New tool Masterpiece Motion lets you rig characters in VR
Tools developer MasterpieceVR has released Materpiece Motion, a new product that enables artists to rig, skin and pose 3D characters in virtual reality, using HTC Vive or Oculus Rift controllers.
The firm describes Masterpiece Motion as the “first professional VR software to accelerate and simplify rigging of 3D models for gaming and animation”.
Rig, skin and pose 3D characters in VR, then export to common DCC tools
MasterpieceVR already has a couple of years’ history in virtual reality tools development, having released its first product, VR sculpting and painting software MasterpieceVR, in 2017.
While it has a number of competitors in that market, including Google’s Tilt Brush, Oculus’s Quill and Medium, and Foundry’s Kanova, Masterpiece Motion is currently more or less in a field of its own.
The software enables artists to rig, skin and pose 3D characters imported in OBJ or FBX format inside virtual reality, positioning bones and painting weight maps using Oculus or Vive controllers.
The interface is pared down heavily to work in VR, but the workflow looks quick and intuitive.
As well as the auto-rigging system – it’s currently tailored to humanoid characters, but MasterpieceVR hints that it is working on other body types – the software comes with adjustable standard rigs.
Once rigged, characters can be exported to common DCC tools in FBX format: Blender, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, MotionBuilder, Maya, Substance Painter and Unity, plus Marmoset Toolbag and Sketchfab.
Export to Houdini and Unreal Engine are planned for future updates.
Masterpiece Motion can also export to a range of other virtual reality tools: as well as those listed above, industrial design tool Gravity Sketch VR, and animation tools Flipside and Tvori, with Mindshow and AnimVR to come.
Pricing and system requirements
Masterpiece Motion is available for 64-bit Windows only. It’s rental-only, with pricing starting at $14.95/month for a single freelance licence, or $29.95/month for a floating licence.
Read more about Masterpiece Motion on MasterpieceVR’s website