[LIVESTREAM] Training Livestream - Blender to UE4 - May 30 - Live from Epic HQ

[Alexander Paschall]

WHAT

Tom Wright and Mike Erwin are joining the livestream to talk about using Blender to make assets for UE4. Together they will explain the process of importing characters made in Blender into Unreal. Tom will use Rigify to show how to import animations and retarget them to take advantage of Marketplace animations. He'll also demonstrate bringing a Static mesh with proper scale and smoothing into UE4. Mike works as Blender's 3D graphics developer and will be helping answer what is happening behind the scenes when working with Blender. Be sure to ask a lot of questions for the Q&A!

Blendman Download: This includes "Unrigify" and the texture images.

WHEN
Tuesday, May 30th @ 2:00PM ET [Countdown]

WHERE
Twitch
Facebook
Youtube

WHO
Tom Wright - Senior Tech Artist - @TomTomAttack
Mike "Blender Mike" Erwin - 3D Graphics Developer, Blender Foundation - @DangerCobraM
Alexander Paschall - Community Manager - @UnrealAlexander
Special Surprise Guest: Kevin Vassey!

Feel free to ask any questions on the topic in the thread below, and remember, while we try to give attention to all inquiries, it's not always possible to answer everyone's questions as they come up. This is especially true for off-topic requests, as it's rather likely that we don't have the appropriate person around to answer. Thanks for understanding!

ARCHIVE:

[Aumaan Anubis]

Please talk about a work around for the "scene root" root bone issue. All the newest versions of blender add an additional root bone at the top the hierarchy. This DESTROYS animations.
Right now I'm stuck always reverting back to Blender 2.74 when the time comes to export the FBX. It's infuriating!

It would be really helpful if we could edit skeletons in UE4 (add/delete/rename bones)

[ThatOneClown]

Just what I have been looking for.
Gonna need some Notebooks for this one (I hope)

[JTJones853]

Please talk about a work around for the "scene root" root bone issue. All the newest versions of blender add an additional root bone at the top the hierarchy. This DESTROYS animations.
Right now I'm stuck always reverting back to Blender 2.74 when the time comes to export the FBX. It's infuriating!

It would be really helpful if we could edit skeletons in UE4 (add/delete/rename bones)

I noticed that too, Aumaan... would be great if we could turn that off somehow. Maybe there is a work-around (that doesn't involve using an outdated version of Blender)?

[Blue man]

I noticed that too, Aumaan... would be great if we could turn that off somehow. Maybe there is a work-around (that doesn't involve using an outdated version of Blender)?

Somewhere on the forums someone posted how to remove that root bone. It required some minor changes to Blender exporter, I did that for myself and it worked but I have no idea where I found that.

[AngryCats]

I would love to watch this but it will be during the night my time, will there be a recording of it?

[Hyncharas]

Given that Dungeon Architect's free content was made in Blender, and I mainly use 3ds Max, I'm glad Epic realise how overdue something like this is...

With the addition of NvCloth Solver to 4.16, I think some people may also like to know how to import cloth content from Blender.

[Aumaan Anubis]

Somewhere on the forums someone posted how to remove that root bone. It required some minor changes to Blender exporter, I did that for myself and it worked but I have no idea where I found that.

I've tried that "fix" where you edit the python script, it no longer works. Blender STILL adds the extra root bone even with the changes to the exporter script.

[issam1975]

I would love to watch this but it will be during the night my time, will there be a recording of it?

all live streams are recorded , u can watch them on twitch or on youtube few days after .

[jfaw]

This is exactly what I was looking for! The old livestream you guys did a long time ago was only a little bit helpful for me, sadly, but I have big hopes for this one.

[schmerzz]

Am so happy , all the guides on youtube were about maya and 3ds but i couldnt afford them .I had only blender as option and i cant wait for this .thank you so much unreal team.

[KrunkFu]

What Aumaan Anubis described is pretty much the biggest issue I have with working between blender and UE4. I really hope they address that in the stream.

[HappyDay]

Please talk about a work around for the "scene root" root bone issue. All the newest versions of blender add an additional root bone at the top the hierarchy. This DESTROYS animations.

I believe that issue has been fixed in 4.16:

When importing an FBX file from Blender, the importer now removes the root node name "armature."

[UnrealEnterprise]

Great to see support for FOSS, cheers in advance Epic!

Help free our minds from Autodesk Slavery and Tyranny...

Questions:
1. Challenges of Blender Character-Animation-FBX and UE4, any solutions...
2. Can you address some of the other concerns in recent threads like this ....
3. Thoughts about the upcoming release of Blender 2.8 & UE4 in general...

[Blue man]

I've tried that "fix" where you edit the python script, it no longer works. Blender STILL adds the extra root bone even with the changes to the exporter script.

Hm, it still works for me.