How do I properly import objects with animations?

Note: I am new to Unreal Engine, using 5.2.1.

I have a blender file with many pieces that are animated. It is essentially a fractured cube, with baked animation on each piece. I am taking advantage of how Blender does physics and getting the results I want. I can easily import this in Godot using GLTF. WTF does unreal engine have such a issue? I’ve tried it with fbx and depreciated gltf and both do not work properly. DXF just imports all the meshes, ignores the 2nd material slot, and does not import the animation. GLTF makes all the pieces spread out and the animation is all messed up. Every tutorial I find on animation is about IK character rigs. Is that all Unreal Engine capable of doing?

For Unreal, it’s important that you have all your bones in a single hierarchy. Basically, you want to have all your bones parented to a single root. Thats first, if its not working after that… check an earlier post of mine.

Blender to UE4 Import Error: "Imported bone transform is different from original..." - #15 by dblzeero

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There is no bones. Any self respecting animator knows the world of animation doesn’t revolve around bones, IK and character rigging. Yet it is the impression I got when researching how to animate and import things with animation, using Unreal Engine. What I have figured out on my own and from a hint after weeks of searching the internet, is that I had to create a empty in blender, and make it a parent of all the animated objects. I had to pretend the whole ■■■■■■■ thing was in fact a character rig. Then instead of doing a normal import, I had to import specifically into a level (doesn’t matter which), which gives me a totally different UI of options to work with. I treated the meshes as a skeleton mesh and I finally was able to import it, and made it work.

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Hear ya. Real sorry about that. I thought you had made animation with bones. I know you said you had the animation the way you wanted it via vertex animation. I figured you animated the model and brought bones in. That way, you could use the simulated model along with your animation to add some diversity. You are correct. To import vertex animations, you still have to check mark skeletal mesh on import. Again, sorry about that.

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