Correct way to export small, animatable objects into UE4

Development Character & Animation
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1

Ex. Keyholes in a door, or the switch on a light switch. Say I want to turn the keyhole and press in the switch. There are three ways that I know of to accomplish this:

  1. Using a skeletal mesh
  2. Using morph targets (wouldn’t work for rotation, and would need to redefine morphs for every single model even if the desired animation is the same)
  3. Splitting up movable components (keyhole/switch) into a separate .fbx, then setting them as a child static mesh component of the base mesh (door/light switch panel)

The first two ways seem like overkill for what are super simple animations, while the last way would require exporting many separate, tiny parts of the same object (and then having to reposition them after import). Is there another way to go about this? If not, which method would be the most desirable for this situation?

2

Hey sgp,

Sometimes using a skeletal mesh or morph targets can be the best way to get the result you need. But for very simple animations I would recommend using option 3 and animate it inside UE4 using a timeline. It’s the most flexible solution and generally cheaper performance-wise.

Hopefully we’ll get static mesh animation support in the near future!

3

This tutorial : Digital Tutors ‘Intro-to-Blueprint’ has the best and simplest ‘overlap’ light-switch tutorial I have seen. As for the turning lock, I bet even a simple Open Treasure Chest tutorial on Youtube would give you what you need to do that in either Timeline or Seqencer etc.