Use animated car in Unreal Engine 4

[mratashi7]

Hey everyone
Can anyone help and guid me through the process of importing an animated car to UE4 (Unreal Engine 4)?
Has anybody ever done it?
I did it as Alembic cache and FBX but since the objects are parented the movement doesen't transfer properly.
Thank you

[Patrik Martin]

EDIT - We have now a tutorial for 3ds max to Unreal Engine. And as for Maya the suggestion is to export to 3ds max then to Unreal. Click on the below image to get to the tutorial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux4ZTmVMX2k

[mratashi7]

Thanks, I also found another method, before getting a fbx export from Maya, I freeze the transportation and orientation of high poly models, in a way that everything changes to zeros in channel box.
This causes the fbx to move properly in UE4. Then in UE4 use hidden material for low poly (Craft objects) models.
That's it.

About tutorial, I really hope this happens soon, because UE4 is getting a lot of attention recently.

[boxpilot]

Hi, I am having similar problems where exporting animated mesh from maya to unreal doesn't work as expected.

I have constrained my model to the craft rig, baked the keys and exported both fbx and abc. The body of the car moves correctly, but the wheels act as if their pivot point has been changed.

I've checked all pivots, frozen and refrozen all transformations, matched all pivot points of the model to the craft rig, imported, referenced, tried many different export options, followed the directions in this post - but I can't get the wheels to "stay on"

If I export the craft rig with the model parented according to craft rig instructions - it plays correctly, (but then I have the craft proxy geo in the file. I haven't been able to successfully hide just the craft proxy geo, but will be trying that again soon.) if I bake and export constrained geo, it does not . . .anybody else have any ideas?

[boxpilot]

Hoping I can add some images for illustration of what my wheels are doing. . . first image shows wheels correct when scrubbing, but when playing or rendering, they rotate around a strange axis (other 2 images)

correct wheels when scrubbing

incorrect when playing or rendering

incorrect when playing or rendering

[Patrik Martin]

Hi, I am having similar problems where exporting animated mesh from maya to unreal doesn't work as expected.

I have constrained my model to the craft rig, baked the keys and exported both fbx and abc. The body of the car moves correctly, but the wheels act as if their pivot point has been changed.

I've checked all pivots, frozen and refrozen all transformations, matched all pivot points of the model to the craft rig, imported, referenced, tried many different export options, followed the directions in this post - but I can't get the wheels to "stay on"

If I export the craft rig with the model parented according to craft rig instructions - it plays correctly, (but then I have the craft proxy geo in the file. I haven't been able to successfully hide just the craft proxy geo, but will be trying that again soon.) if I bake and export constrained geo, it does not . . .anybody else have any ideas?

Hoping I can add some images for illustration of what my wheels are doing. . . first image shows wheels correct when scrubbing, but when playing or rendering, they rotate around a strange axis (other 2 images)

correct_wheels.jpg

incorrect_wheels.jpg

incorrect_wheels_2.jpg

Make sure that all the meshes are directly constrained to the 4-Wheeler Extended wheel meshes.

Like this

• WheelMesh
  • tyre
  • rim
  • bolts

Not

• WheelMesh
  • rim
    • tyre
    • bolts

btw, the datasmith plugin works great also and no need to bake the keys, which means that if the animation needs to be adjusted it is quite simple to do so. Make an animation, export again as datasmith and "refresh" in Unreal Engine. Aslo much much quicker.

Are you using 3ds Max or Maya?

[boxpilot]

Hey Patrick, thank you for your suggestions -

I'm using:
4wheeler free
Maya

I was only constraining the group node that had the meshes in it, before. After your suggestion, I constrained all of the individual meshes and got the same results as before.

I then combined the wheel geo, deleted history, matched the pivot point of the model geo to the pivot point on the craft rig geo, and froze transformations. I then constrained the "Tyre" geo to the craft tool geo and re-exported.

I am still getting the same results. The body geo group is constrained to the craft rig mesh and works just fine . . . I keep wondering if it's a setting in ue4 that I'm missing, as, when I import the results back to Maya, all subframes look as expected . . .

In ue4, the problem get's greater the farther the mesh moves from the origin, as if compounding somehow.

I have a few other things that I can think to try on my end . . . but welcome any and all other suggestions.

Unfortunately Datasmith plugin doesn't support maya at the moment.

Thanks

[boxpilot]

ok, if found something interesting, and i'm not sure how to rectify it - but there seems to be some transform that is getting left at the origin when I constrain things to the craft rig mesh, and export the constrained mesh.

since the export seemed to play fine in maya, i decided to drop it into blender to see what results i would get - it plays fine, but there is a representation of a transform that behaves differently between the 2 exports and seems to correlate with the results i get importing into ue4

maybe this is because i'm using the "free" version, I don't know - but you can see the orange dots and dotted lines travel with the craft rig car, but something get's left at the origin with the exported model only -

[boxpilot]

FIXED IT!

I long suspected that the issue with the wheels had something to do with pivot point, and it appears that was the case.

I don't know what's happening under the hood - but when I baked the pivot point, the issue was resolved. Whether a single geometry or in a group, I have imported the car geometry, then made sure the wheels pivot point matched the craft rig wheels pivot point. After that I have baked the pivot point on the model wheels.

DO NOT FREEZE TRANSFORMS AFTER THE BAKE.

When I baked the pivot, I got values in the trans X, Y and Z channels. When I froze these transforms, the issue re-appeared. If I left the values and constrained the model wheels to the craft rig, I was able to export an FBX which maintained correct transformations.

Hope hearing about this process helps others - it took me a long time to figure it out !

[Patrik Martin]

FIXED IT!

I long suspected that the issue with the wheels had something to do with pivot point, and it appears that was the case.

I don't know what's happening under the hood - but when I baked the pivot point, the issue was resolved. Whether a single geometry or in a group, I have imported the car geometry, then made sure the wheels pivot point matched the craft rig wheels pivot point. After that I have baked the pivot point on the model wheels.

bakePivot.jpg

DO NOT FREEZE TRANSFORMS AFTER THE BAKE.

When I baked the pivot, I got values in the trans X, Y and Z channels. When I froze these transforms, the issue re-appeared. If I left the values and constrained the model wheels to the craft rig, I was able to export an FBX which maintained correct transformations.

Hope hearing about this process helps others - it took me a long time to figure it out !

Nice to see that you solved it!

I am planning to make video tutorials on how to export from 3ds MAx/Maya to Unreal Engine.

[sujususeelan]

Hi could you please tell me 3dsmax datasmith export animation how to work in ue4

[Patrik Martin]

Hi could you please tell me 3dsmax datasmith export animation how to work in ue4

When making the datasmith export make sure that you are exporting the active time frame and that the craft dummy meshes are visible so they are included in the export.

[veith69]

Hello guys,

thank you very much for this input! I still haven't figured out how to set up the constraints for for position (translation) and orientation (rotation) instead of making the parts children of the rig. Can someone show a screenshot of rigging one wheel?

Would help me so much! I am trying to figure out, but maybe someone has the energy/effort and time to show it!

Thanks for your amazing product!

Kindly regards,

Veith

[Patrik Martin]

Hello guys,

thank you very much for this input! I still haven't figured out how to set up the constraints for for position (translation) and orientation (rotation) instead of making the parts children of the rig. Can someone show a screenshot of rigging one wheel?

Would help me so much! I am trying to figure out, but maybe someone has the energy/effort and time to show it!

Thanks for your amazing product!

Kindly regards,

Veith

Maya
1. Select the 4-Wheeler wheel and then the target mesh
2. Go to Constrain menu and press Parent.

3. Redo for each part (or script)
4. Done

3ds Max
1. Select all the parts that are to follow the 4-wheelers wheel
2. From the Animation -> Constraints click on Link Constraint

3. Click the 4-Wheeler's wheel that the parts are to follow.
4. Done

[Qiu]

hi
does anyone know how to his the rig after importing to Unreal Engine 4

[Patrik Martin]

hi
does anyone know how to his the rig after importing to Unreal Engine 4

Hi Qiu and welcome to our forum.

I'm not sure what you are asking. Can you please explain a bit more what you are asking?

thanks

[3dlegend]

can anyone tell me how can I hide the dummy car mesh inside the unreal engine?

[Patrik Martin]

can anyone tell me how can I hide the dummy car mesh inside the unreal engine?

The one that is created by our tools or one you looking to create one yourself?

[3dlegend]

hi, Patrik, I'm using craft studio for Maya. the problem I'm facing when I'm importing the animation inside the unreal engine then it's coming with a dummy mesh so how can I hide that dummy mesh?

[Patrik Martin]

hi, Patrik, I'm using craft studio for Maya. the problem I'm facing when I'm importing the animation inside the unreal engine then it's coming with a dummy mesh so how can I hide that dummy mesh?

On a selected mesh(actor) you can under the Rendering section in the actors(mesh) settings set the object to be hidden by using “visible”or “hidden in game” checkboxes.

Here is a tutorial on the subject:
https://youtu.be/SAd1fOb7agk