Ask Unreal Anything: Animation | July 13, 2022 at 11AM EDT

[Jeremiah3D (Jeremiah)]

@jmdocherty

What is the “best practice” approach to creating high fidelity modular characters. I want characters that include:

• Modularity so body parts can be swapped & edited separately
• Cloth simulation on multiple parts (e.g. shirt & shorts)
• Grooms (head hair and hairy arms)

I want to be able to use characters as playable third person characters AND animated in sequencer.

What approach/building blocks would the panel suggest?

This is a complex topic that will be hard to answer entirely here. Although dated, much of the information here is still relevant: Working with Modular Characters | Unreal Engine 4.27 Documentation

Additionally, MetaHumans can serve as an example of how a modular character could be setup - including using an ActorBP as the character.

Using Lyra as an example, you can see how this is put into practice in this Tech Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj1zCsYydD8&t=1114s