Settings menu

The Settings menu lets you view and define MotionBuilder preferences and select the keyboard interaction mode.

Preferences

Displays the Preferences window that lets you view and set default and operational settings. See Preferences window.

Interaction Mode

The Interaction Mode lets you to quickly choose the keyboard shortcut set to use within MotionBuilder, and for all products within the Suite if applicable. By default, the interaction mode is set to the product currently launched.

When you first launch MotionBuilder, the Interaction Mode window displays, enabling you to specify a keyboard set.

The options available depend on the software installed on your system and on whether the software installed on your system is part of a Suite license software product. For example, if you installed Maya as part of a Suite software product and are running the product using a suite license, you can also set whether you want to use the same set of keyboard shortcuts across all the products in your suite.

Note: Software products that are part of the Suite product include common keyboard shortcuts. These keyboard shortcuts are limited to Viewport navigation and F-Curves for the Maya, 3ds Max, Softimage®, MotionBuilder, and Mudbox software products.

When you work on a project that requires you to switch from one application to another, you do not need to learn a new set of keyboard shortcuts. All you need to do is set the keyboard interaction mode in MotionBuilder to use the desired keyboard shortcuts.

For example, if you are using the Autodesk Maya software product and the MotionBuilder software product for your project, if you are not familiar with the MotionBuilder keyboard shortcuts or prefer to use the Maya keyboard shortcuts while working in the MotionBuilder software, you can change the keyboard shortcut configuration in MotionBuilder to use the Maya keyboard shortcuts.

MotionBuilder has two sets of keyboard shortcuts (i.e. MotionBuilder and MotionBuilder Classic) as well as four sets of keyboard configurations that simulate the keyboard shortcuts from other popular 3D software applications.

For a list and description of keyboard shortcuts supported by MotionBuilder, see also:

To change the Interaction mode for the Suite at startup:

  1. Launch MotionBuilder.
    The Interaction Mode window displays.
  2. Choose the interaction mode from the list of supported keyboard shortcut sets.
  3. Click OK.

To subsequently change the interaction mode:

  1. From the menu bar, select Settings Interaction Mode.
  2. Choose the interaction mode from the list of supported keyboard shortcut sets.

When a custom keyboard configuration text file has been saved to the MotionBuilder bin config directory, the list of available items in MotionBuilder Interaction Mode setting menu shall update to include the name specified in the name field of the custom keyboard file.

Using keyboard shortcuts

You can use keyboard shortcuts instead of menu commands to perform many operations. For example, to undo an operation, you can choose Undo from the Edit menu, or press U or Ctrl - Z. Keyboard shortcuts appear next to their corresponding commands in the menu bar.

For a detailed list and description of the keyboard shortcuts, see Keyboard Shortcuts.