Hey Forum!
Relatively new to Unreal Engine 4. I am trying to create a simulation where my character’s motion and position is controlled by a chair that he/she is sitting in. The chair has functionality to it (think of like a recliner) and when I position the character in it, I want him/her to move as the chair moves (inverse kinematics, I imagine). This would be fairly simple if the body parts were just static meshes that I could attach to the different parts of the chair, but then the character would not look appropriate. What is my best approach to make this happen. From what I’ve read so far, maybe Control Rig is what I’m after? This is what I’m looking into at the moment, but really looking for some recommendations.
Thanks in advance!
Depending on things,
the fastest and less accurate way is to properly create a PHAT asset for the skeletal mesh, pop it on the chair, and check simulate physics.
the chair will also need its PHAT asset to define how collision is detected.
otherwise it becomes a math problem more then anything else.
in a close environment where the chair doesn’t move but it is also animated, add bones and sockets to the chair to get the anatomical desired positions, along with the animation.
then just attach the character to the bones in the chair animation. If they have the same names it becomes a matter of a decent loop.
You can reduce this to a few core bones if perfoemance is an issue.
pelvis, spine02, head, lower arms, lower legs.
Obviously that also needs similate checked, but the parts getting socketed prevents them from moving/glitching like a regular ragdoll.
Control rig can essentially do the same thing without simulate on, but it may be harder to setup then sockets… which you can also fine tune in engine…
the marh i was referring to would be needed if you want to IK the system. Driving back the hand/spine/head/leg position based on the chair collision or sockets.
Maybe calling it math is a bit overkill, since ideally you should have a 1:1 redout of the bone’s XYZ…
Well, the chair does move as well, so maybe the bones and sockets won’t work. I’ll research the PHAT asset and see if I can figure that one out. Not really worried about IK at this point. Thanks for the ideas!