How do I change between character meshes gradually?

Development Character & Animation
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1

Hi.
I’d like to change my character appearance (for example grow horns) over time on play. So I have two meshes that I made in character creator, one with horns and one without and I wanted to set them up to change from one to another and back on a loop. The meshes are rigged to the same skeleton. Any suggestion how do I set my blueprints up for that?

thanks in advance.

1 Like
2

Hey @jennastork! Welcome to the Forums!

A few questions to get things started:

  • How drastic are the changes between the models? Is it only the horns?
  • Is this change going to be gradual like Fable? Or does it happen all at once?
  • Have you looked into morph targets and creating a morph target for your horns?

Any additional specifics or information you can provide will go a long way in solving your problem!

3

Most likely you would need to use morph targets to change the mesh gradually. The problem arises if the characters skeletal structure changes drastically.

4

Hi.
The change is slow over 10 minutes between 4 meshes. It’s only horns and other extra features like spikes, and another larger skin layer (think zombie skin but swollen)
The change is going to be gradual.
I’ll look at morph targets, thanks. but I am wondering if there’s an easier solution in blueprints, where I could Cast to… diff meshes based on time that has passed. I can sort of imagine how to do it, but maybe someone has clear instructions for it.

best,
Jenna

5

Hi.
Thanks, it’s the same skeleton.

6

I’d go with morph targets but there is one caveat. The topology has to be identical between all meshes.

1 Like
7

Hey @jennastork!

Here is another non-Epic affiliated resource for setting up for your model. @3dRaven was quick on the draw and beat me to it, but I do agree and believe morphs are the way to go =D

8

Thanks. I am wondering thought how to add the morph target change without making it an animation. My character will be animated via a MoCap live link, so I am thinking two animations on one character might be conflicting. Or would that work?

9

You can blend in the two animations with a layered blend per bone

Here is a working example of how you can implement it on a character with existing animations