In this paper, we investigate the feasibility to export the representation and the animation of a virtual character, designed by using Maya, into an articulated object compliant with the new specifications of the MPEG-4 standard, namely the Bonebased Animation (BBA) framework. The Maya versus MPEG-4 scene graph concepts are first addressed. Then the properties of the Maya tool set for content creation and the MPEG-4 tool set for the content representation are discussed. Finally, the Maya to MPEG-4 exporter is described in details. Results obtained by the related implementation demonstrate the relevant conversion of the following character attributes: geometry, color, texture, skeleton hierarchy, bone-skin influence and animation parameters