How to import multiple Objects and animated them in Unreal

Hi Folks,

I am working on a project in which i need to animate a set of teeth and brackets according to the user input numbers…
i.e : when the user enter a certain number , the teeth should rotate(Swing) around a certain axis with the amount that the user entered , for example 45 degrees rotation , and I need each tooth to rotate on its own with the bracket that is attached to it , is this doable in Unreal ? and how can it be done using blueprints ?

Please check the image and the video link I attached to understand what I am after (I did this animation in cinema4d)

Thanks in advance for you help :slight_smile:

Hey there, since the user can insert variable numbers of degrees then you can’t do this with animations, what you can do is on the animation graph you use a Transform Modify Bone node and set it to the rotation mode and have a variable tell how much it should rotate. For this to work you need a rig were each teeth is a bone in the hierarchy.

Thank you @xlar8or for the fast reply…

I am a little bit new to the Unreal engine, so I want to know where exactly is the Transform Modify Bone node should be used ? inside the animation blueprint or somewhere else ?

Another thing please , how can I make the rig for the teeth ? is it possible to make inside unreal ? or do I have to make in a 3D platform then import it into Unreal ?

Please avoid creating additional answers, write inside this answer using add new comment to keep things organized :slight_smile: As for your questions, Transform Modify Bone is used in the animation graph of your animation blueprint. You can check this tutorial to learn more about it. The rig is created using 3ds max or maya, basically you’ll create a bone hierarchy and you’ll skin the model so that each teeth vertices are assigned to a specific teeth bone, that way when you move or rotate a bone the correct vertices will follow and not everything else.

Ok, I’m new to the forum, excuse me for that please :slight_smile:

Thank you for the advises, is that the only and easiest way to do the animation ? or you think there is another way which is more efficient and less time-consuming (like the slide door animation method for example)

Another thing please, when I import the whole model of the teeth and the bracket into unreal, it opens as a single object and I cant select the teeth seperately, and if I import them separated they become scattered within the scene… I need a way to import the whole group which contains the teeth and brackets , and at the same time be able to control each tooth alone , how is that possible ?

Thanks again for all your efforts :slight_smile:

It’s fine :slight_smile: My advice is to import each teeth as separate mesh and use a blueprint to control selection and the rotation. You need to export each teeth in your dcc program with an offset from the 0,0,0, that way when you import to ue 4 it will keep that offset, then to put it all together you assign all of the meshes to the same location and it will fit perfectly.