You're reading from Virtual Filmmaking with Unreal Engine 5 A step-by-step guide to creating a complete animated short film

Product type Paperback

Published in Feb 2024

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781801813808

Length 480 pages

Edition 1st Edition

Tools

Unreal

Concepts

Animation

Author (1):

Hussin Khan

Preface

1. Part 1:Pre-Production: Project Development and Gathering Resources FREE CHAPTER

2. Chapter 1: Getting Started with Unreal Engine

3. Chapter 2: Understanding the Principles of Photography, Film Cameras, and Lenses

4. Chapter 3: Understanding the Art of Storytelling and Creating Your Storyboard

5. Part 2: Production: Creating the Environment

6. Chapter 4: Importing 3D Objects and Creating Levels

7. Chapter 5: Creating Environments with Quixel Megascans

8. Chapter 6: Creating and Applying Materials to 3D Meshes

9. Part 3: Production: Adding and Animating Characters

10. Chapter 7: Creating Actors with Unreal Engine MetaHumans

11. Chapter 8: Retargeting the MetaHumans for Unreal Engine 5

12. Chapter 9: Adding Animations and Facial Expressions to Your MetaHuman Characters

13. Part 4: Production: Shooting the Scene

14. Chapter 10: Adding and Animating Virtual Cameras Using the Level Sequencer

15. Chapter 11: Enhancing Set Dressing, Retiming Shots, and Adding Niagara Particles

16. Chapter 12: Setting the Mood with Lighting and Adding Post-Processing Effects

17. Part 5: Post-Production: Adding Post-Processing Effects and Music

18. Chapter 13: Exploring Color Management, Additional Camera Settings, and Rendering Your Shots

19. Chapter 14: Adding Sound and Finalizing Your Virtual Film

20. Index

21. Other Books You May Enjoy

Appendix: Creating Material IDs Using Blender

Creating an IK Retargeter for MetaHumans

To retarget the UE5 Mannequin to the MetaHuman, take the following steps:

In the From_Mixamo folder, duplicate the previously created RTG_Manny IK Retargeter and rename it to RTG_MetaHuman. Then, double-click to open it.
In the Details panel, in the Source section, change Source IKRig Asset to IK_Mannequin, and Source Preview Mesh to SKM_Manny_Simple.
In the same panel, change Target IKRig Asset to IK_metahuman, and Target Preview Mesh to m_med_nrw_body:

Figure 8.35: Setting the source and target IK Rig Assets

Note

The following are abbreviations of the body types of MetaHumans in UE:

- m/f: male/female

- srt/med/tal: short/medium/tall (height)

- unw/nrw/ovw: underweight/narrow/overweight

In the Viewport, the UE5 Mannequin (Manny) and the MetaHuman may overlap. Use Target Mesh Offset to separate the characters by 200 units in the Xaxis.