How to Retarget Cascadeur Animations in Blender with Auto-Rig Pro

Ready to bring your stunning, physics-based animations from Cascadeur into the powerful world of Blender? 🚀

This tutorial will walk you through the entire process of retargeting your character animations using the fantastic Auto-Rig Pro addon.

For this guide, I'm assuming you've already created your animation in Cascadeur, as shown in our previous tutorial on character animation.

Blender to Cascadeur to Blender Pipeline Tutorial

Read the Guide

The workflow here is your key to a seamless transition from one software to the other.

Let's get started!

Exporting from Cascadeur & Importing into Blender

First, we need to get your animation data out of Cascadeur and into your Blender project correctly.

Step 1: Export Your Scene from Cascadeur

In Cascadeur, navigate to the top menu and select File > Export Fbx/Dae > Scene. This will package your animation and armature into a compatible FBX file.

Step 2: Import the FBX into Blender

Switch over to Blender. Go to File > Import > FBX (.fbx) and locate your exported file. Before confirming, make sure to check two crucial boxes in the import settings:

• ✅ Ignore Leaf Bones
• ✅ Automatic Bone Orientation

These settings help ensure a cleaner import and prevent potential issues with the armature hierarchy.

Step 3: Adjust Your Timeline

Once imported, Blender may not automatically set the timeline's duration to match your animation's length. Manually adjust the End frame in the timeline to match the last keyframe of your imported animation.

Step 4: Clean Up the Scene

The FBX file includes the character mesh from Cascadeur, which we don't need since we'll be applying the animation to our own Blender character. Select all the imported mesh objects (but not the armature!) and press X to delete them.

Setting Up the Auto-Rig Pro Remapper

With the source animation's skeleton in place, it's time to fire up Auto-Rig Pro and prepare for the retargeting magic. ✨

Step 5: Open the Auto-Rig Pro Remap Tool

Select your target character's armature, go to the ARP tab in the N-Panel, and click on Remap to open the retargeting toolkit.

Step 6: Select the Source Armature

In the Remap window, find the Source Armature field. Use the eyedropper tool and click on the skeleton you just imported from Cascadeur. This tells Auto-Rig Pro where the animation data is coming from.

Step 7: Select the Target Armature

Next, do the same for the Target Armature. Use the eyedropper tool to select your main character rig in Blender—the one you want to apply the animation to.

Step 8: Clean Up Unwanted Bones (Optional)

If your rig has extra bones (eg: bone for weapon, bone for accessories etc) that you don't want to be affected by the retargeting process, you can remove them from the list.

This step is optional but can be useful for complex rigs.

Aligning and Retargeting the Animation

This is the most critical phase. Careful alignment here ensures a perfect transfer of motion.

Step 9: Redefine the Rest Pose

Poses must match for accurate retargeting. If your source and target armatures don't share the exact same T-pose or A-pose, you need to align them.

1. Select the Source Armature.
2. Click Redefine Rest Pose.

A dialog box will appear. Check the Preserve box, select Rest Pose, and press OK.

Step 10: Manually Adjust the Pose

Blender will automatically switch to Pose Mode for the source armature. Inspect the alignment. As you can see in the example, the source armature's hands are not matching the target's.

Step 11: Apply the New Rest Pose

Manually rotate the bones of the source armature until they match the target armature's pose as closely as possible. Once you're satisfied, click the Apply button to lock in this new reference pose.

Step 12: Build the Bones List

Now, click Build Bones List. Auto-Rig Pro will attempt to automatically map the bones from the source skeleton to your target rig based on their names.

Step 13: Set IK-FK Switches to FK

For the retargeting to work correctly on the limbs, you need to ensure the arms are in FK (Forward Kinematics) mode.

1. Make sure your target armature is selected and you are in Pose Mode.
2. Select a hand controller (e.g., c_hand_ik.l).
3. Go to the Tool tab in the N-Panel and slide the IK-FK Switch all the way to 1.0 (which corresponds to FK).

Don't forget to repeat this exact same step for the other hand!

Step 14: Verify Bone Mapping ⚠️

This step is crucial! Carefully review the list of mapped bones. You need to ensure every source bone is correctly paired with its corresponding target bone. Mismatches here are the number one cause of broken animations.

Step 15: Set the Root Bone

Find your character's main root or hip bone in the list (often named root or pelvis). Ensure it's correctly mapped, and then check the Set as Root box. This anchors the entire animation.

Step 16: Retarget!

It's the moment of truth! Click the Retarget button. Auto-Rig Pro will now process the data and apply the animation.

Troubleshooting & Final Touches

Sometimes things don't go perfectly on the first try. Here's what to do.

Step 17: Fixing Mapping Errors

If your character looks distorted after retargeting (like in the image below), it means there was a mistake in the bone mapping.

You have two options:

• A. Use a Preset (Easy Way): Auto-Rig Pro comes with built-in mapping presets for common armatures (like Unreal Engine or Character Creator). Try selecting one to see if it fixes the issue instantly.
• B. Manual Correction (The Sure Way): Go back to the bones list and manually correct any errors. In the example, an arm bone was wrongly matched with a leg bone. Find the incorrect entry, clear it, and select the correct bone from the dropdown list.

Step 18: Re-Target Again

Once you've corrected the bone list, press Re-Target again. This time, the animation should transfer perfectly. Look at that smooth motion! 🎉

Step 19: Final Cleanup

Your animation is now successfully baked onto your Blender rig. You no longer need the source armature from Cascadeur, so feel free to select it and delete it to keep your scene tidy.

Step 20: You're Done!

And there you have it! Your complex, physics-based animation from Cascadeur is now fully functional on your native Blender character rig. Congratulations! 🥳