Editing 3rd person anims to match weapon

Development Character & Animation
1

Im pretty sure i know the answer but, thought i would see if anyone else had better solutions

I have a set of 3rd person anims ( aim, idle, run, etc)
I want to have custom anims for each gun that allow me to use the same attach socket ( I.E different barrel grip locations)

the idea would be to copy the anim —> expot to max or maya —> edit to match the new weapon —> re-import to UE

but i cant think of a way to accurately do this, as its almost impossible to bring the weapon into max/maya and get it into the exact location
it will be at when you attach to the socket in UE

so this leaves me with my only option to either use the same anims and have multiple sockets( one for each gun)
or rough out a different anim and still have mulitple sockets

any thoughts on the matter are appricieated

Thanks

2

Well you would not use the weapon raw but rather place it into a weapons blueprint and in the view port for the weapon you can preposition relative to the weapon socket. I usually load out the player with the weapon and hit play simulated and move the weapon around in the BP until it matches up.

3

ya i figured it would be something like that
I was hoping for a good way to do it in external app like max or motion builder

not sure if id rather do it that way( pre position in BP) or have a socket for each gun…

thanks for the reply

4

Well to match the offset in 3ds Max you could align the weapon to the character then make a copy of the joint you wish to attach the socket to. Then make a copy of the bone and link the weapons root (assuming you have it rigged) then align the character joint to 0 0 0. The weapons root should then match up with the characters socket in UE4 with the right offset.