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BroMocap - Animation Importer and Retargeter

BroMocap transfers motion from a mocap skeleton to a BroRig (or any control rig).

This is not a live motion capture system. It is an animation retargeting utility that:

  • Takes motion from a source mocap joint set.
  • Maps it to target rig controls (automtically by distance with a way to adjust the mapping).
  • Mapping is saved in the scene so it can be reused
  • Bakes the motion as keys on your controls (can preserve offset)

Opening the tool

Go to: - Animation Tools → Mocap

The interface is split into five sections.

1. Setup

Define which objects provide motion (mocap skeleton) and which objects receive it (controls).

  • Mocap skeleton (source):
  • Select your mocap joints.
  • Click Set from Selection.
  • Controls (target):
  • Select your rig controls.
  • Click Set from Selection.

The tool will show how many joints/controls are set.

2. Namespaces

If your mocap and rig live in different namespaces, specify them here so the tool can correctly resolve node names during transfer.

  • Mocap skeleton (source): the namespace of your mocap joints.
  • Animation rig (target): the namespace of your rig controls.
  • Use Refresh Namespaces to update the lists.

If namespaces are incorrect, the transfer may skip pairs or apply motion to wrong nodes.

3. Auto-detect (IK / FK) flags

The tool decides per control whether to transfer:

  • Position only
  • Rotation only
  • Both position and rotation

It does this by inspecting control names against simple text flags.

  • IK flags: names containing these tokens are treated as IK joints → position + rotation.
  • FK flags: names containing these tokens are treated as FK joints → rotation only.
  • Unknown names default to position + rotation.

You can: - Edit the flags (semicolon-separated substrings). - Click Re-detect from control names to reapply the rules to all rows.

This helps avoid sliding FK joints while preserving full movement for IK endpoints.

If something is not properly detected, you will have a chance to manually inspect and edit it in the Connections table.

4. Connections

The Connections table defines which mocap joint drives which control.

  • Each row:
  • Control: the target rig control.
  • Mocap Joint: the source mocap joint that drives it.
  • Position / Rotation: toggles to include position or rotation in the transfer.

Ways to create connections:

  • Auto connect (by distance):
  • For each control, automatically chooses the closest mocap joint.
  • Useful when the skeletons are aligned and use similar placement.
  • Add connection:
  • Select: control first, then mocap joint.
  • Click Add connection.
  • Remove selected:
  • Select rows in the table and remove them.
  • Clear all:
  • Resets the table.

Bulk toggles: - Position (all): enable/disable position for all rows. - Rotation (all): enable/disable rotation for all rows.

Fine-tuning: - Uncheck Position on joints that should rotate in place (e.g., FK joints). - Uncheck Rotation on joints that should only follow position.

5. Transfer

Once the connections are correct:

  • Iterations:
  • Number of interpolation steps between each pair of frames.
  • Start with 1; increase if the motion does not feel right. I find 4-6 to be good for most rigs and motions, but sometimes more can be needed. It affects the speed of transfer.
  • Maintain offset:
  • Keeps the original offset between each control and its driving joint.
  • Leave enabled unless you intentionally want to snap controls to mocap positions.
  • Click Transfer:
  • The tool bakes motion as keys onto the selected controls.
  • Uses the configured position/rotation settings and namespaces.

After transfer: - Your controls now carry the retargeted animation. - The mocap skeleton remains unchanged.

Typical workflow

  1. Import mocap animation and rig into the scene.
  2. Go to a frame before your animation and set both characters into the same pose (a T pose or A pose, does not matter, just make sure they are somewhat aligned)
  3. Open Animation Importer and Retargeter.
  4. Select mocap joints → Set from Selection (Mocap skeleton).
  5. Select rig controls → Set from Selection (Controls).
  6. Set namespaces (if used).
  7. Click Auto connect (by distance).
  8. Adjust:
  9. Uncheck Position on FK-style joints.
  10. Verify each row maps correctly.
  11. Set Iterations (usually 1).
  12. Ensure Maintain offset is on.
  13. Click Transfer.