How do you add Socket to Pawn (Cube)?

Development Programming & Scripting
1

Hello.

What i’m trying to do: Create a skeletal mesh for a Blueprint Pawn; a Cube; so that I can possess the cube and attach actor (UE4 Mannequin) to the cube’s bone socket with Attach Actor To Component = AATC. But for some reason, I can’t find a way to create a skeletal mesh for my Pawn (Cube) in order to create a socket so I can tell the function AATC the socket name.

What I have done: I have successfully Possess a Pawn (UE4 Sedan Demo) and attached actor (UE4 mannequin) to a custom-named Bone Socket: “Driver Seat” in the UE4 Sedan’s Skeletal Mesh and drive the Sedan with the mannequin in the Driver Seat Socket.

So, is there anyway to add a socket or create a skeletal mesh so that I can add a Socket to my Cube?

Thanks!

Update: 4/9/2021

I solved this issue by downloading Blender and following the tutorial: Blender 2.80 Tutorial: How To Add Bones To An Object. - YouTube

Blender Issue: If you can not see the option for Single Bone in the Armature drop down menu when you Shift+A as the tutorial shows; you need to head to Edit>Preferences on Blender and on the search bar, search Rigging then check the box for Rigging: Rigify.

Exporting Issue: When it comes down to exporting FBX, this video solve the Export Smoothing Group problem at the 6:23 mark: My Blender To Unreal Engine Character Workflow | Tutorial - YouTube

Flickering Mesh when placed in your UE4 world: If your exported FBX is flickering in unreal engine, open your FBX Blueprint and click on the skeletal mesh component, it should be named whatever you named it when you exported the FBX file from blender to unreal engine. Then on the detail tab, search visibility, and finally uncheck Visible in the rendering section.

Second Update: 4/11/2021

Flickering Mesh can be avoided when you add Skeletal Mesh Component and delete Static Mesh Component.

If Socket Scale Actor/Pawn/Character to a giant when placed in Socket; check the socket’s detail panel and make sure Relative Scale is set to the number exactly as the blender’s scale.

Third Update: 9/10/21

Another way to simply do this without having to use blender and convert it into a skeletal mesh; is to drag any Actor/Shape from Place Actors>Basic to your content browser folder and open up the Actor/Shape and on the bottom right there should be a Socket Manger Tab and a button call “Create Socket”.

From there in your Pawn Blueprint, you can switch the mesh to that Actor/Shape whatever you called it and your mesh will now have a Socket.

Good Luck!

2

I think you’d need external software to make a skeleton, like blender. Alternatively you could attach a scene/arrow component to your cube with the rotation+offset of where you want the socket and attached the mannequin to that component instead

3

Ah, I thought so. I’ll be looking into blender.

I’m familiar with the “Arrow Component = AC” and have spawned things where the AC was at in my viewport of the character.

However, i’m not understanding the rotation+offset or how i’m suppose to set the blueprint up for that. I did look around just now but i’m not seeing anything that resemble that.

If you could show a picture of the blueprint you had in mind, that’d be great. Otherwise I understand if i’m asking too much of your time.

Thanks a lot!

4

I’m not at my computer today unfortunately. All I meant was if you add an arrow component in your cube blueprint, attached to the cube then you can move & rotate it relative to the cube in the viewport. Then you can attach to that to get you character to be attached in the correct place

5

Hey thanks for this. I’ve got it solved!

6

Another way to simply do this without having to use blender and convert it into a skeletal mesh; is to drag any Actor/Shape from Place Actors>Basic to your content browser folder and open up the Actor/Shape and on the bottom right there should be a Socket Manger Tab and a button call “Create Socket”.

From there in your Pawn Blueprint, you can switch the mesh to that Actor/Shape whatever you called it and your mesh will now have a Socket.

9/10/21