Importing character and animation from Maya into Unreal Engine 4 with deformations (lattices)

Hey there,

So I’m working on a project with this wolf rig and have been experimenting with importing characters into UE4 from Maya. I heard from other UE4 forums that UE4 does not like deformations from Maya and that when you export a file with a deformation as an FBX that the deformations won’t transfer over. I really want to get some extra detail into this animation with deformations but I don’t have enough experience with rigging in Maya to make the changes to the rig itself, so instead, I’m trying alternative ways to possibly seak it in UE4 elsewhere. I’m using the 4.17 version of UE4 and Maya 2018 exporting the geometry and skeleton as an FBX and animation separately as its own FBX.

The character can be imported perfectly fine without the deformation by selecting just the base skeleton and the three pieces of geometry, but with the deformation added on it’s another story. The deformation I’m using is a lattice on the base of the tail. I’ve tried making it a cluster but that didn’t work. I also tried to convert it into a blendshape as part of the body geometry to see how it went. So far, I haven’t had any luck since only the eyes show up when you import it over to UE4 and not the body (where the blendshape is). I’ve also tried making the deformation first to then Geometry Cache the animation, reimport it back into the scene and replace the original geometry to then export the animation into UE4 but no luck there either as the same thing happens and UE4 only shows the eyes and no body geometry.

This is the geometry (selected tabs only):

257183-geometry.jpg

This is the scene:

Eyes/body issue:

257186-eyes.jpg

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I’m starting to think this may be a lost cause as I’ve spent many hours trying to find a work-around but if anyone has any ideas I’m all ears! I apologize if I don’t get back to you right away~

Thanks in advance though,

-Peak