Link values from 3ds Max to UE4 for animation

I have a plane in Max with a texture applied on it (a plane with 2 eyes). The texture is animated via UV offsetting, so the eyes look around, but this can’t be exported in FBX or any other format to be read by Unreal. All good now, because in Unreal I created a parameter in the material and can offset the texture to simulate the eyes are moving around as well. The problem is that I would like not to animate in UE (using sequencer, it is for cinematics) but to do all the animation in Max. I am wondering if there is a way I can export the curves/keys I have for Uvs offsetting animation from Max and load them into Unreal. So for example, this is my idea:

In Max, I have a control that manipulates the UV offseting, if I move the control 5 units in X, I want that the material parameter in UE loads in U or V 5 units as well. The result will be that UE will replicate all the values that the control in Max is doing, and in the end I will have the eyes in Unreal automatically animated thanks to the curves I “somehow” loaded from Max.

Is this possible, or I am dreaming too much?

You can use the Bone Driven Controller to drive materials using bones or morph targets.

A trick I use for this kind of occasion :
Add a bone “lookAt” to your skeleton. Instead of driving directly the UV of your texture, drive this bone and then, you can get its rotation and use it as a variable to offset your texture. The bone and his rotation will be exported through the FBX and you can use these value in UE4 and 3dsmax the same way.

Maybe is there better way to do what you want but this is how I do it :slight_smile:

[MENTION]cyaoeu[/MENTION] : Are you following me or am I following you ?

Thanks for the tips, I’ll use it for sure.

cyaoeu and JoGoiA I can’t thank you enough, I finally got that to work :slight_smile:

Hi, would this technique still allow you to see the animated texture inside of 3dsmax? I’m trying to replicate the effect of this video attached…

However I want to do this in 3ds max. I want the controllers to control different expressions by manipulating the UVs. Using a bone for the LookAt is good (I was going to do that with the pupils) but I ideally want to be able to control the eye shape inside of 3dsmax whilst creating animations, then transfer those animations with the facial expressions into Unreal. Is it possible to animate like this using 3dsmax and get the same effect in ue4?

I have also tried looking at this tutorial for doing a similar thing for Maya and Unity, but I realised that 3ds max and UE4 UV coordinates work differently for some reason, so I can’t offset the textures by the correct number so I can animate things properly. :S Totally Sweet Red Hoodie: Animated Facial Textures in Maya and Unity - Full Document

I hope that all makes sense. :slight_smile:

I would appreciate any advice on this if you have the time. :slight_smile: