[Bf-gamedev] FBX Exporter to UE4 and Root Motion

[Bastien Montagne]

Hi Lina,

Yes, I think this could help.

Indeed, in our WIP FBX branch, I just added support to import FBX bones 
hierarchy when they do not have a root 'Null' model. This is still 
rather experimental (and not easy/nice in code, since we have to create 
two different things out of a single FBX node), but it seems to work 
from a few basic tests, needs more though.

However, issue with not importing at all Null node would be that, since 
it has all Blender's armature transform/object-level-anim, this would be 
lost in UE4. Don't you support at all parenting of bones' hierarchy?

(I realize ways how armatures/skeletons are handled differ quite 
drastically between applications, which makes their exchange especially 
complex :/ ).

Bastien

Le 07/07/2014 19:37, Lina Halper a écrit :
>
> Hello,
>
> >> Note that armature is **not** added as an additional root bone, 
> though, but as an 'empty' (Null FBX Model type), which implies usual 
> object-parenting relationship. Unity seems to support this rather 
> nicely, while UE4 fails at it.
>
> We import empty node as a bone, but I think we can support that as an 
> option, would that help this case?
>
> We have an option of “bImportMeshesInBoneHierarchy”, which specifies 
> if you’d like to import mesh as a part of bone hierarchy, but along 
> with that, we can have an option to “bImportNullNodeInBoneHierarchy”. 
> If you have it off, we won’t import null node.
>
> However, exporting would be problem if we do. Since we don’t have that 
> info, it won’t export, but I suppose Blender will create Amateur if it 
> doesn’t exist on root?
>
> Thanks,
>
> --Lina,
>
> *From:*bf-gamedev-bounces at blender.org 
> [mailto:bf-gamedev-bounces at blender.org] *On Behalf Of *Bastien Montagne
> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 02, 2014 10:28 AM
> *To:* bf-gamedev at blender.org
> *Subject:* Re: [Bf-gamedev] FBX Exporter to UE4 and Root Motion
>
> Hi Alan,
>
> That’s the second time this issues shows up with UE4… So I guess I’ll 
> have to provide an option not to export that armature parent inFBX 
> (which means I’ll also have to bake armature animation into each root 
> bones :/).
>
> Note that armature is **not** added as an additional root bone, 
> though, but as an 'empty' (Null FBX Model type), which implies usual 
> object-parenting relationship. Unity seems to support this rather 
> nicely, while UE4 fails at it.
>
> Also implies I’ll have to update my import armature code, to handle 
> cases were bones have no root 'Null' object (wonder how to distinguish 
> armatures then, probably just assuming each root bone makes an armature.).
>
> Le 02/07/2014 15:57, Alan Robinson a écrit :
>
>     Hey there folks,
>
>     I'm developing a game called "Atajrubah" , using Unreal Engine 4
>     and Blender for modelling,rigging and animation. Part of the
>     technical setup is implementing root motion in our characters.
>     I've been working with Jeremy (he worked on Sintel and Tears of
>     Steel previously) and he's really on the ball with his rig and a
>     great animator.
>
>     We've got everything parented to a root bone but the fbx exporter
>     keeps adding the rig object as an additional static bone, killing
>     the motion of the root bone we've set up. UE4 doesn't have the
>     option of selecting which bone that you want to inherit root
>     motion from, so it defaults to the first bone in the hierarchy.
>
>     I've been wrestling with the FBX exporter for a while now and have
>     tried redbeard's solution , trying to stop the exporter from
>     exporting the rig object as an additional parent bone. However the
>     script fails to export with the modifications that I've made
>     (granted that my experience is with c++ and the UE4 code base , so
>     no surprise there I guess ).
>
>     *[Redbeard's exporter work around]*
>
>     (http://krisredbeard.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/blender-baking-fbxexport/)
>
>     ideasman42 from the IRC channel recommended I get in touch with
>     mont29 for further support. Any help with this would be greatly
>     appreciated :)
>
>     You can find more information about the game at the links below,
>     please do let me know your thoughts on this.
>
>     - MrNexy
>
>     *[Atajrubah IndieDB page]*
>
>     http://www.indiedb.com/games/atajrubah/
>
>     *[Atajrubah Facebook page]*
>
>     https://www.facebook.com/Atajrubah
>
>
>
>
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