Introduction To 3D Character Animation In Unreal Engine!

IMPORTANT:  Everything you'll learn in this course can be applied to the new release of Unreal Engine 5.  The new features of UE5 such as LUMEN and NANITE are not covered in this course yet, however.  You can even switch the layout of UE5 back to classic UE4 if you'd like to make it easier to follow along.  (I prefer the slick new layout of UE5 myself)

TESTIMONIAL

"One word for this course . . . "FANTASTIC"! This course is as close to perfection as you can get. The instructor speaks slowly, with enthusiasm. He covers all the necessities without bogging you down with too much info. I love how he gets you having fun quickly with the Sequencer section. The audio is of great quality. His depth of knowledge in a variety of 3D packages is amazing. I am familiar with DAZ3D, Mixamo and Unreal but I learned so many great tips and discovered several things that I was doing incorrectly. I searched Youtube for UE4 sequencer tutorials and found none of them to be satisfactory. After ten minutes with this course, I was very confident with Sequencer. If you are interested in getting DAZ3D characters into Unreal, and a ton of bonus tips and information on top of it, you DO NOT want to miss out on this fantastic course!" ~ J Jackson

What You Will Learn In This Course

In this course we will cover the  steps on how to animate your character in Unreal Engine.  This is a  project based course, and I’ve designed it to be really, really fun!   All the scene files you will need are included in the course.  You will  get the Exile Alien character along with 28 motion-capture animations  that work with him.  You’re going to love how easy it is - you just drag  and drop your character in the scene and it’s ready to go!

We’re also going to cover lighting, physically based materials, camera movement and much more.  Best of all it’s FUN! 

DAZ Studio Export

We will cover how to prepare your DAZ Genesis  character for export and animation.  There are certain steps that need  to be taken in order for the character to be able to accept  motion-capture animations in Mixamo and then imported into Unreal Engine.

Mixamo

(Note: Even though Mixamo discontinued direct support for Unreal Engine, this method works by exporting standard FBX from Mixamo to UE4.)

Next, we’ll upload your character into Adobe Mixamo and add motion-capture animations.  Mixamo is a ton of fun, and super easy to  use as you’ll see.  There are literally thousands of animations in  Mixamo, and all you have to do is click on the animated preview and it  will be applied to your character.  So you’re basically auditioning your  character using different animations.   You can adjust the speed of the  animation, and adjust things like the arm spacing as well.  Your  character won’t have his materials or textures applied - we will do that  over in Unreal Engine.

Unreal Engine 4 - Drag and Drop Animation

Inside of Unreal Engine we will have some fun with the Mixamo  animations you applied to your character.  All you have to do is select  your character and drag him into your scene.  Hit play, and the  animation begins, being rendered in real-time!

An Army of Animated Aliens

Inside the course, there are 28 animated aliens, ready for you to  drag and drop into your Unreal Engine scene for instant animations!  In no time at  all, you’ll have your aliens fighting, jumping, running, or falling.   You’ll have enough animations to make some really awesome movie scenes!   

Unreal Engine Sequencer

Next up is the Unreal Engine Sequencer, which is very similar to a non-linear editor.  We will set up your scene, complete with spaceship  interior, Exile alien characters, lights, smoke effects and cameras and  get it ready for animation.  Sequencer makes it really fun to get your  scene set up and feels very similar to being on a real movie set.  In  fact, I’ve found that’s the best way to think about it - like you’re in  the real world.  Unreal Engine’s lighting system behaves like real world  lights, so it’s very responsive and intuitive, as you will see.

Exporting your video file - and rendering in near real time!

Now we will export your movie in high-definition... in near  real time!  No longer does it take hours  or days to render a single frame!  This is a real game changer!  Imagine  being able to setup, animate and then render 1 minute of finished  animation per day...it would be entirely possible to complete a  2 hour  feature film in 120 days!  Unreal Engine has provided the tools to make  this possible some day.

HitFilm3 Express

We will then take our rendered video file and bring it into HitFilm  Express, or your favorite video editing program. There we will add color  grading, music, sound effects and fine tune our edits to prepare our  scene for final output.

Your finished High-Definition Scene

By the end of the course you will have completed your own animation  scene from beginning to end and have a good understanding of Unreal  Engine's animation workflow.

Enroll Now

Go ahead and click on the enroll now button to get immediate access to your scene files and get started right away!   

To recap, you’ll get:

• The Exile Alien Character along with 28 motion-capture animations

• The complete Unreal Engine 4 project with all assets

• The Genesis 2 Male and Female characters

• Complete sci-fi spaceship interior

• Best of all, it’s FUN!  

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  See you on the inside!