[Feature Request] Copy Sockets (only req. is that bones match)

Dear Friends at Epic,

I know that skeletons provide a new aspect to using sockets, and there is the idea that you could just copy the skeleton to copy all the sockets

buuut

I have a ton of trouble getting skeletons to match up with meshes unless the skeleton was created on the import of the skeletal mesh FBX

This means that using a spare skeleton as a copy of all sockets doesnt work cause I cant transfer skeletons

#Copy Sockets From Skeleton

So I still think it would be very useful to have an option to copy all sockets from a skeleton to another skeleton that has matching bones

I use sockets veeerrrry exstensively

I have more than 30 for each of my two main skeletal meshes already

So this would really help me out if ever my skeleton got mangled and I had to reimport the skeletal mesh and the skeleton

#:heart:

Rama

That would be very usefull when you need to set up sockets for different characters

I really hope the feature is implemented, we have so many weapons, characters and copying sockets would save us so much time.

Hi Rama (and everyone),

I wanted to let you know that on our internal build we are halfway to your request. The ability to copy and paste sockets individually between Skeletons is now available. But I have gone ahead and entered your request for a Copy All Sockets as well. Although since you recognize that the Skeleton copied to has to be the same as the original, I wonder why you need a second skeleton at all. Since it is the same, is there any reason that your different characters do not just use the same Skeleton?

I am also curious about the issues you experience when trying to assign a SkeletalMesh to a Skeleton that it was not imported with. If you have any specific information and repro steps, I would appreciate if you could make a new UDN post for it.

Thanks

Nice !
10chars

“I wonder why you need a second skeleton at all”

If I keep backup skeleton copies of my sockets, these are other skeletons

then

if I make minor changes to the FBX like adding a bone or doing something that causes the existing skeleton to become invalid,
:
I would still like to copy the sockets over to the new skeleton for bones that do match

So the case I am highlighting is if NEW bones are added but existing ones are not removed

It should not be too hard to scan two skeletons and match sockets for any matching bones in the other skeleton, even if one skeleton has more bones

I would not expect this feature to work for two completely different skeletons

But for any bone names that match it would be nice to transfer sockets

I have had my skeleton become invalid and had to remake sockets because the new skeleton was considered fundamentally different for some reason

I dont have repro steps for that cause I dont know what I did wrong in 3ds max that caused the existing skeleton to become invalid upon re-import of the skeletal mesh

All in all my point is to have as maximally flexible of a socket transference system as possible

since sockets take a looong time to get just right and I have a ton of them

I’m very worried about making changes in 3ds max, the skeleton becoming invalid,

having to make a new one

and not being able to transfer sockets even though the bones names actually do match

#Summary of Benefits of a Flexible “Copy All Sockets”

I’m not actually talking about a case where the skeletons are totally the exact same, I am talking about a case where there are a majority of or all bone names matching, but the skeletons are considered different due to some 3dss max tweakings of some kind

It would be AWESOME if socket transference could still occur in those cases

case 1

it would save me hours of tedious work recopying and tweaking sockets for essentially the same bones minus some sort of weird 3ds max skeleton change.

case 2

Or if someone added bones intentionally this would be very very helpful!

Thanks for the clarification, I have updated our feature request.

Cheers!