Motorica skeleton.
Blend in (frames)
0 - 60 frames of control telling when the animation should start exhibiting the KIP before hitting the pose.
Blend out (frames)
0 - 60 frames of control telling when the animation should stop exhibiting the KIP after hitting the pose.
Settling time (frames)
0 - 90 frames of when the KIP should appear in the idle. An idle is when the root bone becomes completely still.
Adherence
Value from 0.0 to 1.0, impacting how strongly the idle
Blend Pose Mask
Full Body (default): your pose impacts the entire body when adjusting blend controls.
Upper Body: your pose impacts the only upper body when adjusting controls; useful if seeing problem with feet sliding and you mostly care about the upper body pose.
Full body minus hips: your pose impacts the full body, minus hips when you adjust controls; better for foot sliding in some cases.
### Additional Controls
**Seed**: Altering the seed will produce a new idle animation and select a new idle pose from that.
**Mirror Pose**: Mirrors the entire pose
# Motion Factory
Motion Factory: a Motion Engine service used for generating large locomotion datasets for motion matching systems.
{% hint style="info" icon="lock" %}
Motion Factory is only available as an enterprise solution. Please contact Sales for more information.
{% endhint %}
## Overview
Motion matching systems in game development require large amounts of high-quality locomotion data, usually recorded in a mocap studio.
Instead of spending weeks recording mocap and months cleaning up raw mocap data, Motion Factory allows you to precisely direct virtual actors and generate high quality full coverage animations, instantly for your exact locomotion needs.
### Table of Contents
| Topic | Description |
| ------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [How-To Guides](/documentation/motion-factory/how-to-guides) | Understand how to generate and customize animation datasets with our How-To Guides. |
| [Reference](/documentation/motion-factory/reference) | Consult our Reference docs for additional information on data formatting and custom features. |
# How-To Guides
Walkthrough how to create bulk locomotion datasets and how to use specific features within Motion Factory.
## Guides
Cover image
Generate Animation Datasets Using the Simplified Workflow
# Generate Animation Datasets Using the Simplified Workflow
Walkthrough how to generate a locomotion animation dataset using Motion Factory.
In this guide, we'll demonstrate how to:
1. Choose a dataset's animation Style
2. Select a dataset's movement parameters
3. Preview a dataset's animations
4. Export a finalized dataset
## Prerequisites
* A Motorica account, created when you first open the [Motorica app](https://app.beta.motorica.ai/).
* An enterprise license. For more information, contact our Sales team.
{% hint style="warning" %}
If the name of your organization is incorrect in the Motorica dashboard, please reach out to us in our communication channel so we can address and fix the issue.
{% endhint %}
## Get Started
1. Open Motion Factory within your Motorica dashboard to begin.
2. Select the `Simplified` workflow option for this guide. Learn more about the two available workflows in Motion Factory's [Concepts](/learn/concepts/motion-factory#workflows).
## Select a Style
Styles add character and personality to your generated animations.
The Styles section.
1. Choose an initial Style for `Style slot 1`.
2. Click the `Create style mix` button to add an additional Style.
3. Choose an additional Style for `Style slot 2`.
4. Adjust `Mix percentages` in `Style slot 1` and `Style slot 2` to your preferences.
5. Click the **Preview Style** button.
6. Readjust `Mix percentages` to acquire a desired Style mix and click **Preview Style** to preview each readjustment.
7. Click the purple **Advance to Next Step** button when you're finished.
## Define movement parameters
For more information on the available movement parameters and their affect on the dataset, view the [reference](/documentation/motion-factory/reference/motion-factory-reference#simplified-workflow) documentation.
### Choose your Gaits
Select all or at least one gait you'd like included in your animation dataset.
Then, click the purple **Next Step** button**.**
The Select Gaits section.
### Adjust Movement Settings
Adjust the speed of each gait as desired, as well as toggle whether to generated strafing animations for each selected gait. These options can be skipped if they are not needed for your dataset.
Then, click the purple **Next Step** button**.**
The Movement Settings section.
### Movement Mode
Select which [movement mode](/documentation/motion-factory/reference/motion-factory-reference#movement-mode) best fits your character's animations:
Then, click the purple **Next Step** button**.**
The Movement Mode section.
### Animation Type
Select whether you'd like to generate `Long` or `Short` animations in your dataset. For most use cases, choose the `Long` option.
Path Type section.
To manually modify the length of generated animations, open the **Duration Modifiers** dropdown to adjust the `Idle Scalar` and `Moving Scalar` sliders and numerical values. View the [Reference](/documentation/motion-factory/reference/motion-factory-reference#animation-type) doc for more information.
Then, click the purple **Next Step** button**.**
### Advanced Settings
This section includes options for Normalizing Gait Cycles with Looping Behavior, and for dampening the speed of the model when strafing or moving backwards. Both options can be skipped if they are not needed for your dataset. View the [Reference](/documentation/motion-factory/reference/motion-factory-reference#advanced-settings) doc for more information.
Once you're finished with your settings, click the purple **Next Step** button**.**
### **Review**
Look over all of your selected options and changes in the Review section. If anything looks incorrect, click the **Prev Step** button to go backwards and make alterations.
The Review section.
Then, click the purple **Next Step button.**
## Preview Your Animations
All paths are available for preview in the Animation Previewer. Learn more about the Animation Previewer in the [Reference](https://docs.motorica.com/documentation/motion-factory/how-to-guides/pages/Ra08PFcBKpJDzn9V1hI2#id-6.-animation-previewer) documentation.
The Path Viewer section.
{% hint style="warning" %}
NOTE: previewing a dance card currently consumes credits. We are working on ways to make the credit system more intuitive.
{% endhint %}
When you're finished, click the purple **Advance to Final Step** button.
## Final Steps
Once you've reviewed your animations, click the purple **Generate Animation Set** button to send a generation request to Motorica.
Datasets typically take 5-15 minutes to generate depending on the amount of animations being generated.
If you’d like to make further changes before generation, you may go back using the **To Animation View** button.
The Final Steps section.
# Adjust Animations for your Character's Scale
\[Rough Copy] When you retarget from the Motorica skeleton to your character's skeleton, there will be height differences. This feature allows you to account for that inside Motorica, so the speeds you define inside Motorica will be correct **after retargeting**.
# Generate Animations for Left & Right Foot Coverage
Walkthrough how to easily create perfect alternate foot coverage using Phase Shifting.
In this guide, we'll demonstrate how to use the Phase Shifting feature to generate up to 4 left and right foot variations for each generated animation.
Read the [Phase Shifting section](/learn/concepts/the-motion-engine#phase-shifting) in The Motion Engine Concepts page to learn more.
## Prerequisites
* A Motorica account, created when you first open the [Motorica app](https://app.beta.motorica.ai/).
* An enterprise license. For more information, contact our Sales team.
## Get Started
{% embed url="" %}
Video guide on how to use the Phase Shifting feature.
{% endembed %}
To begin, go through Motion Factory and fully customize the Style and Motion Control options for your dataset's animations.
{% hint style="info" %}
See the [Generate Animation Datasets Using the Simplified Workflow](/documentation/motion-factory/how-to-guides/generate-animation-datasets-using-the-simplified-workflow) guide for step-by-step instructions on how to create a dataset in Motion Factory.
{% endhint %}
## Enable Phase Shifting
First, go to the Animation Previewer section once you're satisfied with your chosen animation options.
Select the animation or batch of animations you'd like to edit and choose whether to create 2 or 4 variations in the Phase shift section of the Control Settings.
The Path Viewer section with Phase Shifting enabled.
{% hint style="warning" %}
If you aren't able to select a variation number under Phase Shift, ensure you have the Looping toggle selected off in the Edit Path section.
{% endhint %}
# Trail Set Manager Guides
Walkthrough how to create Trail Sets for use in Motion Factory with the Trail Set Manager module.
## Guides
# Create Preset Trail Sets with the Guided Template
Walkthrough how to create a Trail Set for use in Motion Factory.
In this guide, we'll demonstrate how to:
1. Create a new Trail Set using the Guided Template.
2. Make adjustments to a singular Trail.
3. Customize batches of Trails.
## Prerequisites
* A Motorica account, created when you first open the [Motorica app](https://app.beta.motorica.ai/).
* An enterprise license. For more information, contact our Sales team.
## Get Started
Open the Trail Set Manager module within your Motorica dashboard to begin.
## Create a Trail Set with the Guided Template
1. In the Trail Set Manager's dashboard, click the purple `New trail set` button and select the `Guided template`.
{% hint style="info" %}
The Empty slate option creates an empty Trail Set, requiring every Trail and Gait to be made from scratch.
{% endhint %}
2. Select the Gaits you'd like to include in your Trail Set, whether those Gaits include strafe animations, and select if the Trails should be long or short.
Options within the guided trail set template.
3. Click the purple `Add Trail Set` button when you're finished.
## Edit and Customize a Trails
View the [next How-To Guide](/documentation/motion-factory/how-to-guides/trail-set-manager-guides/create-and-edit-gaits-trails-and-trail-segments) for more instruction on customizing Trails and creating new Trails from scratch.
## Use Trail Set in Motion Factory
Select the purple `Use in Motion Factory` button when you're ready to generate animations with your Trail Set. This button directly navigates you to a new Motion Factory instance preloaded with your Trail Set.
Example of a finished Trail Set ready for use in Motion Factory.
# Create and Edit Gaits, Trails, and Trail Segments
Walkthrough how to fully customize Trail Sets by creating and editing Gaits, Trails, and Trail Segments.
In this guide, we'll demonstrate how to:
1. Create and edit Trail Sets from scratch.
2. Use custom Gaits.
3. Create Trails and perform batch Trail edits.
4. Create and customize a Trail's Segments.
{% hint style="info" %}
All customization options for Gaits, Trails, and Trail Segments can be performed for preset trails created using the Guided Template.
{% endhint %}
## Prerequisites
* A Motorica account, created when you first open the [Motorica app](https://app.beta.motorica.ai/).
* An enterprise license. For more information, contact our Sales team.
## Get Started
Open the Trail Set Manager module within your Motorica dashboard to begin.
## Create an Empty Trail Set
In the Trail Set Manager's dashboard, click the purple `New trail set` button and select the `Empty slate` template.
## Create a Custom Gait
A Trail Set must include at least 1 Gait to create Trails.
1. In the bottom left of the UI, click the `Click to add gait` button.
2. Name your new Gait and assign the gait a `m/s` speed value and a color swatch.
3. Click the purple `Create` button when you're finished.
Example of creating a new Gait called "Example_walk."
## Create New Trails
1. Click the purple `+` dropdown on the left side of the UI.
2. Click the `Add Trail` option in the dropdown.
3. Assign your new Trail a name in the Trail file explorer.
{% hint style="info" %}
We recommend organizing your Trails in folders for a cleaner animation output from Motion Factory.
{% endhint %}
### Import Trails in JSON
1. Click the purple `+` dropdown on the left side of the UI, or right click in the Trail file explorer for a specific location.
2. Click the `Import` option in the dropdown. The file must be a `.fbx` file, or a `.json` file written in the [Pure Root Motion](/documentation/motion-factory/reference/pure-root-motion-format) format.
3. Assign your new Trail a name in the Trail file explorer.
## Customize a Trail
First, select a Trail you'd like to edit on the left side of the UI.
Trail Files in the Trail Set Manager module.
Then, adjust the Trail's parameters and the Trail's individual Segments on the right side of the UI.
Example of a Trail's selected Segment and the editing options available.
For more information on the type of edits available, view the [Trail Set Manger Reference](https://docs.motorica.com/documentation/motion-factory/how-to-guides/trail-set-manager-guides/pages/Zl0Voz2B5OYUVkaXbQWQ#id-5.-trail-editor) doc.
{% hint style="info" %}
You can also select segments directly in the 3D viewport and below the Playback Timeline.
{% endhint %}
### Add a New Segment to a Trail
There are two ways to add a new Segment to a Trail: through the Trail Segments section, or through the 3D Viewport.
#### Option #1: Trail Segments section
The Add Segment button in the Trail Segments section creates a new Segment from scratch. Segments created this way will have entirely default values and will not automatically match the previous Segment's Gait and chosen parameters.
The Add segment button in the Trail Segments section.
#### Option #2: 3D Viewport
The 3D viewport allows you to attach new segments onto existing ones and decide the direction of the newer segment in the 3D space. Segments created this way will match the Gaits and chosen parameters from their previous segments.
Example of where to click in the 3D viewport to add new segments.
### Edit Multiple Trails
First, select a Trail folder on the left side of the UI.
Then, make batch edits to all Trails within the folder on the right side of the UI.
Example of the Batch Edit section for a breakouts folder of 8 trails.
For more information on the type of edits available, view the [Trail Set Manger Reference](https://docs.motorica.com/documentation/motion-factory/how-to-guides/trail-set-manager-guides/pages/Zl0Voz2B5OYUVkaXbQWQ#id-5.-trail-editor) doc.
# Reference
Consult Motion Factory's Reference docs for additional technical information, such as features for customization, allowed uplodable data formats, and more.
## Table of Contents
| Article | Description |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Motion Factory Reference](/documentation/motion-factory/reference/motion-factory-reference) | Reference for the UI and product feature elements in Motion Factory. |
| [Trail Set Manager Reference](/documentation/motion-factory/reference/trail-set-manager-reference) | Reference for the UI and product feature elements in Trail Set Manager. |
| [Pure Root Motion Format](/documentation/motion-factory/reference/pure-root-motion-format) | JSON format for uploading Pure Root Motion data. |
# Motion Factory Reference
Reference for the UI elements and product features in Motion Factory.
## Motion Factory Dashboard
Overview infographic of the UI in Motion Factory.
1. Y-up Axis.
2. Character Settings.
3. Playback Timeline.
4. 3D Viewport.
5. Control Settings.
6. Step Navigator.
## 1. Y-up Axis.
Highlighted diagram of the Y-up axis in Motion Factory's UI.
Motion Factory uses a right-handed Y-Up Axis:
* X is left
* Y is up
* Z is forward.
## 2. Character Settings
Highlighted diagram of the character settings in Motion Factory's UI.
The character settings allow you to change physical aspects of the avatar and toggle certain visual features in the 3D Viewport.
The following settings occur from top to bottom in the UI:
* **Avatar Settings**: adjusts the avatar's gender and weight.
* **Follow Character**: enabled by default, it permits the camera to follow the avatar's movements.
* **Run in Place**: disables the 3D Viewport's grid lines and pathing arrows and changes the camera to follow the avatar's movements.
* **Show Skeleton**: displays the avatar's skeleton and joint structure.
* **Show Root Path**: displays the root path which the avatar travels during the animation.
## 3. Playback Timeline
Highlighted diagram of the playback timeline in Motion Factory's UI.
This section includes buttons and controls for controlling the playback of animations in the 3D Viewport. Controls include:
* Pause and playback.
* Real-time draggable timeline.
* Automatic playback repeat.
* Playback speed.
## 4. 3D Viewport
Highlighted diagram of the 3D Viewport in Motion Factory's UI.
Animations are displayed in the 3D Viewport space.
Sometimes after making changes to an animation, the avatar will T-pose in a grey mesh. If this is the case, you'll need to click the `Preview Animation` button again to view animations correctly.
## 5. Control Settings
Highlighted diagram of the Control Settings in Motion Factory's UI.
The Control Settings section in the UI provides the parameters and tools for fully customizing your animation output.
### **Choose a Style**
The Choose a Style section always appears first after choosing your workflow in Motion Factory. It displays the same options and tooling when using both the Simplified workflow and Custom Trail Sets.
Example of the Choose A Style section in Motion Factory.
This section allows you to customize the following:
* The animation's avatar model.
* The animations Style or mix of Styles.
* The character scale based on hip bone height.
* The Style's Seed for generating animations.
### Simplified Workflow
The Simplified workflow first displays the Choose a Style section. Then, settings are displayed in the following order:
#### Select a Gait
Example of the Select Gaits section in Motion Factory.
Choose whether to include **Walk**, **Run**, or **Sprint** animations in your dataset. At least one Gait must be selected to proceed.
#### Movement Settings
Example of the Movement Settings section in Motion Factory.
Allows you to finetune the speed of each selected Gait and whether to include Strafing animations in those datasets.
#### Movement Mode
Example of the Movement Mode section in Motion Factory.
Choose whether animations use **Dynamic**, **Realistic**, or **Sluggish** movement.
* **Dynamic**: unnaturally agile and stylized
* **Realistic**: recommended for most use cases
* **Sluggish**: weighted and slower movements
#### Animation Type
Example of the Animation Type section in Motion Factory.
Animations can differ in either **Long** or **Short** lengths.
* **Long** animations are traditionally used in motion matching systems and provide multiple actions for a more diverse dataset.
* **Short** animations are for unique use-cases where the motion matching system, or animation system in general, prefers shorter takes rather than longer ones.
Duration Modifiers include options for adjusting the length of particular animation segments.
* **Idle Scalar** impacts the duration of idle segments in an animation
* **Moving Scalar** impacts the duration of straight moving segments devoid of turns and arcs.
#### Advanced Settings
Example of the Advanced Settings section in Motion Factory.
Advanced settings provide extra control options for **Looping Behavior** and **Speed Damping**.
* **Looping** normalizes an animations gait cycle so from start to finish the animation loops seamlessly. Looping can only work if there is no acceleration, turn rate, and directional changes.
* **Speed Damping** reduces the character's movement speed when strafing or moving backwards — particularly helpful for certain gameplay systems requiring realistic human movement or gameplay that uses lock-on targeting.
#### Review
Example of the Review section in Motion Factory.
The Review section displays all of your choices and selected changes to your animation dataset.
### Custom Trail Set Workflow
The Custom Trail Set workflow first displays the [Choose a Style](#choose-a-style) section. Then, additional settings are available for tailoring your chosen Trail Set to your dataset's needs. These settings include:
* Looping Behavior
* Modular Trail Settings
* Gait Speeds
* Movement Settings
* Turn Behaviour
* Speed Damping
* Duration Modifiers
Example of the Animation Set section in Motion Factory when using Custom Trail Sets.
## 6. Animation Previewer
Overview infographic of the Animation Previewer's UI in Motion Factory.
The Animation Previewer allows you to preview and make final edits to your animations before they're generated. There are two key UI elements within this section:
1. Animation Explorer
2. Control Settings
{% hint style="info" %}
The Animation Previewer functions the same for both Simplified workflows and for Custom Trail Sets.
{% endhint %}
### Animation Explorer
Highlighted diagram of the animation file explorer in Motion Factory's Animation Previewer.
All generated animations in your dataset can be viewed in the Animation Explorer. Once an animation is selected, the 3D viewport will begin playing the animation for preview.
{% hint style="info" %}
The 3D viewport still includes the Y-up Axis and Character Settings panel as before.
{% endhint %}
### Control Settings
Highlighted diagram of additional animation settings in Motion Factory's Animation Previewer.
Whether selecting an animation, folder, or the entire dataset, the Control Settings allow you to enable Looping behavior and Phase Shifting.
**If no animation is selected**, you can make Batch Edits to all of the animations within your dataset, or you can select a folder to make batch edits to just the folder's animations.
**If selecting an animation,** you'll have options to preview the animation in the 3D Viewport and overwrite the animations seed.
# Trail Set Manager Reference
Reference for the UI elements and product features in Trail Set Manager.
## Trail Set Manager Dashboard
Overview infographic of the UI in Trail Set Manager.
Highlighted diagram of the Outliner in Trail Set Manager.
Trails are organized, created, and searchable in the Outliner.
Use the purple `+` button to create new trails and folders, or right click in the Outliner's Explorer to create trails and folders in specific locations.
{% hint style="info" %}
You can also create new trails by importing [Pure Root Motion data in a JSON format](/documentation/motion-factory/reference/pure-root-motion-format).
{% endhint %}
## 2. Gaits
Highlighted diagram of the Gaits section in Trail Set Manager.
Gaits are created and organized in the Gaits section.
Every Trail must belong to a Gait. Additionally, `Idle` is a Gait added to every Trail Set by default and does not need to be recreated by the user.
{% hint style="info" %}
You can collapse the Gait section by clicking the double arrow button:
{% endhint %}
## 3. Playback Timeline
Highlighted diagram of the Playback Timeline in Trail Set Manager.
Directly control the 3D Viewport's playback of the Trail in real-time. Includes controls for repeating playback and changing the speed of playback.
You can also view and select Trail Segments directly in the timeline and view where each Segment resides in the Trail's runtime.
## 4. 3D Viewport
Highlighted diagram of the 3D Viewport in Trail Set Manager.
Trails are visually displayed in the 3D viewport with a T-posing, unmeshed avatar over selected segments. When using playback, the unmeshed avatar will play through the trail according the Trail and Trail Segment's configurations.
## 5. Trail Editor
Highlighted diagram of the Trail Editor in Trail Set Manager.
The Trail Editor allows you to edit a Trail's overall parameters, individual Segments, and select additional options for looping and Phase Shifting.
### Trail Parameters
Example of the Trail Parameters section in the Trail Editor.
Every Trail includes overall parameters for the Trail's `Initial Direction` and `Root Offset`.
### Trail Segments
Segments are customized in the Trail Segments section of the editor.
Example of the Trail Segments section in the Trail Editor.
|
| `Turn Angle` | The angle which the avatar turns at the start of the Segment. |
| `Angspeed` |
The angular speed which the avatar turns during the start of the Segment.
Used to create arcs.
|
| `Strafe Angle` |
The angle which the avatar faces when performing movement. For example, enabling this property forces the avatar to face 0°.
When disabled, the avatar faces the direction of their movement by default.
|
| `Speed Multiplier` |
The multiplier of the Segment's speed.
Used to create speed variations within the same Trail without using different Gaits.
|
| `Post Turn` |
Controls when the avatar begins rotating when carrying out a turn specified by Turn Angle.
There are 3 available values: 0.0 (pre-turn), 0.5 (default), and 1.0 (post-turn).
0.0 starts rotation before the avatar's change in direction starts.
0.5 starts rotation when the avatar changes direction.
1.0 delays rotations until after the avatar changes direction.
|
| `End Angspeed` |
The angular speed which the avatar turns at the end of the Segment. |
| Used to create arcs. | |
| When disabled, End Angspeed defaults to the same value as Angspeed.
| |
### Trail Options
Example of the Options section in Trail Editor.
Additional options include: turning the Trail into a looping animation, and enabling Phase Shifting to create animation variations with the Trail. A Trail cannot use Phase Shifting while also being a looping animation.
{% hint style="info" %}
You can collapse the Options section by clicking the double arrow button:
{% endhint %}
# Pure Root Motion Format
Pure Root Motion, captured from character movement or simulated, can be uploaded to the Trail Set Manager for creating custom Trails.
## Pure Root Motion
When uploading a JSON file to create a Trail in the Trail Set Manager, the JSON must be written in the compatible format.
### Format Definition
Pure Root Motion uses a flat array where **each 7 elements represents 1 frame**. It may look like this:
In this order, each element within a set of 7 represents:
1. X Position
2. Y Position
3. Z Position
4. Quaternion W
5. Quaternion X
6. Quaternion Y
7. Quaternion Z
```
[Px1, Py1, Pz1, Qw1, Qx1, Qy1, Qz1, Px2, Py2, Pz2, Qw2, Qx2, Qy2, Qz2, ... ]
```
Example
```json
[0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0,0.0,2.0,1.0,0.0,0.0,0.0, ...]
```
{% hint style="info" %}
Motion Factory uses a right-handed Y-Up Axis:
* X is left
* Y is up
* Z is forward.
{% endhint %}
### Frame Rate
Root motion is locked to 30 fps, and any uploaded root motion paths will cause artefacts.
#### Recording at Runtime
If recording at runtime, we recommend plotting recorded values to a curve and then resampling at a constant 30 fps due to the uncertainty of frame intervals**.** You can then record at a higher frame rate and downsample the root motion to the JSON file before uploading.
#### Simulating paths
If simulating paths, you must simulate with an exact delta for 30 fps (0.33333 seconds).
# Keybinds
\[A reference page detailing the keybinds possible within Motion Factory]
# Style Cloning
Create your own Styles with custom mocap data for use in Motion Stage and Motion Factory.
{% hint style="info" icon="lock" %}
Style Cloning is only available as an enterprise solution. Please contact Sales for more information.
{% endhint %}
## Overview
If you require animations with a set style not already provided by Motorica, you can create your own custom Style Clone using your own mocap data.
Learn more about Styles in the [Styles Concepts page](/learn/concepts/styles).
### Table of Contents
| Topic | Description |
| ----------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| [How-To Guides](/documentation/style-cloning/how-to-guides) | Understand how to upload and review mocap data to train a Style Clone. |
| [Reference](/documentation/style-cloning/reference) | Consult our Reference docs for mocap recording guidelines, how to prepare your mocap data for uploading, and more. |
# How-To Guides
Walkthrough how to create, edit, and use your own Style Clones for generating believable animations.
## Guides
# Record Mocap for a Style Clone
Walkthrough what kinds of mocap data you need to record to create a well-performing Style Clone
In this guide, we'll go over what dance cards you need to shoot to create your own Style Clone.
## Prerequisites
* A Motorica account, created when you first open the [Motorica app](https://app.beta.motorica.ai/).
* An enterprise license to eventually create a Style Clone with your recorded data. For more information, contact our Sales team.
* A studio and equipment for recording mocap performances.
## Get Started
For a full rundown of everything you need to know about recording motion capture for a Style Clone, read through our [Mocap Recording Guidelines](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/mocap-recording-guidelines) reference docs.
## Record Dance Cards
A dataset for a Style Clone requires 7 mandatory dance cards and 3 option dance cards.
# Create a Style Clone
Upload your own Mocap data to create a custom Style Clone for use in Motion Stage and Motion Factory.
In this guide, we'll demonstrate how to:
1. Create a Style Clone container
2. Upload mocap data to your Style Clone container
3. Review uploaded mocap data and root motion extraction
4. Send a Style Clone generation request to Motorica
## Prerequisites
* A Motorica account, created when you first open the [Motorica app](https://app.beta.motorica.ai/).
* An enterprise license. For more information, contact our Sales team.
* Existing mocap animation data. View our [Reference docs](/documentation/style-cloning/reference) for more information and instructions
{% hint style="warning" %}
If the name of your organization is incorrect in the Motorica dashboard, please reach out to us in our communication channel so we can address and fix the issue.
{% endhint %}
## Get Started
1. Open Style Cloning within your Motorica dashboard to begin.
2. Click the **Add style clone dataset** button.
## Data Guidelines
The "Guidelines for style clone animation data" document will pop up when you try to add a new Style Clone Dataset. Ensure you read this document thoroughly before uploading any data.
Once you've read through the Guidelines document, click the understanding agreement box at the bottom of the page and click the purple **Continue** button. You'll be prompted to name your Style Clone and the hip bone height attached to the clone's model.
## Upload files
Only upload relevant `.fbx` and `.bvh` files that you'd like used for training the Style Clone.
Motorica will automatically extract and generate root motion data based on the uploaded animations.
See the [Data Preparation](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/data-preparation) reference document for more information on proper data for training.
### Review Uploaded Files
Remove any files that cause errors and fix the occurring errors in your chosen animation software. Then, review the rest of your files to ensure the root motion data extraction is accurate.
If you need to edit an animation's root motion data, you can do so within the Style clone dataset dashboard. View the [Edit an Animation's Root Motion Data](/documentation/style-cloning/how-to-guides/edit-an-animations-root-motion-data) guide for more instruction.
## Send a Style Clone Generation Request
1. Go back to the Style Cloning dashboard
2. Select your newly created Style Clone
3. Click the **Fine-tune model** button.
4. Assign a name and version number to your Fine-tune model and click the agreement box.
5. Click the purple **Send request** button to finish.
### View Fine-tune Model Status
Click the **Fine-tune models** pop up button to view information on Style Clone generation requests.
Models typically take from 3 - 5 days to complete training.
# Export MotionBuilder Mocap Data
Walkthrough how to export mocap data from MotionBuilder to create a Style Clone.
## Prerequisites
To follow this guide, first you must have:
1. Brought your mocap data into MotionBuilder
2. Retargeted your animations to the Motorica hierarchy
## Preparation
Before exporting your animation files, it is highly recommended to **plot all animation properties** to the Motorica skeleton. This avoids issues caused by improper interpolation, or keyframes that lie outside the take's play range.
1. Select all bones in the Motorica skeleton by right-clicking on `Root` then `Select Branches` :
2. Open the plotting tool via `Animation > Plot Selected (All Properties)` :
3. Plot your animation with the following settings:
* `Plot On Frame` enabled
* `Plot All Takes` if you have multiple takes in the same file
* A frame rate **of 30, 60 or 120 FPS**
* `Constant Key Reducer` disabled
## Exporting
Now that the animation data has been plotted, we are ready to export. For this, we recommend using **Motion File Export** to ensure you're only sending animation data to Motorica. We must also ensure that each exported file only has **one take** inside it.
1. Select all bones in the Motorica skeleton by right-clicking on `Root` then `Select Branches` :
2. Open the export dialog via `File > Motion File Export` :
3. Choose your folder and name the files as you wish, but ensure it is an `.fbx` or `.bvh` filename:
4. Finally, select all takes you wish to upload to Motorica, with `One Take Per File` enabled:
And you're done! Following these steps will make the style cloning process simpler, preventing technical issues caused by the FBX file format, allowing you to focus on reviewing the quality of your uploaded data.
# Edit an Animation's Root Motion Data
Walkthrough how to edit an uploaded animation's root motion data to get the best quality outputs from your Style Clones.
{% hint style="info" %}
Below is a text version of an old video guide (new guide in the works!)
{% endhint %}
## Root Motion Extraction Basics
### **1. Introduction to Root Motion Extraction**
* Overview of the new Advanced Root Motion Extraction features available in the Style Cloning Dashboard.
### **2. Understanding Root Motion Extraction**
* Definition: The process of generating root motion from mocap data that lacks it.
* Example: Transforming a mocap file without root motion into one with root motion.
### **3. Using the Style Cloning Dashboard**
* Access the Style Cloning Dashboard and create a new Style Clone (e.g., Axe Wielder Alerted).
* Upload mocap files for processing.
### **4. File Upload and Validation Process**
* Uploaded files undergo validation for:
* Correct file naming
* Skeleton naming and hierarchy
* Proper reading by the system.
### **5. Extracting Root Motion**
* After validation, the system extracts root motion from the uploaded files.
* Users can preview the extracted animations and check for issues.
## Optimizing Your Training Data
### **6. Providing Context for Better Extraction**
* Importance of giving context about the uploaded files to improve root motion extraction.
* Example: Using a strafing animation where the actor faces the same direction.
### **7. Editing Root Motion Settings**
* Access advanced settings for individual animations.
* Lock rotation to maintain consistent root bone rotation throughout the animation.
### **8. Inputting Specific Rotation Angles**
* Option to specify exact angles for root bone rotation (e.g., locking to zero degrees).
* Ensures accurate representation in the final animation.
### **9. Handling Idle Animations**
* For idle animations, lock both rotation and position to maintain stability.
* Use auto-detect for position to avoid errors.
### **10. Managing Turn-in-Place Animations**
* Lock position while allowing rotation to change during turns.
* Adjust settings as needed for desired outcomes.
### **11. Batch Processing for Efficiency**
* Select multiple animations (e.g., all strafes) to apply consistent settings quickly.
* Rerun root motion extraction for improved results.
## **Our Recommended Workflow**
* Upload files to the Style Cloning Dashboard.
* Use advanced root motion settings for optimal extraction.
* Review all animations for errors before finalizing.
## **Conclusion and Support**
# Reference
Consult Style Cloning's reference docs for additional technical information, such as full descriptions on the product's dashboards, supported uploadable data types, and mocap recording guidelines.
## Table of Contents
| Articles | Description |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Style Cloning UI](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/style-cloning-ui) | Explanations and use-cases for all UI elements and dashboards within Style Cloning. |
| [Mocap Recording Guidelines](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/mocap-recording-guidelines) | Guidelines and best practices for recording mocap to create Style Clones. |
| [Dance Card Shot List](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/dance-card-shot-list) | Mandatory and optional dance card shots with examples. |
| [Data Preparation](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/data-preparation) | How to prepare mocap data for Style Clones. |
# Style Cloning UI
Reference for the dashboards within Style Cloning.
## Style Cloning Dashboard
Infographic of the Style Cloning dashboard.
1. Buttons for creating a style clone dataset and for fine-tuning a completed dataset to generate a style clone.
2. A searchable table containing all of your organization's created style clone datasets and their associated information.
## Dataset Dashboard
1. Buttons for uploading animation files to your dataset and for viewing animation file guidelines.
2. A status section that displays after uploading animation files to your dataset. When the progress bar is red, we recommend viewing the rest of your animations directly in the dashboard to ensure a high-quality dataset.
Example of a completed Dataset Checkup progress bar.
3. The uploaded assets table has three top-level buttons: one for searching for assets via filenames, another for deleting selected assets, and a final button for editing the extracted root motion data from uploaded animations. Check out our [Concepts](/learn/concepts/style-cloning#root-motion-extraction) and [How-To Guide](/documentation/style-cloning/how-to-guides/edit-an-animations-root-motion-data) on Root Motion Extraction for more information.\
\
This table includes important metadata information related to uploaded assets. For example, the table will display whether a file errors and must be fixed in your DCC to be used in Style Cloning generation, as well as displays warnings that can be fixed by editing the file's root motion data in the dashboard.
# Mocap Recording Guidelines
Guidelines and best practices for recording mocap to create a Style Clone.
## Overview
Good, general-purpose Style Clones require 10 minutes of recorded mocap data. The data must follow our dance card shot list, covering a range of motion and speeds in the exact style you want to create.
{% hint style="info" %}
The more variety the better — our model learns best from seeing a range of different motions.
{% endhint %}
## Key Guidelines
* A full mocap dataset for a Style Clone must total around **10 minutes**.
* Each take should be between **30-60 seconds**.
* The actor must **maintain the style** throughout the entire take.
* Maintain a **consistent idle pose** across all takes.
## Shot List
Our shot list consists of **7 Mandatory** dance cards and 3 optional dance cards.
These dance cards are designed to provide varied coverage for the range of movement states your style may need to perform. They are also designed to allow the actor to focus on keeping the style consistent, without worrying about hitting specific angles or speeds.
{% content-ref url="/pages/X1zmzY94BjxkKvm0TGNF" %}
[Dance Card Shot List](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/dance-card-shot-list)
{% endcontent-ref %}
## Speed Ranges
Some dance cards must be recorded in various speed ranges for our training model and depending on how your style moves. Our recommended ranges are:
* **Walk** — up to 2 m/s
* **Jog** — 2 to 4 m/s
* **Run** — 4+ m/s
Speed variations are flexible. **Only record the speed ranges your style needs**.
Actors don't need focus on maintaining an exact speed; velocities within their given speed range suffices.
## Next Steps
Visit the [Shot List](#shot-list) to understand what animations to shoot. Once you're finished recording, check out [Data Preparation](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/data-preparation) for help preparing and cleaning the raw mocap data.
# Dance Card Shot List
A list of mandatory and optional dance cards for a Motorica Style Clone.
Dance cards describe how an actor should perform for specific shots.
Each dance card includes an example ID ( `v03dcXX` ), the amount of takes required, the duration, and additional instructions for properly recording the shot.
{% hint style="info" %}
If you record a dance card and feel you didn't capture enough varied motion, record another take and include both in your style clone dataset.
More data is always welcome and improves the training of your Style Clone!
{% endhint %}
## Dance Cards
{% hint style="danger" %}
The paths shown in the diagrams are not to be followed exactly. **They are examples!**
{% endhint %}
### Mandatory Cards
Mandatory dance cards **must be included** in your dataset to guarantee a high-quality Style Clone.
#### Idle
{% embed url="" %}
Example of an idle pose.
* ID: `v03dc01` .
* At least 1 take required.
* Base idle pose for the entire Style.
* Duration: \~10 seconds.
{% hint style="info" %}
If another dance card has an idle, it should match the data in this animation.
{% endhint %}
Example
{% embed url="" %}
Idle pose example.
{% endembed %}
#### Turn in Place
Example of turning in place.
* ID: `v03dc02` .
* At least 1 take required.
* 15°, 45°, 90°, 135°, and 180°
turns in both directions.
* Duration: \~30 seconds.
* Record all turns in one take.
* After each turn, settle into an ide pose for about 1 second.
* Angles don't need to be exact.
Example
{% embed url="" %}
Turning in place example.
{% endembed %}
#### Forward
Example of forward movement pathing.
* ID: `v03dc03`
* Multiple takes of varying [speeds ranges](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/mocap-recording-guidelines#speed-ranges) for walks, jogs, and runs required.
* Duration: \~30-60 seconds.
* The actor must always face the direction of their movement.
* After stopping at random intervals, the actor must move in a random direction.
* We recommend mixing in longer segments of straight motion and arcs in each take.
Examples
{% embed url="" %}
Walking forward example.
{% endembed %}
{% embed url="" %}
Running forward example.
{% endembed %}
#### Strafe
Example of strafing movement pathing.
* ID: `v03dc04`
* Multiple takes of varying [speeds ranges](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/mocap-recording-guidelines#speed-ranges) for walks, jogs, and runs required.
* Duration: \~30-60 seconds.
* The actor must always face North.
* After stopping at random intervals, the actor must move in a random direction.
* We recommend mixing in longer segments of straight motion and arcs in each take.
Examples
{% embed url="" %}
Walking strafes example.
{% endembed %}
{% embed url="" %}
Running strafes example.
{% endembed %}
#### Backward
Example of backward movement pathing.
* ID: `v03dc05`
* Multiple takes of varying [speeds ranges](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/mocap-recording-guidelines#speed-ranges) for walks, jogs, and runs required.
* Duration: \~30-60 seconds.
* The actor must face the opposite of their movement.
* After stopping at random intervals, the actor must move in a random direction.
* We recommend mixing in longer segments of straight motion and arcs in each take.
Examples
{% embed url="" %}
Walking backward example.
{% endembed %}
{% embed url="" %}
Running backward example.
{% endembed %}
#### Speed Transitions - Forward
Example pathing of a forward speed transition.
* ID: `v03dc06`
* At least 1 take required.
* Duration: \~30-60 seconds.
* The actor must face the direction of their movement.
* The actor cannot pause; movement must be continuous.
* The actor must randomly change their speed throughout the shot.
Example
{% embed url="" %}
Example of speed transitions moving forward.
{% endembed %}
#### Speed Transitions - Backward
Example pathing of a backward speed transition.
* ID: `v03dc07`
* At least 1 take required.
* Duration: \~30-60 seconds.
* The actor must face the opposite direction of their movement.
* The actor cannot pause; movement must be continuous.
* The actor must randomly change their speed throughout the shot.
Example
{% embed url="" %}
Example of speed transitions moving backward.
{% endembed %}
### Optional Cards
Although not required, optional dance cards help train your Style Clone with additional motions and style-specific performances.
#### Spin Transitions
Example pathing of a spin transition.
* ID: `v03dc08`
* At least 1 take required.
* Duration: \~30-45 seconds.
* Actor must move along a straight line and randomly alternate between backward, forward, and strafing movements.
* The actor cannot pause; movement must be continuous.
Examples
{% embed url="" %}
Example of walking spinning transitions moving backward, forward, and strafing.
{% endembed %}
{% embed url="" %}
Example of running spinning transitions moving backward, forward, and strafing.
{% endembed %}
#### Sprint
Example sprinting path.
* ID: `v03dc09`
* At least 1 take required, but more is recommended.
* Duration: \~60 seconds.
* Actor must face the direction of their movement and run as fast as they can.
* You must Include stop and start motions for each shot.
* If possible, include turns and arcs while sprinting.
Examples
{% embed url="" %}
Example #1 of the pathing and motion of a straight sprinting shot.
{% endembed %}
{% embed url="" %}
Example #2 of the pathing and motion of an turning sprinting shot.
{% endembed %}
#### Extras for Style Specifics
Extra shots include motions your Style Clone needs but aren't already covered by our provided dance cards.\
\
For example, a Style Clone for a two-handed melee sword may require additional strafe circling shots for a gameplay system that has character-lock-on combat.
Extra shots that are "out of the box" for your specific Style.
* ID: `v03dc10`
* As many takes as you need for varying [speed ranges](/documentation/style-cloning/reference/mocap-recording-guidelines#speed-ranges).
* No duration requirements.
Example
{% embed url="" %}
Example of an extra shot for a two-handed weapon style.
{% endembed %}
## Shot List Spreadsheet
During the recording process, use the provided spreadsheet below to keep track of your shots and progress during the shoot.
{% embed url="" %}
A spreadsheet containing the full shot list.
{% endembed %}
# Data Preparation
Preparation guidelines for cleaning recorded mocap data for your Style Clone.
## Post-Processing
When creating a Style Clone, animation data must be production-quality before uploading to Motorica. To do so, the data needs to be cleaned up after shooting. This includes removing jitter, ground penetrations, and other undesirable artefacts.
You will also need to remove any non-acting parts of the animations, including but not limited to:
* T-Poses & calibration poses.
* Segments where the actor is talking to the director.
* Mistakes (trips, stumbles, etc.).
* Any animations you don't want our model to learn from.
Data preparation and cleanup is crucial. Our models learn from every frame of animation you upload; by uploading only high-quality data, your Style Clone will be guaranteed to be a production-ready asset when generating new animations in Motion Stage or Motion Factory.
#### Root Motion
Style Cloning comes packaged with a [Root Motion Extraction](/learn/concepts/style-cloning#root-motion-extraction) tool so you don't need to keyframe your own root motion.
{% hint style="info" %}
To understand how to use the Root Motion Extraction tool, check out our [Root Motion Editing Guide](/documentation/style-cloning/how-to-guides/edit-an-animations-root-motion-data).
{% endhint %}
## Supported Files
Motorica's learning models currently support the following upload files:
* `.fbx`
* `.bvh`
Due to the complexity of the `.fbx` file format, strange results may occur when `.fbx` files are uploaded to our system.
{% hint style="warning" %}
For MotionBuilder users, check out our [MotionBuilder export guide](/documentation/style-cloning/how-to-guides/export-motionbuilder-mocap-data) for cleaning and exporting animation data.
{% endhint %}
Our learning models learn best with regularly sampled, baked animations. This avoids relying on reading complex interpolation data between keyframes. We also recommend you upload **only pure animation**, as mesh information is irrelevant to our system.
## Data Review and Final Steps
After uploading cleaned animations, reviewing the data is vital! Any artefacts included in your animations will affect the quality of your style clone.
The Style Cloning dashboard includes tools for reviewing each animation in your style clone's dataset. Before sending your fine-tune request, view all animations to ensure the highest quality Style Clone.
For more detailed instructions, check out our guide on how to [Generate a Style Clone](/documentation/style-cloning/how-to-guides/create-a-style-clone).
# Integrations
Learn how to integrate Motorica's suite of animation products into your front-end engine of choice.
## Table of Contents
# Unreal Engine
Motorica offers full support for generating animations and motion matching datasets into Unreal Engine.
## Overview
Animations generated with Motorica can be used in Unreal Engine for single-take animations or for Unreal's motion matching system.
## Table of Contents
| Topic | Description |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| [How-To Guides](/documentation/integrations/unreal-engine/how-to-guides) | Understand how to setup provided Unreal Engine plugins with our How-To Guides. |
| [Reference](/documentation/integrations/unreal-engine/reference) | Consult our Reference docs to download and learn ore about provided Unreal Engine plugins. |
# How-To Guides
Walkthrough how to set up plugins for integrating Motorica's generated animations into Unreal Engine projects.
## Guides
# Setup and Use UE Root Motion Recorder Plugin
## Setup
### Blueprints
1. Add the **RootMotionRecorder** Plugin to project and enable
2. Attach the component to your Actor/Character
3. Add **Start Recording** and **End Recording** events to your event graph, an example can be seen below
### C++
1. Add RootMotionRecorder Plugin to project and enable
2. Add component to your character subclass
3. Call `StartRecording()` and `EndRecording()` events respectively
## Settings
The RootMotionRecorder Component has the following editable properties:
### Configurable
* **Output Directory:** Absolute path that the JSON files will be written to
* **Should Debug Draw:** If `true`, a line will be drawn under the character's feet to show the path that is being recorded
* **Debug Draw Rotations:** If `true`, arrows will also be drawn on the debug line to show the root rotation
* **Debug Draw Offset:** Offset from the actor's origin to draw the line from
#### Non-Configurable (do not change unless you're post-processing JSON files!)
* **FPS:** set to 30. Please do not change this, as Motion Factory only accepts 30 FPS paths at the moment. It is exposed for extendability, in case you want to do some post-processing and resample later
* **Flatten trajectory:** - Ensures the Z (Up) component of the recorded root motion is constant, which is then taken down to 0 before writing to JSON (and converting to Y-Up)
# Import Single Animations Onto Import Plugin Skeleton
Walkthrough how to import animations onto the UE Importer plugin's version of the Motorica skeleton.
{% hint style="warning" %}
This guide is only relevant if you have seen the error on the left image above, when trying to import an animation **directly** onto the skeleton that comes packaged with the plugin.
{% endhint %}
In UE 5.5, Epic introduced the new **Interchange** importer which altered the way that FBX importing happens in-engine. Our plugin uses a **Z-up** version of the skeleton, to be compatible with the engine's motion matching tools. Therefore, to import the **Y-up** animations that our platform generates, we must configure some input settings, but these settings do not exist in Interchange!
As a result, when importing animations directly onto `SKEL_Motorica` (the Motorica skeleton that is packaged with the plugin) we get the artefacts seen on the left image at the top of this page.
## How to Fix
Before importing animations directly onto this skeleton, you must first use the console command:
Interchange.FeatureFlags.Import.FBX 0
This will **disable interchange** for all FBX imports, allowing you to use the legacy import procedure. After this, you may continue with the import process, first by clicking 'Import':
Then, select the file(s) you want to import, and you'll be greeted with the **legacy import options**. From here you will need to:
1. Select the Motorica Skeleton
{% hint style="info" %}
*If it doesn’t show up initially, you may have to click the settings cog and select ‘Show Plugin Content’*
{% endhint %}
2. Select 'Use Default Sample Rate'
3. Select 'Force Front XAxis' and set Import Rotation to `(0°,0°,90°)`
4. Then you're done!
{% hint style="warning" %}
Don't forget to run `Interchange.FeatureFlags.Import.FBX 1` to revert the console command & bring back the Interchange FBX importer for other assets!
{% endhint %}
# UE Importer Plugin in 90 Seconds
A quick 90-second run-through of how to use Motorica's Importer plugin to bring your Motion Factory dataset into Unreal Engine
## Prerequisites
* [Importer Plugin](/documentation/integrations/unreal-engine/reference/ue-importer-plugin) downloaded & added to your project or engine
* Motion Factory dataset created, downloaded, and extracted from the `.zip` archive
{% embed url="" %}
{% hint style="info" %}
If you don't see the Retargeter & Manny mesh when selecting assets, then you may need to **Enable Plugin Content** in the editor, as seen below
{% endhint %}
# Reference
Unreal Engine Reference docs for easy-to-implement and fully-supported plugins.
## Table of Contents
| Article | Description |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [UE Importer Plugin](/documentation/integrations/unreal-engine/reference/ue-importer-plugin) | A plugin to streamline the workflow from Motion Factory to UE Motion Matching. |
| [UE Root Motion Recorder Plugin](/documentation/integrations/unreal-engine/reference/ue-root-motion-recorder-plugin) | A lightweight plugin to record a capsule's root motion movement to import exact trajectories into Motion Factory. |
| [UE Spring Movement Component](/documentation/integrations/unreal-engine/reference/ue-spring-movement-component) | A movement component that uses springs to simulate movement for better Motion Matching results with Motorica. |
# UE Importer Plugin
Lightweight plugin to streamline Motion Factory to UE Motion Matching workflows.
## Overview
The Motorica UE Importer Plugin imports animations, retargets, and sets up pose search assets for Motion Matching.
{% hint style="info" %}
Motorica UE Importer Plugins can only setup PSDs in Unreal Engine if the folder structure of the dataset matches the output from Motion Factory's simplified mode. A mismatch does not affect the importing itself.
{% endhint %}
## Features
* IK retargeter for Motorica to UE Manny/Quinn skeletons.
* Integration with UE pose search (MM):
* Creates pose search database assets.
* Creates pose search schema.
## Downloads
{% hint style="warning" icon="triangle-exclamation" %}
Plugins for UE 5.6.0 and older are no longer being updated
{% endhint %}
# UE Root Motion Recorder Plugin
Lightweight UE plugin to record a capsule's exact root motion movement and trajectories.
## Overview
The Motorica UE Root Motion Recorder Plugin allows you to easily record a capsule's trajectories with the exact movement parameters defined in your capsule.
{% hint style="info" %}
Check out our [How-To Guide](/documentation/integrations/unreal-engine/how-to-guides/setup-and-use-ue-root-motion-recorder-plugin) to walkthrough how to setup the plugin.
{% endhint %}
## Features
* Record motion paths from any Actor/Character inside Unreal Engine
* Export and save in a JSON format compatible with Motion Factory's **Trail Manager**
## Downloads
{% hint style="warning" icon="triangle-exclamation" %}
Plugins for UE 5.6.0 and older are no longer being updated
{% endhint %}
# UE Spring Movement Component
Experimental plugin featured in our Unreal Sample Project
## Overview
The Motorica Spring Movement Plugin contains a character movement component that uses springs to simulate movement, for better Motion Matching results and closer parity to Motorica's simulated root motion.
{% hint style="warning" %}
This plugin is **Experimental**
{% endhint %}
## Features
* Spring-based movement for characters
* Exposed variables to tune movement
* Replicated movement & trajectory prediction
## Downloads
{% hint style="warning" %}
Plugins for UE 5.6.0 and older are no longer being updated
{% endhint %}
# Unity
# Godot
# Blender
# Maya
# Houdini
# Motorica Changelog
Rolling changelog for Motorica products.
## 2026-04-07 | v0.20.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* **New Domain:** [app.motorica.com](https://app.motorica.com/) is the new home for the Motorica web app! For now, visiting the old site will redirect you to the new one.
* **'Generate Idle' option for Key Idle Pose:** This new feature allows you to use KIP without uploading a custom idle pose. Instead, you can generate an idle pose from any style you have access to, all within the web app.
## 2026-04-07 | v0.19.1
:gear: **What's Better**
* Style Cloning data upload improvements, fixing issues caused with specific axis configurations
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Minor bug fix for users in multiple organizations
## 2026-04-07 | v0.19.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* **Key Idle Pose:** A highly-requested feature that allows you to define a specific pose that will be reached when the character comes to a stop, or accelerates from idle.
* **New Sequencer in Motion Stage:** We've replaced the old scrubber in Motion stage with our all-new sequencer, delivering a smoother experience with advanced animation viewing controls
* **Improved Credit Overview UX:** Easier ways to track your spending, to make sure there are no nasty surprises
:gear: **What's Better**
* Better style clone model viewing options
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Bug fixed that would sometimes sign users out automatically
* UI improvements for Safari users
## 2026-03-13 | v0.18.2
:sparkles: **What's New**
* **Trail Manager folder import:** Inside trail manager, you can upload an entire folder structure containing your FBX or JSON trails, rather than just importing groups of files.
:gear: **What's Better**
* Right-click interactions in Trail Manager
* Folder view QOL improvements
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* More reliable caching in Motion Factory
* Bug fixed that prohibited style mixing on models with exactly two styles
## 2026-03-13 | v0.18.1
:gear: **What's Better**
* Improved tooltips in Trail Manager
## 2026-03-13 | v0.18.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* **Trail Manager:** A brand new feature that allows you to have full control over the Motion Factory workflow. Now you are able to use our *Simplified* setup as a base to curate your own datasets, or even build your own from scratch! (Supporting documentation for this feature is on the way)
* **FBX Trail Import in Motion Factory:** Along with our JSON format, Motion Factory now takes FBX files for uploading custom root motion.
:gear: **What's Better**
* **Motion Factory's Custom Mode** has been reworked. Now, it will take you directly to Trail Manager, which has all the features of the Legacy Custom mode and more!
* **Folder view in Animation Previewer:** Inside Motion Factory, the animation viewer now uses a folder view for navigation.
## 2026-01-29 | v0.17.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* **Phase Shifting in Motion Stage**: Now, by visiting the 'Options' tab in Motion Stage, you will be able to use phase shift in the same way as you have been able to inside Motion Factory!
* **Batch Delete in Motion Factory**: Categories & Types in Motion Factory path previewer can now be deleted, allowing for quicker trimming of Motion Factory datasets
* *Note: deletions are persistent per session, but don't carry over if you start a new Motion Factory workflow.*
## 2026-01-16 | v0.16.1
:sparkles: **What's New**
* **Terms of Service**: Clearer process for new users to view & accept terms of service
:gear: **What's Better**
* **Motion Factory progress checking:** New icons in Motion Factory's previewer, indicating whether a path or category has already been previewed
## 2025-12-29 | v0.16.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* **Credit and transactions page**: Now you are able to track credit consumption inside the web app! Simply click your organisation name in the top-right corner, and select *'Credit Overview'*
:gear: **What's Better**
* 'Style Blending' is now called 'Style **Mixing'**, a name that more accurately represents the feature
## 2025-12-05 | v0.15.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* **EXPERIMENTAL: Looping with Normalized Gait Cycle** - force consistent strides when generating animations with looping (only available in Motion Factory)
:gear: **What's Better**
* Improved Phase Shifting - better outputs to get the other phases significantly faster
## 2025-11-28 | v0.14.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* Motion Factory now allows "Duration Modifiers," supporting scaling of durations of moving and idle segments
* Motion Factory now supports **Batch Editing** of paths by Category, Type, and/or Paths
:gear: **What's Better**
* Removed root motion trimming in Motion Factor as it was a misleading feature carried over from a legacy workflow.
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Loading screen instead of black screen on initial start up of app
* Resolved an issue where animation generation would sometimes fail after first blending styles and then switching models
* Other minor fixes
## 2025-11-21 | v0.13.1
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Ensuring BVH validation logic correctly identifies and validates the hips/root bone based on the actual skeleton structure during Style Cloning
## 2025-11-21 | v0.13.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* New modern dashboard design for the landing page
:gear: **What's Better**
* More robust warnings when imported root motion in Motion Stage breaks our requirements, detecting:
* Keyframes with roll and/or pitch
* Non zero position-y data)
* Motion Factory's Simplified mode with short paths now has all turn-in-place animations for the idle category
## 2025-11-07 | v0.12.2
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Fixed issue where changing character height didn't save properly in Motion Factory when restarting the flow
## 2025-11-04 | v0.12.1
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Switching orgs no longer locks up UI in certain scenarios
* Default hip height for Motion Factory now won't reset the model selection
## 2025-10-30 | v0.12.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* New Root Motion Path visualization line in Motion Stage & Motion Factory
:gear: **What's Better**
* Sortable headers on the finetuned models page in Style Cloning
* 'Pure Root Motion' option for custom path sets in Motion Factory available to all users
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Fixed the search bar in finetuned Models page
## 2025-10-16 | v0.11.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* Added option to export animations in-place\
\
* Style Cloning dashboard now links directly to our documents
* New document section for Motion Capture recording guidelines
:gear: **What's Better**
* Loading indicator and prevention of accidental double clicks on export button on Motion Stage
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Solved issue where users could be stuck on a loading after completing their profile
* Long model and style names no longer overflow the the dropdown menu trigger
## 2025-10-03 | v0.10.1
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Fixed issue where looping was not working
* Duration on Motion Factory timeline is now accurate when previewing a style's idle animation
## 2025-10-03 | v0.10.0
### **'Short Paths' Option in Motion Factory**
In Motion Factory's Simplified workflow, you now have the option to create a dataset with **short paths**. These paths provide the same coverage as our longer paths, but broken into smaller segments.
:sparkles: **What's New**
* **Short Paths** option in Motion Factory Simplified mode
* Progress bar in Style Clone asset manager that tracks how many of the files are previewed
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Loading screen instead of black screen on initial start up of app
* Resolved an issue where animation generation would sometimes fail after first blending styles and then switching models
## 2025-09-23 | v0.9.1
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Fixed issue preventing animation downloads in Motion Stage
## 2025-09-21 | v0.9.0
### **Motion Factory Local Cache**
Return to where you last left off in Motion Factory. We've enhanced the product to automatically store your work session as a local browser cached file as you work.
:sparkles: **What's New**
* New Motion Factory return to previous sessions via local caching support
:gear: **What's Better**
* Motion Factory now has "Braking Softness" as a new parameter to Spring Simulation mode
* Motion Stage now gives users clear warning when attempting to navigate away
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Fixed issue preventing downloads of longer animations in Style Clone dataset management page
* Feedback window does not block UI in Motion Stage and Motion Factory
## 2025-09-11 | v0.8.0
### **Phase Shift Release (Experimental)**
Phase Shift is a new experimental Motion Factory feature, allowing you instant creation of perfect alternate foot plants based on any animations you generate.
:sparkles: **What's New**
* Added Phase Shift to Motion Factory (experimental)
* Added Spring Simulation Movement Type
:gear: **What's Better**
* 3D Camera now supports orthographic view
* Improved preview widgets for Style Cloning to reduce visual noise
* Enhanced in-app warnings and alerts
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Incorrect FPS metadata for exports
* Minor fixes
## 2025-08-07 | v0.7.0
:gear: **What's Better**
* Easier file organization and tracing with improved file name format on export: `StyleName_DateOfExport_SeedUsed`
* Streamlined Style Cloning process by removing redundant "Activate Style" step
* Your active model(s) will have all its styles immediately active and ready for use
## 2025-08-05 | v0.6.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* (Experimental) Approved Straight animation specification support in Style Cloning
## 2025-07-16 | v0.5.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* Exporting animations in Motion Stage and Motion Factory now preserves the scaling defined in app
## 2025-07-03 | v0.4.0
:sparkles: **What's New**
* Visualizer options now also available in Motion Factory!
:gear: **What's Better**
* More control for Motion presets for starting angles.
* QoL changes for Style Cloning:
* Numbers of assets for shown.
* Shinier "Preview" button.
* Clarity on assets using Motorica or provided root motion.
## 2025-06-23 | v0.3.1
:gear: **What's Better**
* Updated the preview animation for the new base model
## 2025-06-18 | v0.3.0
### Style Cloning: **Root Motion Extraction**
Root Motion Extraction, or RME, is Motorica's powerful proprietary method to extract accurate root motion from your pure animation data.
This capability is provided in our Style Cloning product for enterprise license users to automatically generate, edit and use Motorica's RME for your training data.
:sparkles: **What's New**
* Automatic RME on data upload
* In-app animation preview
* Advanced root motion adjustment toolsets
* Additional warnings and errors
:gear: **What's Better**
* Style Cloning dash board UI improvements
* Additional error and warning checks for you datasets
* A way to remove uploaded datasets
:toolbox: **What's Fixed**
* Number of issues and edge cases have been addressed for this experience