Get a Skinned Mesh Component Object from a skeletal mesh?

I was following this tutorial to create a modular character and I ran into a problem: Modular Characters in Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.1 Documentation

The blueprint setup requires that each part be a Skinned Mesh Component Object but the meshes are imported as skeletal or static. How can I go about creating the skinned mesh either in Maya LT or UE4? What do I need to do to get it working?

Thanks,

Hi,

You’ll need to find a few tutorials on rigging in Maya. You’ll have to learn about joints, ik/fk, local rotation axis, various constraints like parent and orient, joint hierarchy, rotation order, skinning, weight influences by vertex and skin, mesh deformations, control curves, parenting, Gimbal lock. This is a basic level.
Then some advanced areas like blend shapes, key attributes, driven keys, expressions and animation principles etc…

If your intent is UE4 then you will need to look into Unreal’s Persona to understand key systems like re-targeting, joint naming and hierarchy, animations, blend spaces and animation blueprints.

Do a few basic rigging tutorials and it will make more sense.

Thanks for the reply! I have created multiple characters in the past, all the way up to weighing the skin to the skeleton. My problem is when I export as a .fbx, it will import as a skeletal mesh (or static mesh if I don’t add the skeleton) in UE4. The tutorial for creating modular characters makes it so each part of the character is a skinned mesh component object instead of as a skeletal mesh. For example, if I try to set the ‘Head’ variable, there are no options because my project has no skinned mesh component objects, only skeletal meshes.

The Skeletal Mesh Component inherits from Skinned Mesh Component.

Have you tried using the Set Master Pose Component with the Skeletal Mesh Component as the target?

I had a brief read and it sounds like you’re just swapping out the Skeletal Mesh Components.

Interesting… I might give it a go too.

291537-skinnedmesh.jpg

Okay I figured it out! Thanks to for showing me the hierarchy. When I tried using set master pose component, I used a new variable that was set to a skeletal mesh components and it only appeared in the variables tab, not in the components tab. I had to actually go Add Component → Skeletal Mesh to be able to select which skeletal mesh it was a component of.

Thanks for the help!

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Sweet! thanks for filling in the rest.