1. A method for transferring motion for a source character having a source topology to a target character having a target topology, wherein the source topology is different from the target topology, and wherein the source character and the target character are each represented as one or more descriptive files comprised of a hierarchy of data objects including portion identifiers and functionality descriptors associated with portions of the respective source or target topology, the method comprising the steps of: identifying corresponding source data objects of the one or more source descriptive files and target data objects of the one or more target descriptive files; retargeting motion from one or more portions of the source topology identified by the corresponding source data objects to one or more portions of the target topology identified by the corresponding target data objects; and attaching the retargeted motion to the target topology.