How do you import animations from the CMU database?

Development Character & Animation
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Hello,

After using the recent Third Person Game video tutorial, I wanted to use some stock animations. I have stumbled upon this excellent resource about importing a lot of animations in Unity. As both game engine use FBX files, it seemed very relevant.

To summarize, there is a huge database of 2500 animations offered totally free of use by CMU. I really would like to try it because the animations offered currently in UE4 are… a bit scarce. There is a good walk/run pattern, jumping and aiming. And not much else. It seems natural that enthusiasts would like to have some very common animations such as :

  • attacking with a sword/bow/axe
  • hanging on a platform, climbing a platform
  • sitting on a chair / lying on a bed
  • shooting a two handed gun / single handed gun
  • etc…

However, I am currently experiencing some difficulties importing the animation files in UE4. I am pretty sure the animation files are functional, I can open them in BVHacker and Blender. However, when I export the files as FBX (inside Blender) then UE4 refuses to load them. The common error seems to be “Could not find needed track (Root)”

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am sure I am not the first one who wants to import some stock animations

2

Hi there,

Are you trying to import those animations onto one of the example characters included with UE4? Like the blue mannequin guy or something? From the error that you mentioned (unable to find Root), it sounds like the hierarchy in the animation that you are trying to import does not match the hierarchy of the skeleton/skeletal mesh that you are attempting to import it onto. In order to import those animations, you’ll need the basic hierarchies of the Skeleton in UE4 and the joints in the animation files themselves to match.

There are plans to eventually support in-editor retargeting between skeletons with different bone names, but you probably shouldn’t expect that functionality for a while.

Good luck!

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This might be helpful: Updated: V2 Free CMU Mocap Animation Library (2500+) Retargeted to UE4 Skeleton - Community Content, Tools and Tutorials - Unreal Engine Forums