First, since the retargeting system seems to work so well these days do characters still have to conform to the UE4 skeleton? Secondly, will the Marketplace ever items that do not import directly into UE4? For instance, if I made a modular level in Maya could I upload the Maya file so folks can modify it?
YES please
Either use UE4 or Mixamo pleaseeeeee.
Nothing drives me crazy like nonuniform standards and if given a choice I say Mixamo as it uses the same naming convention as MotionBuilder.
If someone is using MotionBuilder they don’t need UE4 retargeting and in my opinion is a HUGE selling point.
Doesn’t really answer my question. Maybe I should be more specific. If I create a character, with animations, does it need to conform to the UE4 skeleton still? And can I upload the original, non-UE4 versions along with it?
No you don’t have to.
I would recommend you do to make your product appeal to as many people as possible and if can be purchased on impulse if the package can be dropped into something that is already hooked up and used right away.
Is there a reason why you would don’t want to use either of the naming conventions?
As a personal opinion retargeting in UE4, at the moment, is not a perfect solution and requires a lot of work to get things matched up and the only reason to buy a ready made asset is to cut down on the work load.
From what I understand Epic is trying to keep the bar high for the marketplace (maybe even raise it a bit). If anything, more work will be required from content creators to make the buyers experience better.
Is there a specific reason you don’t want to conform to the UE4 skeleton?
I see no reason why you couldn’t include your modular level in a Maya file as well as a version directly into UE4? But I think most users who buy content want a quick and ready solution working in UE4.
As a non-artist (one who can merely help himself), I would prefer models that are designed to work with the UE4 skeleton. As there are some good animations already out there and would make my job easier when putting it in the game.
As mentioned earlier, the re-targeting is not a perfect solution. Ultimately however, the choice is yours. 8-}
My whole idea was to make modular stuff. Robots, Levels Etc. But if you make it UE4 then you’re stuck and can’t really customize it. If you can sell the original file (Maya, Blender, etc.) it actually works properly. You can stack the head on top of the torso add the arms etc. Then export it to UE4. I also wanted characters that have more realistic proportions (UE4 characters have super long legs). I wasn’t asking if it needed to be compatible with UE4. Originally when I first saw the marketplace characters HAD to use the default skeleton - which again restricts you from using realistically proportioned characters.
Humm well sticking with the UE4 rig at least would be a better option based on what you want to do.
What it sounds like is you want to make all of your parts based on a single channel frame work.
In the case of UE4 when you import a skeletal model for the first time the rig is extracted from the mesh and a separate physics blueprint is applied to the rig and the model is stored as a mesh object containing the weighing. The second time around you tell the importer to use the skeleton you already have imported with all the goodies as to the need for modular floaters.
On the other end the client makes a character blueprint, removes blue man, and then adds the parts that conform to the same skeleton you provided in the Marketplace.
On your end all you would need to do is provided the asset in both Mixamo and UE4 naming convention which both are available as a source asset. Going way cuts your work load in half and no need to supply any source files as to providing individual nuts and bolts
P.S. No you do not “Have” to use Epics base assets and have always “strongly” recommended one does so to ensure the greatest sell ability of a product.
Using the UE4 skeleton wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me (aside from the proportions). It’s just the of customization. I want to create a set of say 20 heads, arms, legs, etc. and give the end user the choice of which ones they want the character to have BEFORE importing it into UE4 which would allow you to have a somewhat original robot. I could make them all fit the UE4 skeleton if needed. That, as far as I can tell, would require access to the original source files as opposed to the UE4 files.
You need to use the Humaniod Rig that Epic created for characters that are sold on the marketplace after ver 4.5, see the Submission Guidelines page for more details (scroll down a bit).
Ah ok gotch.
What you want to look at in UE4 is character blueprints which will work extremely well for compositing a player model with different attachments that share the same character rig much the same way you want to do out side of UE4. Of interest is components.
Fore example.
is a 3d model where I imported the main body using 's rig and naming convention and the clothing is bind pose to the same rig using Studio so any other additional clothing I would export the clothing, from DS, and tell UE4’s importer that it uses the the first character imported rig.
To make other unique characters I could make a new character blueprint and preform the same process over again.
Going route has a lot of benefits as well as a much broader range of appeal as to your desire to make a kit, which is an idea I like very much, in that a mechanical arm, or just the hand, could be added to and would work the same way as environment kits already do.
Proportions could be corrected to taste as well if a simple scale is required and can be preformed inside of the blueprint with out effecting the source as stored in the browser.
As for access to the original source it’s already there as to all objects stored with in UE4 as part of the asset chain through the use of the FBX exporter. FBX is not just another exporter but a true DCC wrapper that will maintain the continuity of the asset through the entire asset chain so as to application preferences it does not matter if they are using Maya, 3ds Max or Blender. As long as the weapon of choice includes a FBX import option they already have access to the source file if managed by UE4 as to purpose of use.
Understandable if you wish to do it your way but as someone who does buy usable items from the Marketplace I would rather see common use items presented as in kit form and instead of buying a weapon, for example, as a prebuilt a package containing variations of a component that makes up a weapon would be more desirable as to making something unique.
OK, that makes more sense to me. Thanks for the info, I honestly had no idea you could do that in the engine.