Adjusting animations with iClone's Motion Layer

You can use iClone's motion layer to make small adjustments to animations so that they better fit all the different characters you wish to use them on. This can be especially useful if the target character has very different proportions to the character that the source animation was designed for. Even when there are only very slight differences between characters such as differing shoulder width or arm length, you may find an animation needs a little tweaking before it looks quite right for a specific character at all times.

Generally speaking it is usually better to retarget an animation properly to the character you plan to use it on, however as iClone has an interchangeable avatar system most people would probably rather have a solid library of animations inside iClone that they can use across all their characters, and just make small adjustments when needed so the animations fit. The Motion Layer is a very useful tools available in iClone to make these small changes. It allows you to add animation over the top of the original motion and blends smoothly in an additive way over the top. So if the arms need to move up or down, or closer together, you can set keys on the motion layer to do this, and set zero keys before and after when you wish the animation to return to its normal play.