New Unreal Skeleton

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New Unreal Skeleton

Postby akulamartin » Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:04 pm

Hi guys, I was working on an improved unreal e4 skeleton file but got stuck. Might you kindly assist? 8-)
Attachments
default_weights.mhw.json
(4.14 MiB) Downloaded 262 times
UE4.mhskel.json
(39.78 KiB) Downloaded 257 times
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Re: New Unreal Skeleton

Postby punkduck » Mon Apr 19, 2021 9:44 pm

Hmm

took me 10 minutes. Just one quick look into the logfile:

you forgot a "," in the weights file

(line 234195)

then ...

Cannot find position for joint joint-ik_hand_l____tail
Cannot find position for joint joint-ik_hand_r____head

I played around like in the code snippet and added two more entries with your dummy values. These values indicate that you use vertex number 0 and number 2 three times each ;)

Code: Select all
 "ik_hand_l____head": [
            0,0,0
        ],
        "ik_hand_l____tail": [
            2,2,2
        ],
        "ik_hand_r____head": [
            0,0,0
        ],
        "ik_hand_r____tail":
            2,2,2
        ]


I renamed the weights file and add it like this at the end of the skeleton (use your own file, not default-weights):

Code: Select all
    "tags": ["Detailed hands","game"],
    "version": 102,
    "weights_file": "UE4_weights.mhw"
}


Here is the guy.

Ue4-guy.png
UE4 Guy


For the IK-Bones you need to define, where they should start or end similar to the others. IK bones do not need weights in the weights file. Some other bones of standard skeleton also have no weight (special-bones). Bones can either end in a cube or on the skin. The values used for head or tail are the vertex numbers. These are typically 8 vertices because they mostly end in a cube. Sometimes it is one single vertex (standard-skeleton, breastbone). In reality you can use any vertices you want, the positions are simply summarized and then the median is calculated.

For weighting or doing own weight files you can use my tools in blender (the stuff in the blender 2.8 folder), maybe that helps.

https://github.com/black-punkduck/MakeHuman-Helpers

I use the standard MH skeleton in UE4. Of course that means to create the whole animations myself.

Btw,; If your character is distorted you can fix that by recalculation of skeleton, explained here (approx minute 15) in this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKa-Ozrc07M
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Re: New Unreal Skeleton

Postby nomorecookies » Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:47 am

May i suggest adding the twist bones as well
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Re: New Unreal Skeleton

Postby akulamartin » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:42 pm

Thanks for your input. I was trying to match the skeleton to the Ue4.26.2 skeleton. Plus I'm new to making rigs and in need of tutorials. Might you attach your changes?
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Re: New Unreal Skeleton

Postby punkduck » Tue Apr 20, 2021 7:57 pm

It is not easy tbh but possible.

You should then read this:

http://www.makehumancommunity.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16927

You do not have to think about a new base mesh, but I needed a solution to create bones "outside" of the normal skeleton. The ground cube is part of the mesh, so an ik bone can also be placed. So you can skip all what I wrote about wings or tail. But the rest should explain what is possible.
Some of the questions you might have I already had myself. I wrote this before I became member of the team.

When you correct the positions of the bones, you can do that different as you can see, when you look at the breast or face bones.

And: rigging is not an easy task.

You need a weights file, when you rework the skeleton (different bone position) but not when you rename or group the bones like you did here:

Code: Select all
"ball_l": {
            "head": "ball_l____head",
            "parent": "foot_l",
            "reference": ["toe1-1.L"],
            "roll": -0.013643646612763405,
            "weights_reference": ["toe1-1.L","toe1-2.L","toe1-3.L","toe2-1.L","toe2-2.L","toe2-3.L","toe3-1.L","toe3-2.L","toe3-3.L","toe4-1.L","toe4-2.L","toe4-3.L","toe5-1.L","toe5-2.L","toe5-3.L"],
            "tail": "ball_l____tail"
        },


here the weights for the bones toe1-1.L to toe5-3.L are summarized. But in the weight file it is not checked for ball_r, makehuman still searches for then toes.

All bones not carrying weight are not mentioned in the weights file, so you can leave the ik-bones out. ik-bones do not own vertex-groups, and the names of this file will be the vertex groups in Blender later.

I appended your corrected files, for the weights I took the new symmetric version in the branch, which was merged yesterday. Do not wonder it looks different and is shorter (and not only because of the zip).

Just for a workflow: try to place the bones first, then do a new weighting. As long as the weights are assigned to the old bones, don't do an own weight file.

After you export the character one time to Blender (use MPFB or MHX2 but add the helpers), you can change the weighting in Blender (especially for the spine, because you character will not bend smoothly now) and then save an mhw file. This file then will have weights for ball_l instead of the toes btw. The plugin I wrote can be used for the weight copies left to right etc., If you are ready with that, delete the weight-references in skeleton file.
Attachments
ue4skel.zip
zip is smaller :)
(238.82 KiB) Downloaded 269 times
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Re: New Unreal Skeleton

Postby Aranuvir » Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:01 pm

Rigs for game engines are often requested. Should we make this an official asset? Though, I didn't check the quality.
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Re: New Unreal Skeleton

Postby akulamartin » Thu Apr 22, 2021 12:37 am

Yes. Please do make an official release. The quality became terrible when I added the extra bones that were missing. How do make the (.mhskel) file from blender3d?
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Re: New Unreal Skeleton

Postby akulamartin » Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:01 pm

Terrible.
Attachments
UE4Trial.png
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Re: New Unreal Skeleton

Postby nomorecookies » Sat May 01, 2021 4:55 am

I am in the process of making a UE4 compatible skeleton too. It would be very cool if someone finished before i do, but just wanted to let you know it is in the works. Also, using Sandy's script on it in the end will make it directly compatible with the UE4 skeleton.

I am in the middle of five very involved projects right now, so my version is a bit of a way off.

In response to Aranuvir, since the move to CC0, it really does seem to make a lot of sense to have an official asset. The main problem i forsee is direct compatibility. Unless the output from MH has the proper bone rolls programmed in, a script would need to be run in Blender to fix it. Otherwise, it still works but would require retargeting instead of direct replacement compatibility in UE4.

Best wishes!
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Re: New Unreal Skeleton

Postby fortuna » Fri Jul 16, 2021 8:53 am

nomorecookies wrote:I am in the process of making a UE4 compatible skeleton too.


I'm, too. I want to replace characters in advanced locomotion system. i had made a partially als-compatible skeleton, but i still need animation retargeting.
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