Autodesk releases MotionBuilder 2020

Autodesk has released MotionBuilder 2020, the latest update to its motion-capture editing software.

Workflow improvements in the release include the option to hide viewport manipulators during playback, to create bookmarks in the Schematic view, support for simple mathematical operators, and unlimited Undos.

The release shipped this week alongside Maya 2020 and Maya LT 2020, Mudbox 2020 and Arnold 6.0.

New animation playback, bookmarking and output options, plus support for unlimited Undos
The changelog for MotionBuilder 2020 consists largely of workflow improvements, including the option to declutter animation playback by hiding viewport manipulators, as shown above.

Users can now create bookmarks in the Schematic view, making it possible to jump to key points on large node graphs, with MotionBuilder also recalling whether individual nodes should be expanded or collapsed.

It is also possible to specify the number of Undo levels that MotionBuilder uses, including the option to allow multiple Undos, albeit at the cost of a possible performance hit.

In addition, both numeric and timecode fields now support a range of basic arithmetic operators, making it possible to use simple expressions in place of absolute values.

Story clips can now be locked to prevent them from being moved or retimed accidentally later in production; and the Add/Remove Namespace window can be resized to accommodate longer file names.

Other changes include the option to output animation from the Render Window in MP4 format, as well as AVI and MOV; and support for the 119.88 fps frame rate used in UHDTV.

Pricing and system requirements
MotionBuilder 2019 is avaiable for Windows 7+ and RHEL or CentOS 7.3-7.7 Linux on a rental-only basis. Subscriptions now cost $220/month or $1,765/year, up $45/year on the previous release.

Read a full list of new features in MotionBuilder 2020 in the online documentation
(You can find a list of further bugfixes here.)