MotionBuilder is powerful. It’s also confusing, poorly documented, and has a learning curve that feels like a wall.
You’ve heard how it can help you clean up your mocap data, retarget animations to your character, and handle complex, multi-character scenes — but you can’t find the tutorials that tell you how, the documentation is frustrating, and you’re left trying to figure everything out in the middle of production, where every mistake costs you time and money.
That’s where Mocappys comes in.
I’m Simon Kay. I’ve spent 20+ years using mocap and MotionBuilder to bring hundreds of characters to life at studios like DNEG, Sony, and Centroid. Mocappys is where I share everything I’ve learned over the years that actually works: retargeting that’s accurate and useable, mocap editing that makes sense, and solutions to problems you won’t find in Autodesk’s docs.
Full credits: LinkedIn | IMDb | MobyGames
Start here
Not sure where to begin? Pick what fits:
- I’m trying to figure something out in MotionBuilder → MotionBuilder Tutorials
- I’m planning or running a mocap shoot → Motion Capture Tutorials
- I want to dig deeper into MotionBuilder → Explore Courses
- I need help on a mocap project → Work With Me
Why Mocappys exists
If you want to learn Maya, you’re spoiled for choice; hundreds of sites, tutorials, instructors, all levels, all styles. You can usually find what you need in minutes.
MotionBuilder? Not so much. There are far fewer tutorials, far fewer good ones, and even fewer from people using it in production.
I’ve been there, trawling the internet for answers, wading through docs, trying to pull together “fixes” that never seem to work.
That’s why I started Mocappys: so you can skip the worst of that:
- Get up to speed faster
- Avoid painful mistakes and creative dead ends
- Build workflows that scale from one shot to a full pipeline
- Actually enjoy working with MotionBuilder and mocap on your projects
What you’ll find here
Everything here is designed to give you practical, production-focused help for MotionBuilder and motion capture, so you feel confident doing the work that usually causes the most problems.
The goal isn’t to tell you what button to press or menu to use. It’s to help you understand why you’re doing something, so when you’re thrown a curveball, you can adapt.
MotionBuilder tutorials
- Character setup and retargeting to get more accurate results needing less clean up
- Motion editing to enhance the performance so it fits your character
- Control Rigs, Story Tool, Poses, Takes and Anim Layers: how they work, when to use them, and why they matter
- Workflows to import, edit and export your mocap to avoid that “Static character” moment
Motion capture guides
- How to use inertial and optical mocap systems to capture performances
- Understanding what should happen when and who should be doing it, so there are no nasty surprises on a shoot
- Complete end-to-end workflow: what to do, when to do it, where to do it, and how.
How to use Mocappys
Read the blog (free) Got a specific problem? The blog is where you’ll find step-by-step tutorials using production examples.
Subscribe to the newsletter I send occasional notes on MotionBuilder and mocap: workflow shortcuts, common production mistakes, and links to new tutorials and guides. No spam — unsubscribe any time.
Learn with a course If you want to go deeper, the courses are structured, step-by-step training built around real production workflows. You’ll come out of them confident and ready to work on actual shots.
Work with me Whether you’re planning a mocap shoot, integrating motion capture and MotionBuilder into your pipeline, need help on a shoot, or training for your team — tell me what you want to achieve, when it needs to be finished, and what’s unclear, we’ll figure it out together.
Remember, the real skill with motion capture is transforming the performance from a mocap stage into the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of your character.
Film Credits
Video Game Credits
Talks & Lectures
