Using imported from UE4 SK_Mannequin, i can’t modify its proportions? Like to make wider shoulders, to rig to another humanoid creature but with 3 fingers?
What requirements to approve skeleton as Epic skeleton?
1).
2).
and so on. Why it is so hard to see information i needed.
Epic games support don’t give straightforward answers and dont want to explain why.
And lastly. Is there any thread with collected information about Epic Skeleton and rigs? Because it is frustrating for new marketplaces creators. ZERO USEFUL straightforward INFO on UE docs.
So to use animations on other characters, customer need to re-target themselves?
If i move joints, and than export animation onto SK_Mannequin, it will get stretched model. So it is not rigged to epic skeleton anymore? i dotn get it.
If you check the Epic’s Free Paragon characters at the Marketplace you will see humanoids with different proportions, some are huge. You can open the skeleton in editor, same for animations and check the info which is necessary for you to understand.
Multiple Skeletal Meshes can share the same skeleton asset. The skeleton asset is a bone hierarchy. The different meshes can have different proportions - e.g. the bone positions can be moved, as long as hierarchy and orientations are the same. The Epic Mannequin has a standard Skeleton Asset, and you can import compatible meshes rigged to it onto this skeleton. This can be very usefaul, as those meshes can then use the same animations and animation blueprints.
When authoring, the annoying issue is to get the bone orientations correct. If you look closely at the bone orientations on the left and right side of ue mannequin they are flipped - x-axis is pointing toward child on one side but opposite on the other side.
4 answers and only the last (from OptimisticMonkey) is really helpful from what I can see, only really been getting into the UT ed the last 2 months, am finding when you know where stuff is it seems simple, if you don’t it is there it can drive you mad, guys don’t for granted that stuff you know is there is obvious to everyone else personally i can feel dimitsuru’s pain.
My man. Do you know whats pain? When Epic Games support cant give me answers to my question, why my rig is not Rigged to Epic Skeleton. And what to do to fix it. I am slow learning guy, and obvious things are hard to understand.
It has same bone hierarchy as SK_Mannequin, same names, it has same orientation.
i am using another Rigged Epic Skeleton from a friend for 3ds MAX, it is same as Grey guy for 3ds max you linked. After a few projects we will move to Blender.
What is the specific problem you are trying to solve? What exactly are you doing, what is your expected outcome, and how is that different from the actual outcome?
Are you trying to retarget animations using 3DS Max? If so, that’s a Max-specific issue and doesn’t have much to do with UE4.
Have you read the documentation on Skeleton Assets and Retargeting? If not, those would be a good place to start.
Epic doesn’t really specify any details of what exactly is an Epic Skeleton. Even for paragon characters there are significant variations between the armatures and SK_mannequin.
One can surmise the primary purpose of requiring Epic Skeleton compatibility on the marketplace is to allow customers to purchase both characters and animations from different sources and have them work together without issue. In this case a quick test we can do is to import the character into the Engine and select “SK_Mannequin” as the skeleton against which we do the import. The result will be that the character will then share the skeleton with the UE4 Mannequin and if indeed the bone hierarchy and bone orientations are a match then ALL animations already available for the UE4 Mannequin work instantly for the new character. No retargeting or mucking about required.
If it happens that the hierarchy doesn’t match the Epic Skeleton then the character will import and look normal until you play an animation then it will turn into a jumbled mess. I think this test provides a good baseline to check against Epic Skeleton compatibility.
Just realised, i didnt said that my goal is marketplace content creation
I want to reduce the chores for customers. They prefer “Rigged to Epic Skeleton” . I see a lot of “bad” content with “Not rigged” and minimum animations, and complaints from customers.
What i want to make my Skeleton asset universal and used for everything.
1).What do i need to write in technical details to let customer know that animations can be reused\re-targeted for other characters?
PS. So in the end, what i was seeking is “make same hierarchy, bone names, orientation, whatever proportion, and customers will re-target themselves”
We passed our project, so everything is ok. But i feel bad for newcomers, who will be confused. We need TLDR; type of guides.
the “unreal skeleton” they care about for marketplace is just the name hierarchy. everything else doesn’t really matter since anyone can easily re-target anything provided the names of the bone and their hierarchy have not been changed.
To make straight up mannequin animation you can utilize my free blender plugin - that’s what i’m using it for in the end - making market worthy animations.
Try it out. it’s not perfect yet, but it’s getting there. http://mosthostla.com/gamedev/
