In the pre-Fab Marketplace, rules regarding description content made it extremely easy to find characters that were readily compatible with the Epic Skeleton for easy animation/retargeting compatibility. Can this be done in Fab?
Currently in Fab, it seems almost impossible to find and filter for this as it looks like even assets that ARE compatible don’t necessarily designate this compatibility. (for many, the only “clue” is if they happen to link to a video demo)
In short… this make for a dramatically worse experience using Fab vs the Marketplace when it comes to sourcing characters.
Would be ideal to require (and verify) a tag value on asset submissions to certify Epic Skeleton compatibility. Feel free to include options for other standardized skeletons to support non-UE platforms such as Maya Human IK, Vicon skeleton, Optitrack, etc. so that the tag can be used as an easy filter when searching assets.
You can already Filter/Search for Epic Compatible Skeleton by using Unreal Engine Filter in Search.
Here is Example for Soldier Search
For Unreal content Requirement is same as it was in Unreal Engine Marketplace for Rigging Human Character ie “should be compatible with Epic Skeleton or Mannequin”
Unfortunately, that’s not actually a viable solution as there are characters that are Unreal Engine format/compatible/ready, that are NOT using the Epic skeleton.
(All the Paragon characters for example… and there are some results in your example search that are also not Epic Skeleton assets).
Yes Paragons were kind of Exception, Since they were Game Assets that Epic Games Publish.
But for Rest of Characters for Unreal Engine, I have never seen any Human Character (Not Creature) without Epic Skeleton.
It is specifically mentioned in their Content Moderation Approval Process for Unreal.
Try searching what you are looking for with the Unreal Filter and see if works or not, If you find any exception with the method, you can list it here.
However there is Exception for Creatures like 4 Leg, Non Human like etc.
Tried the “Unreal Engine” filter and it didn’t work. Several human character models available that are not Epic Skeleton… which is FINE! They SHOULD be in there. (IMO)
Fab is different than Marketplace, with broader compatibility and diversity. A human character can certainly be “Unreal Engine format” (asset that can be added to project through Fab plugin) without being Epic Skeleton compatible. The “old” (but to this day awesome and useful) Paragon characters are a perfect example of this. “Unreal Engine format” <> Epic Skeleton.
My hope/request here is that this diversity continues with new assets as well (especially with the fantastic retargeting tools that UE5 has built-in now) … however, there should absolutely be a filter-able property to designate assets that are/are-not Epic Skeleton. Likewise, a filter-able (verified) parameter for LiveLink Face would also be important/useful, as well. Puzzling that there would be any resistance to this whatsoever. Maybe from engineering or legal?.. but not from the perspective of user experience.
BOTH of these (and how ever many other examples there are) should ABSOLUTELY REMAIN exactly as they are. Just asking for a filter-able tag so it’s easier to isolate assets that do/do-not have the Epic Skeleton when searching.
PS… the fact that there are two different categories of “Characters & Creatures” (each with entirely different content) is also a less-than-ideal user experience.
As far as I know, there isn’t any QA taking a look at the smart assets now, or at least not in the same way it were with Epic’s Unreal Marketplace. If there were any real QA there weren’t tons of copyrighted stuff approved (Even saw some of Quixel stuff being resold lol)
Be careful from who you’ll buy it from, if it’s a novice there is going to have a lot of issues with the skeletal asset even if it says it’s compatible. Replace the skeleton they have with the mannequin and see if stuff like control rig and such works perfectly.