I downloaded a number of sequences from Maximo, imported them into Ureal (using a skeleton mesh I imported from Mixamo) and retargeted them to the character that is to use them. However, I need to edit the sequence on minor points… I looked on Google but only found articles on retargeting.
I tried to edit it in the sequence editor, it gives me an option to bake it into a control rig, and I have a control rig on this character but that cannot be selected - only what is intern to Unreal, like Manny and Quinn. But that seems to wrong way to go…
The option to use the FK editor seems very complex for the changes I need to make…
I prefer a method inside of Unreal without extra plugins, but if one is needed, which one?
Another possibility might be Blender, in which case I would like to get some links to documentation on how to do that and how to get the animation back into Unreal so it can be used…
Tweaking animations that were imported from mixamo can sometimes be tricky to work with in unreal when you just want to make a few simple tweaks
Before I give you some options for the best workflow I think I should ask you a few preliminary questions to get a better understanding of what you want to do.
Are you trying to tweak the original Mixamo animation or the newly retargeted animation sequence?
When you tried baking to Control Rig, Did you assign a compatible Control Rig Class inside your Skeletal Mesh settings first or were you trying to use a custom Control Rig created specifically for your custom character?
Depending on what you wish to accomplish there are several very simple ways that we could go about this (using Animation Layers within the Animation Sequence Editor or baking to a standard FK Rig, for example)
Once you let me know I can give you exact steps to take and some links to video guides/documentation to help you out!
Thanks a lot!
FYI:
The target is an asset I found on Quixel (I think. it’s in my Epic library) with the same bone structure as the standard Unreal mannequins (I checked). I tried to use that first (so I don’t have to retarget) but Mixamo placed the bone structrure on the floor in front and all animations move only the head..
So I used a Mixamo character I downloaded before instead and retargeted it to the character… The animations work great but some adjustments need to be made: for now these are the start- and end-positions, and probably the duration, distance or speed of the animation - or any combination of them. Because the movements follow on eac hother I would like to concatenate them into one sequence. I’ve do some experiments with control rigs, so that has my preference - I’m a complete beginner on FK-rigs…
Ok - answers:
Whatever is the easiest. If it’s easier to work on the original, I would duplicate that and use the copy.
You mean on the retargeted one? In that case, I did create a control rig from the skeleton mesh - if I can use the standard Unreal ones (a copy of them obviously) that would help already
The problem with your custom control rig not appearing in the Bake to Control Rig menu is that Unreal’s sequencer requires a Backwards Solve setup in your control rig asset.
Backwards Solve is the graph that tells Unreal how to bake raw bone animation into control rig keyframes. As it’s not set up in your custom control rig, sequencer only shows default rigs (Manny/Quinn)
Since you want to edit the start/end pose, speed, or concatenate animations, I’d recommend using Sequencer for that, as it’s the most suitable tool in UE for this purpose. You don’t need blender for this at all!
Option 1: Use Level Sequencer + Edit with FK Control Rig
If you don’t want to build a Backwards Solve for your custom rig, Unreal has a built-in FK Rig that works out-of-the-box on any skeleton
Create a Level Sequence (Right Click in Content Browser > Animation > Level Sequence).
Drag your retargeted character into the level and into the Sequencer track
Add an Animation Track and line up your Mixamo animations one after another (you can crossfade/blend them seamlessly and adjust playback rate/speed right on the timeline)
Right click your character track in Sequencer and select Edit with FK Control Rig. This bakes all bone movement into easy FK keyframes so you can tweak start/end poses.
Once you like the result, right-click the top character track in Sequencer and select Bake Animation Sequence to export it as a single combined .uasset animation
Option 2: Add Backwards Solve to Your Custom Control Rig
If you want to use your personal Control Rig instead of FK:
Open up your Control Rig Asset, add the Backwards Solve event node and bind your bones to your controls. After saving it your rig will show up in Bake to Control Rig in sequencer
Let me know if you run into any hitches with the Sequencer timeline
I created a control rig from scratch, including a creation event, forward solve and backward solve. FK controls only, since I have some (unsolved) issues with IK controls but I think I can do with FP only. The forward solve works, but when I try to bake my sequence into a control rig, NONE shows up. Not even the default Unreal mannequin one.
The following videos by Kevin Freeman have helped me in creating the control rig:
Found it - in method one.
If I open the control rig itself and bake into control rig, it doesn’t show up. But when I create a sequence, add the animation and right click, I can only select “Bake into Control rig” - and my newly created control rig does show up!
probably a bug that it does no longer show up under “Edit in sequencer / Bake to control rig”