Combining models with animations

[Exl_2]

To begin, I’m not sure this is the right place, or even that my phrasing is correct, but maybe you guys can help direct me if not.

I’m learning to use Unreal for film-making (I know, original) and I’m using a friends artwork as a project to practice what I’m learning. The problem I face is that the work contains a wall with eyes (lids, balls and some surrounding features, but no lashes or brows) which I would like to have look around, blink and so on. I am unable to model this, however, and am having no luck finding a model online to fill the gap.

Is there a (relatively) easy way for me to “cut” eyes out of another model, such as a DAZ3D or other free human model, and “stitch” them into a wall geometry while keeping the ability to animate the eyes?

I know software such as Blender will allow me to join meshes by adding the requisite vertices and edges between the model meshes, but will that enable me to keep the ability to animate? Every tutorial I have found only shows the joining of static meshes with no animated parts involved and I haven’t got to the part of my learning that involves custom rigging/animation yet (plus my rudimentary research has made eyelid animations seem kind of awkward).

Sorry if this is all a bit noob, but I would really like to get as close to the original art as possible with this and also feel like this would be an invaluable skill to learn going forward if it is possible.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[LindsayBurns]

To integrate eyes into your wall artwork, you’re right that Blender could be a good tool for this task. You can import a human model from DAZ3D or another source, then use Blender’s tools to extract the eyes and merge them into your wall geometry. When you join meshes in Blender, you can still preserve the ability to animate them later in Unreal Engine. As for tutorials, you might need to experiment a bit since specific examples for animated parts might be harder to find. But learning these skills will pay off in the long run for your projects!

[Exl_2]

Thanks a million for your answer. As long as I know it’s possible I can play around some with other tutorials and see if I can figure it out.
Now if I can only get some free time from work to do things, lol.

Thanks again.