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License requirement

The functionality described requires a MANUS Bodypack or a MANUS license key with the Motionbuilder feature enabled.

Getting started

This guide will help you install and set up our Autodesk MotionBuilder plugin.

Note

These instructions can be used with MotionBuilder versions 2023, 2024 & 2025.

Installing plugin

The MotionBuilder Plugin for MANUS Core can be downloaded from the MANUS Resource Center.

PluginWebDownload

To install the plugin, open the downloaded ZIP file and copy the ManusSDK and Manus_MobuPlugin2023_100_x64 dlls into the plugins directory found in the bin/x64 directory within your MotionBuilder's installation directory:

DrapAndDropDLLs

The MANUS Motionbuilder plugin should now be ready to go.

Windows security block

Windows will sometimes treat downloaded files as suspicious and block them from running. As a result, MotionBuilder might not be able to load the plugin. Check the Unbock toggle of both ManusSDK and Manus_MobuPlugin dll's, if you run into any problems. Right-click on the dll file, select Properties, got to the General tab, at the bottom after Security:.

SecurityWindow

Adding MANUS Device to your scene.

To add the MANUS device:

  1. Navigate to the Devices folder in the Asset Browser panel.
  2. Check if the MANUS plug-in is available and select it.
  3. Drag and drop the MANUS plug-in into your scene.

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Limitation

A scene can only contain 1 MANUS plug-in device.

Create a model

To create a model that is bound to the MANUS plug-in device:

  1. Navigate to the Devices folder in the Navigator panel and select the "Manus plug-in" device.
  2. Open the Model binding drop-down and choose Create ....

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By selecting Create ..., eight skeletons will be added to the scene:

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Connect to host

The plugin can be set up to receive MANUS Core data locally, using the localhost hostname:

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Alternatively, you can configure the plugin to receive data remotely from another computer in your network. Here the hostname or IP address of the computer you want to connect to has to be used:

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MANUS Core Dashboard can be used to discover the hostname of available MANUS Core instances on your local network:

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Toggle on the Online toggle in the MANUS plug-in device to connect to your host. The status color indicates the connection status:

  • Red: The plugin cannot connect.
  • Yellow: The plugin is connected but not receiving data.
  • Green: The plugin is connected and receiving data.

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Firewall & Unable to find remote connection

Make sure your Windows firewall settings on both computers do not block the connection.

When having trouble connecting remotely, check out the Troubleshooting section. Logging information should list all found hosts including hostnames and ip addresses.

To start the data stream from MANUS Core to the MotionBuilder plugin, toggle on the Live toggle in the MANUS plug-in device.

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Recording

If you want to make recordings of the hand motions in MotionBuilder, make sure the Recording toggle is also checked on when recording.