Custom Character mesh to Unreal AnimTree..

[Muclipse]

Hi! Sorry I'm Korean and my English could be weird.

I'm in an online TPS project, and trying to test my own character.

I haven't finished the animations yet, so I want to use the animation preset in UDL, such as 'AT_CH_Human'.

But, the bone names in 3Ds max biped and UDK are different.

So it doesn't work

If I change all the bone names in 3Ds max,

Does the animTree automatically apply to my character?

I'll be most grateful for your answers!

[Wyldhunt]

I've never tried it, but I've heard that your idea will work. If you use their names, then your model will be able to use their animations.

You can download a copy of their skeleton for reference from here:
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UDKCustomCharacters.html

You may still have to make an anim tree. Not sure.

[Muclipse]

Wyldhunt// Thanks!

But now I have another problem.

According to the page you've posted,

I should delete biped before export.

But as I delete biped, all the bones constrainted to the biped spread(?) to random position, even in the max files UDN provided!

As I researched the example max files, the bones needed for rigging are constrainted to biped so that it is easy to animate or make pose, using position constraint and orientation constraint.

Did I do something wrong? or Is there another way to export skeletal meshes without deleting biped?

[JohNLA]

Don't delete the biped just check "use selected" in the actor X dialog box with just your character mesh selected

[Muclipse]

JohNLA// Thanks!

finally I managed to export and the animtree was successfully applied to my character.

But I met a new problem.

my character is always looking at right. It seems that its orientation is biased to 90 degrees CW.

The master skeleton of UDN has the same problem. How can I solve this?

What's the difference between UDK characters and UDN master skeleton?

[Wyldhunt]

Yep. All of the Epic characters have that by default. It's because in Max, everyone tends to model everything along the Y axis. In UDK, they need to be facing the positive x axis.

You can fix this in UDK. Open the mesh properties. In the lower left corner of the properties box, click on the mesh tab. Find the section labeled rot origin. Set the Yaw to -90.

Fixed.

Also, in the UDK, the root bone is assumed to be at 0,0,0.... Most of epics models are not. So, your character may appear to be floating. You fix this in the same place.
Right above Rot Origin is a section called Origin. Set Z to -55. That may need to be tweaked a bit until his feet touch the ground right. -55 should be really close though, if he starts out floating.

That's standard Epic model tweaks. :P

Your character should work after that.

... I should mention that I'm just parroting stuff that I've read. I've never touched 3ds max in my life, and I have no idea what a 'root bone' is. I'm a scripter. So, if I say something completely backwards, you'll have to forgive me. :P

[geodav]

or just follow my UDK basics Tutorials

[Wyldhunt]

I second Geodav's vote. He has some of the better video tuts that I've found.