How do I set the relative (local) location of a skeletal mesh?

Development Character & Animation
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1

Hi,

I’m having some trouble setting the relative location of a skeletal mesh component via code.

I’m trying the following but it does nothing:

Mesh->CastShadow = true;	
Mesh->SetRelativeLocation(FVector(0.0f, 0.0f, -100.0f), false);
RootComponent = ArmMesh;

Some help would be appreciated very much.

Thanks!

2

My situation:

I have a weapon class extended from Actor, and I added a SkeletalMeshComponent to it. I want to set the Actor’s location to the Pawn’s eye location, and then apply a relative location transform to the SkeletalMeshComponent so the arms are in the right place when rotating the camera.

The only way I could achieve this was to add a dummy Root Component (e.g. Capsule), and set the SkeletalMeshComponent’s AttachParent to this dummy root component.

E.g. my Weapon class constructor looks like this:

APWNWeapon::APWNWeapon(const class FPostConstructInitializeProperties& PCIP)
	: Super(PCIP)
{	
	// Enable ticking
	PrimaryActorTick.bCanEverTick = true;

	// Find skel mesh models			
	static ConstructorHelpers::FObjectFinder<USkeletalMesh> armSkelMeshLeftOb(TEXT("SkeletalMesh'/Game/PWNGame/FPSArms/FPSArms_L.FPSArms_L'"));
	if (armSkelMeshLeftOb.Object != NULL)
		LeftArmMesh = armSkelMeshLeftOb.Object;

	static ConstructorHelpers::FObjectFinder<USkeletalMesh> armSkelMeshRightOb(TEXT("SkeletalMesh'/Game/PWNGame/FPSArms/FPSArms_R.FPSArms_R'"));
	if (armSkelMeshRightOb.Object != NULL)
		RightArmMesh = armSkelMeshRightOb.Object;

	//Root
	RootCapsule = PCIP.CreateDefaultSubobject<UCapsuleComponent>(this, TEXT("CollisionCylinder"));
	RootCapsule->InitCapsuleSize(30.0f, 80.0f);
	RootCapsule->SetCollisionEnabled(ECollisionEnabled::NoCollision);
	RootCapsule->SetCollisionResponseToAllChannels(ECR_Ignore);	
	RootCapsule->SetCollisionResponseToChannel(ECC_Pawn, ECR_Overlap);
	RootComponent = RootCapsule;

	// Create Arm Mesh object
	ArmMesh = PCIP.CreateDefaultSubobject<UPWNSkeletalMeshComponent>(this, TEXT("ArmMesh"));		
	ArmMesh->MeshComponentUpdateFlag = EMeshComponentUpdateFlag::OnlyTickPoseWhenRendered;
	ArmMesh->bChartDistanceFactor = false;
	ArmMesh->bReceivesDecals = true;
	ArmMesh->CastShadow = true;
	ArmMesh->SetCollisionObjectType(ECC_WorldDynamic);
	ArmMesh->SetCollisionEnabled(ECollisionEnabled::NoCollision);
	ArmMesh->SetCollisionResponseToAllChannels(ECR_Ignore);	

	// Set the relative transform by taking other transforms into account
	FTransform relTrans = ArmMesh->GetRelativeTransform();
	relTrans.SetLocation(FVector(1.0f, 1.0f, -50.0f));
	ArmMesh->SetRelativeTransform(relTrans);

	// Set parent to the RootCapsuleComponent
	ArmMesh->AttachParent = RootCapsule;
}
3

Why does it not work with a predefined Fvector?