Need Clarification & Pointed in the Right Direction

Development Cinematics & Media
,
1

I have some prior experience building environments in Unreal Engine, but I don’t have any experience with recording or the Film/Video templates. I’m not sure how much of what I want to do is possible directly in UE5, so I’m hoping for clarification and maybe some guidance on where to start and which template might be best suited.

Here’s my setup: I have an animated PNG character that I record in OBS (outputting as MP4, but I can change formats if needed). My goal is to chroma key the background so that only the character is visible, and then place that video of the character into my UE5 environments.

The bigger picture: I want to make short sketches using these “PNG characters” inside 3D environments I build. The recordings capture the character’s lines and movements (gestures, leaning, swaying, etc.), while Unreal would handle things like walking from point to point or interacting with the environment. For scenes with multiple characters, I’d like to sync up different recordings so they play out together, then record the full scene as it happens in-engine.

So my main questions are:

1. Is it possible in UE5 to bring in video that has been chroma keyed so only the character shows up?

2. What’s the best way to sync multiple character recordings to play together in a scene?

3. What’s the recommended workflow/template for recording the final scene once everything is choreographed?

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

2

Hello there @Quadsly!

Welcome to UE! Checking with my peers, I think your setup should be possible, if you use the following resources for your inquiries:

  • Regarding your chroma keyed characters, there are two paths to get them to work. Either using the alpha channel, exporting your recordings with alpha transparency baked in, or implementing a green screen workflow inside the engine. Both methods can be reviewed in the guides below:

  • Next, to sync-up multiple recordings and put everything together on scene, the right tool is Sequencer. You can setup a track for each character, drop in the records, trim and align everything on the timeline. Please check UE’s documentation on the matter:
  • Finally, once the scene is choreographed, you can render the final shot with Movie Render Queue, which ties directly with Sequencer. All you need to know for that can be checked here:

Hope these pointers are helpful for your project, good luck!

1 Like
3

Is there any specific starting template you would recommend?

4

Could anybody help with the last question on here? I can start with a blank template no problem but if there are any templates from the media category that could be better suited I’m open to that as well.