As far as I understood I create a rig with a proxy mesh, hand the mesh proportions to the character artist and a controll rig to the animators so both can work on the same character at the same time. Please correct me if I´m wrong!
So lets say I did give the proportiones to the artist and the rig to the animator and now got the final character model from the artist. How do I exchange characters and apply the rig to the final character so I can get my rigged, final character to UE4? Is this even possible? if not, how else would a workflow with the tollkit look like?
Considering my understanding of the toolkits purpose is correct, there has to be a way of bringing the final character, the rig and the animations together, so in the end there is a single, game ready character with rig as well as animations.
Hi,
The workflow that you described is almost exactly how we’re using the ART tools currently. Getting your final mesh onto your rigged skeleton is actually really simple also.
After the final mesh is created, just import it into the Export file associated with your character/rig. That export file contains the character’s joint hierarchy as well as the proxy mesh created by the ART tool. So, you’ll basically just swap out the proxy mesh for the new final one (i.e., skin weight the new mesh to the joint hierarchy in there and delete the proxy mesh). Once that’s completed, you’re ready to import that skeletal mesh (the joint hierarchy plus your new skinned mesh) into UE4. Since this is the same joint hierarchy that your animators have been working with all along, any animation work that has been done will play perfectly on this new mesh (because both meshes share the same Skeleton asset).
In fact, on the Maya-side, because all of the rig and export files are being referenced, the next time anyone opens an animation file containing that character, the old proxy mesh will be replaced by the new final one automatically!