Hello. I’ve seen that unreal engine 5.1-preview1 is out and that the ML deformer got improvements. How do is use ML Deformer without MAYA? i really want to export my DAZ3d and blender characters without paying to use MAYA and a straight way to import from DAZ3d/blender to unreal without other software. Is it possible? will it be possible?
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I am interested in this subject too. How to use the ML Deformer with other 3D modelling or animation tools like blender or 3dsMax? Can we get a blender plugin or something like that?
+1
I’m looking forward to the ML-Houdini-Plugin
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Is it possible to create the keyframes (the dataset) in Houdini (or any other tool) for the ML Deformer?
It’s possible to generate thousands of random poses on a skeleton in Houdini and most other DCC’s. That’s the easy part.
The hard part of the process is using that resulting animation to drive a complex rig that generates the necessary muscle and skin deformations that ultimately need to be exported as an Alembic file, along with the FBX character and animation.
I believe EPIC used Houdini’s own muscle tools for their demo, but these tools are quite complicated and very slow to simulate. You need a powerful computer for this.
Of course you don’t need to do muscle/skin simulations. You could also use more traditional techniques like sculpted blendshapes (morphs) to fake muscle and skin deformations when joints rotate.
The easiest way that I’m aware of, if you just want to mess around with the tech, is to use Daz Studio (free) and either the DazToUnreal workflow (free), or the DazToHue workflow (requires Houdini Indie or higher).
Both are listed at the top of this forum post.
Disclaimer: I am the author of the DazToHue tools. The ML Deformer approach (using an Alembic cache to generate corrective morphs) was what gave me the inspiration to create the tools in the first place.
I prefer a free version tho
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