Vertex Animation Tool [Houdini]

Hey everyone!

So, I saw that there was the Vertex Animation Tool and wanted to try to create the Houdini version of it! Well, at least the timeline version.

First, here’s a clip of a version without normals going from Houdini to UE4: [video]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4cZXYZBk8pmdHJYZG5DVnd5YTg/view[/video]

And here’s the blog post: Vertex Animations in UE4

The file’s located at the bottom of the blog post. It’s very much a work in progress, but I wanted to at least get the files out there if anyone wants to give it a shot. It can be a bit tricky to prepare the mesh, but it’s fun to look at once it’s in engine =] I’ll be updating here and the blog post as I make improvements.

Looks excellent!
Will check this very soon. Just started with Houdini->UE4 workflow and got stuck when it comes to blendshapes->Morph Targets transfer. Hope this could be a replacement.

This is really cool. Any chance you will be willing to share the results with us? If so I can make some time to add it to the doc as an alternative to using 3Ds Max. No worries if you do not want to give it up, just thought I would ask as it is very cool.

Definitely! Although, if we’re going to include it in the documentation, I’ll need a little time to put together a shelf tool. If we’re going to bill it as an alternative, I’d like to build a similar UI as to the Max tool so it’s easier for new users to jump into :slight_smile:

Works very nicely on a static mesh, could do very well as a replacement for MorphTargets.
Unfortunately, as also mentioned in the help, it’s not usable for Skeletal Mesh characters. It does the work somehow, but with parasite deformations taking place.

Whatever works for you. Just send me a PM when it’s all done and I will see what I can do about getting it in the docs.

I’ve actually been able to use it on Skeletal Meshes in the end, and it’s working!

First, the “parasite” deformations were caused by not checking “Use full precision UVs” on the Skeletal mesh.
With that in mind, to create a meaningful offset for a skeletal animation, instead of generating the textures from the deforming model itself, you can make it from a difference mesh between the Skeletal+Blendshapes and Skeletal only (in Houdini).
I applied it on a Skeletal Mesh and seems to work nicely. The only problem is to match the speed of the Skeletal animation with that of Vertex Animation.

Still, until Houdini gets the ability to export Blendshapes in FBX, this can be a workaround.

Hello thread! Sorry to bump this, but I was wondering if this was ever released? The blog post link in the OP seems to be down now…

I was looking for this too. I was sad the links went stale. I built a new version of it because I am doing a bunch of houdini <> unreal stuff right now. It’s pretty cool stuff! I figured it was good to share.

Feel free to pm me if you have questions, issues or success stories!

-bk