Quick Map is another mocap retargeting solution for Blender. The addon is free and easy to operate. I did find a slight flaw with it which I’ll explain below.
After installation, the addon features are found in the 3D Viewport under N-panel > QuickMap.
The basic workflow
- select your “Follower” rig (your character rig) and press the Generate Control button.
- In the Target field set your “Target” rig (the mocap)
- Note: in most other retargeting systems the mocap rig is usually called “Source” and the character rig is called “Target”. In this article, I’ll be using the QuickMap terminology. Keep that in mind to avoid confusion.
- Place both of your rigs in neutral position and both in the center of the scene, overlapping each other. The Follower rig should have no animation and all controls should be zeroed out but do not place it in Rest Position. The Target will probably have the mocap animation apply, so place it in Rest Position.
- From the bone list, select a bone that you want to retarget such as the left upper arm
- in the settings below Target, set the corresponding bone of the mocap rig (its left upper arm in this example)
- Enable or disable Location & Rotation. In the most common case, you want all bones to use Rotation and not Location. Only the “hips” bone needs both Location and Rotation.
- The left upper arm bone of your character will now match the orientation of the left upper arm of the mocap. Unless both rigs have the exact same orientation of their bones (which is rare), you will need to tweak the orientation using the Relative Rotation and Relative Location values. Tweak these values until the bone you’re working on returns to its neutral position.
- Repeat the same process for all bones that need to be retargeted. Don’t forget to enable both Location and Rotation for the “hips” or “torso” of the character rig.
- Finally, place the Target rig (mocap) in Pose Position. The Follower rig will now “follow” the target (hence the name) and it should perform the same movements as the mocap.
- If the motion looks good, click the Bake Controls button to finalize the retargeting.
Character Rig | Mocap Rig | |
Quick Map | “Follower” | “Target” |
Other Retargeting Systems | “Target” | “Source” |
My experience
I like the QuickMap workflow. The fact that you have full control over Location and Rotation retargeting of each bone is quite powerful. It makes IK Retargeting straightforward, which is something most other tools struggle with.
My main negative experience was that when tweaking the Relative Rotation of a control, I would sometimes hit a “Gimble Lock”. This means that it becomes impossible to tweak the orientation exactly as needed. This can be fixed by fiddling with the hidden empties that the addon creates but it is not ideal. This is the main reason why I don’t actively use Quick Map, and I choose Rokoko or Auto-Rig Pro over it.
However, Quick Map does have its strengths. Watch the video tutorial linked below for a clear example of IK Retargeting.
