I had a dickens of a time figuring this one out so I thought I’d share. I’ll come back and include screenshots of a workflow later on as well, but here’s the short version in case anyone else is strugging.
Make sure you have the latest versions of MakeHuman and Blender, as they recently added more support for FBX.
Updates
03/08/2014 - Make the purpose of individual export files clearer. Include workaround for missing track issue.
How to
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In MakeHuman select a rigging type under Animation/Poses. Doesn’t matter too much what rigging type, choose one that suits what you’re trying to do. Don’t over-bone yourself. I often go for the Second Life rig.
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Export everything using centimetres. Export a copy as Blender Exchange (.mhx) format. This will be your animation base. Do NOT select Rigify - you will end up with a mess of dozens of weighted and non-weighted bones even on a simple rig.
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Open Blender and enable the MakeHuman import plugin under File -> User preferences -> Addons -> Filter by “makehuman”. Restart blender then import your human.
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Export that bad boy. Your first export will just need “Armature” and “Mesh”. All other settings are fine.
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Go to the animation layout icon on the top left and switch to Animation. Your model will be very large, so you’ll need to zoom out to see it.
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To animate and pose your mesh, right-click the bones. Then right-click-and-drag anywhere else to begin levering the bone. Left click to release. Then hit “i” on the keyboard and select “Rotation” from the resulting dropdown menu. This adds a keyframe. Advance the time slider and add more keyframes.
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Exporting again. Export as Autodesk FBX. Default settings are fine, but only select the “Armature” in the export options. If you don’t include the mesh, UE will recognise this as an animation.
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Import everything into UE. Default settings are fine but make sure you select “Calculate normals”.
8a. Your first file you exported will import as a “Skeletal mesh”. Do this one first.
8b. Your armature-only files will import as animations. Make sure you bind them to the skeleton you just imported. -
More animations? Go back to step 6 and repeat, naming your animation differently each time.
Problems?
Are you getting something like “Missing needed track (hips) not found”? Then you’re importing straight from MakeHuman and it has an extra root bone or something. This SHOULD work and Epic are working on it, but for now export a copy of the FBX from Blender with “armature” and “mesh” selected. This will become your base skeletal mesh and animations made using it will now work.