Autodesk has launched MotionMaker, an AI-powered animation tool in Maya that transforms tedious locomotion work into a fast, intuitive process. Artists can give high-level instructions (ie, telling a character to walk, jump, or sit) and guide them through the scene by setting key targets or paths. It can be used by anyone in the animation pipeline.

AI has been transforming a myriad of content creation tasks in a relatively short period of time, simplifying repetitive and tedious aspects and in doing so, freeing up artists and animators to direct their attention on the more creative elements of a project. Autodesk’s new MotionMaker, an AI-powered animation tool available in Maya, is doing just for those working across the animation pipeline.

MotionMaker is a new animation system that lets artists direct characters more like they would in a mocap studio, but virtually, inside Maya, stated Evan Atherton, senior principal research scientist at Autodesk and one of MotionMaker’s creators.

Using MotionMaker, animators can turn a few keyframes or a simple motion path into lifelike character motion. Artists are able to guide the movement before iterating, quickly exploring timing, pacing, and performance, with smooth, natural transitions—without any mocap stitching.

MotionMaker uses an autoregressive motion generator built from multiple neural networks. According to Autodesk, the model processes motion data from Maya, predicting the next pose frame by frame to create smooth, natural movement.

MotionMaker can be integrated into the user’s workflow at any stage of the creative process and can be used for layout, previs, techvis, and even hero animation. The generated motion is baked to keys on the joints, behaving like mocap data. Artists can add animation layers, bake to a control rig, and use all their usual Maya tools to refine the animation. And as Autodesk points out,  it is fully integrated with standard animation workflows.

The tool’s MotionMaker Editor is a dedicated, visual interface within Maya. It enables artists to manager characters, drive them with MotionMaker, and access all the related features. Artists can  drop in actions like jumps, adjust timing in a clean interface, toggle path modes, and use features like auto speed ramping to push motion beyond mocap limits—ideal for stylized or superhero-style effects.

According to Autodesk, a 10-second shot that previously took up to two weeks to animate and now be laid out in one minute using MotionMaker.

With MotionMaker, there are two layers of customization. The motion generation is highly art directable, allowing artists to tweak path modes, adjust character facing, and set timing for actions like jumps. Once generated, the motion is baked to keys on the joints and behaves like mocap data, allowing artists to add animation layers, bake to a control rig, and use standard Maya tools to refine it.

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