Exchanging Motions and Expressions between Characters in Unreal Engine

Since HD character can be totally compatible with Unreal MetaHuman, you can exchange the body motions and facial expressions between UE and CC characters, in addition to Exchange Motions between Characters in Unreal Engine. There are two methods to complete the procedures.

Before starting this page, make sure you have installed CC Control Rig plugin and Auto Setup Plugin for iClone and Unreal Engine.

ClosedReplacing Character's Skeletal Mesh

This method involves extracting the skeletal mesh of a CC HD character compatible with MetaHuman and replacing the MetaHuman’s skeletal mesh with it.

  1. In Unreal, create a Metahuman with facial expressions and motions.
  2. Make sure you have import the HD Character correctly into UE's Content Drawer.
  3. Right-click on the character's skeletal mesh and choose Create CC Control Rig command from the pop-up menu.

    The CC Control Rig data for the character will be auto-created in a new Rigs folder.
  4. Open the Rigs folder, you will see the HD character has been divided into Head and Body skeletal meshes. They will be used to replace the Metahuman's head and body skeletal meshes later.
  5. Select the Metahuman on the scene from the Outliner and click the Edit BP hotspot.
  6. Switch to the Viewport tab for better observation.
  7. Select and delete the unnecessary components from the Components panel.
  8. Pick the Face from the panel.
  9. In the Detail panel, click the drop-down list of the Skeletal Mesh Asset and choose the CC HD one from the list.

    This step replaces the Metahuman's head skeletal mesh with the CC HD one.
  10. Select all other body components and delete them.
  11. Pick the Body node.
  12. Replace the body skeletal mesh from the Skeletal Mesh Asset drop-down list as step 9.

    Now the Metahuman's skeletal meshes are complete replaced by CC HD ones.
  13. Select the LODSync node and delete it.
  14. Click the Compile button on the toolbar.
  15. Switch back to the main viewport, as you can see the character is completely replaced.
  16. Playback the sequence animation to view the result.
ClosedCopy and Paste Animation Keys

In addition to the replacement of skeletal meshes in previous section, you can also directly copy and paste animation keys from Metahuman to CC HD character or vice versa.

  1. In Unreal Engine, apply a Metahuman and a CC HD character, create animations for the Metahuman character.
  2. Right-click on the character's skeletal mesh and choose Create CC Control Rig command from the pop-up menu.

    The CC Control Rig data for the character will be auto-created in a new Rigs folder.
  3. Drag and drop the Blueprint of the character to the scene. Align it to the CC HD character in the scene.
  4. Select and delete the original skeletal mesh of the CC HD character from the Outliner.
  5. Select the blueprint character from the outliner.
  6. On the Sequence panel, click the Add button on its toolbar and choose Actor to Sequencer > Add '[currently selected item]'.
  7. The blueprint character will be added to the sequencer.
  8. Go to the blueprint Metahuman's tracks, select and copy all keys on the Body > MetaHuman_ControlRig track. Then paste them into the CC5_UE5_Body_Rig track of the blueprint character.
  9. Play to view the results. The body movements are now synchronized between the two blueprint characters..
  10. Go to the Metahuman's Face > Face_ControlBoard_CtrlRig track, select and copy all keys on the track and paste them to the CC5_UE5_Face_Rig track of the blueprint character.
  11. Playback to view the result. The CC HD character now performs exactly the same as the Metahuman character.

After you have replaced Metahuman with CC HD characters with either methods described in this page, you are free to use the Control Rig for face and body to fine tune the animations with keys.

Face Control Rig

Body Control Rig