UE4 template skeleton in the Avatar SDK UE Plugin
We are glad to announce the new release of the Avatar SDK UE Plugin, which generates Full Body avatars that are fully compatible with the UE4 template skeleton and the wide range of animations created for it. Creating UE4 animation compatible avatars is pretty simple and requires no bone retargeting or other special actions. You may try the new feature in the Full body sample provided with our plugin. Select the “Epic Skeleton” in the corresponding combo box:
Now select the source photo for your avatar. When your avatar is ready, you may try to play one of Epic Animation Starter Pack animations:
The avatars loaded in the “Epic skeleton” mode share the same skeleton asset UE4 Mannequin, and its bones are automatically mapped to the Mannequin hierarchy.
Please note that the original skeleton is also available: select the “Avatar SDK Skeleton” option in the sample UI to generate the avatar animated with the same skeleton asset as in the previous versions of the plugin.
Now let’s see how to make new animations available for use with Full Body avatars. We will use the “Pedestrian walks mocap pack” available at Unreal Marketplace to demonstrate the process. Like many animation packages, this one is installed using the “Add to Project” button.
Animation packs usually provide their own Mannequin skeletal assets, the same is for “Pedestrian walks mocap pack”.
All we need to do is delete the skeleton asset provided with the pack and replace all the references with the skeleton asset located at the /AvatarSDK/Templates/UE_Manneqion/Mesh folder of the Plugin:
There you are: all of your animations are ready to use with avatars now!
