This plugin allows you to quickly transfer the motions you create using Meshcapade technology onto Fortnite Characters in Unreal Editor for Fortnite. You can create motions on the Meshcapade.me platform or using our API. Bodies created by Meshcapade are created using the SMPL core technology and are thus referred to as SMPL-bodies.
This plugin was developed in Fortnite 29.20 (Unreal Engine: 5.4.0). Unreal Engine for Fortnite is currently in Beta.
I. Adding the plugin to your UEFN project
Download the UEFN plugin directly, or grab from our git repo.
Once you have downloaded the plugin, unzip it and put it into the Content folder of your UEFN project.
II. Getting an animation from Meshcapade.me
Currently, there are two ways to get animations from Meshcapade.me:
-
Motion from video - extract the human motion from a video.
-
Motion from text - find a human motion in our library of thousands of motions.
📝 To use either of these methods, you must create an account and be logged in.
To get an animation from a video, visit the Meshcapade motion from video page. Follow the prompts until you've created an animated avatar.
To search for a motion from our motion library, visit the Meshcapade editor page. On the top right, there is a search box where you can find animation. Once you've found the animation you want, save the avatar into your vault.
III. Downloading the animation
Go to your avatar vault, and click the ... on the top right corner of the avatar containing the motion you'd like to download, and click download. In the download options, make sure that file format is .FBX (.OBJ has no motion) and that Pose/Motion is Captured Motion. For compatibility mode, select Unreal - no blend shapes.
IV. Importing the .FBX into UEFN
With the .FBX downloaded, import it into your UEFN project (File > Import).
Set the skeleton to SK_MeshcapadeBody.
📝 Make sure that Import Animation is checked.
V. Retargeting the animation
In UEFN, the process of transferring an animation from one character to another is called retargeting. This plugin comes with assets for retargeting from the SMPL-body to Fortnite characters.
To retarget an animation from a SMPL-body onto a Fortnite character, right-click an animation and choose Retarget Animations
To use our retargeter:
- Uncheck
Auto Generate Retargeter - Change the Retarget Asset to
RTG_Meshcapade_to_FN - Double-click the animation you'd like to retarget (
AS_Soccerin this example) - Then select
Export Animations
Choose where you would like to export it, and then click export.
You can now use this animation with any Fortnite character. For example, the video below has the retargeted soccer animation assigned to the Custom Idle variable on several Fortnite Character Device objects.
