Reallusion’s latest tutorials simplify character and motion exchange between Character Creator 5 and Unreal Engine 5. Discover new presets, the Auto Setup plugin, and two powerful retargeting methods for flawless animation integration, resolving past compatibility challenges.
For 3D artists and game developers, the seamless exchange of characters and animations between powerful tools like Character Creator (CC) and Unreal Engine (UE) has always been a holy grail. Historically, issues such as mismatched skeleton structures, differing bind poses, and complex retargeting processes have created significant hurdles. However, Reallusion, a company renowned for its innovative 3D character and animation software, has developed a game-changing workflow. Their latest tutorials introduce new Unreal Engine 5 export presets and an “Auto Setup” plugin, making motion retargeting in Unreal easier and more efficient than ever before.
These comprehensive guides, presented by the team at Reallusion, demonstrate how CC5 now offers full compatibility with Unreal Mannequin, MetaHuman, and UEFN characters. This level of integration is crucial for modern game development and virtual production, allowing creators to focus on artistic expression rather than technical troubleshooting. The creator’s dedication to streamlining these complex workflows truly empowers animators and developers alike.
Addressing Past Compatibility Challenges
The core of the problem lay in the differing bone structures and bind poses across platforms. While Unreal Engine 4 shared some similarities with CC3+, Unreal Engine 5 introduced three distinct skeleton types: MetaHuman, UE5 Mannequin, and UEFN. This diversification often led to incorrect retargeting when trying to use CC3+ characters. Reallusion’s Character Creator 5 tackles this head-on by providing upgraded characters with additional bones in the spine and head, aligning CC bones with UE5’s key structures for seamless bone mapping. Furthermore, the software now offers dedicated bind poses to ensure precise comparisons between imported and Unreal characters, a critical factor for accurate retargeting.
Exporting Your Characters from Character Creator 5
Exporting your meticulously crafted characters from CC5 is now a streamlined process. Within the FBX export menu, users can select either the Unreal UE4 or Unreal UE5 skeleton preset. The UE5 skeleton is specifically designed to match base characters like the UE5 Mannequin or MetaHuman, featuring five spine bones and additional finger bones at the palm, a key difference from the UE4 skeleton’s three spine bones. The advanced settings also offer three bind poses to match various Unreal character types:
- A-pose for UE4 skeleton: Ideal for the UE4 Mannequin.
- A-pose for UE5 skeleton: Perfect for both UE5 Mannequin and MetaHuman due to their similar poses.
- A-pose for UEFN: For characters destined for Unreal Editor for Fortnite.
For optimal performance and visual quality, Reallusion recommends selecting “mesh and motion,” choosing “subd1” for the subdivision level, disabling “embed textures,” and selecting “custom” for motion to include any CC animations. For more details on the export process, you can refer to the Unreal Auto Setup page.
Importing into Unreal Engine with the Auto Setup Plugin
Before importing your FBX character into Unreal Engine (demonstrated using version 5.6), the Unreal Auto Setup plugin is absolutely essential. This powerful tool automates many of the previously manual and error-prone steps. If you don’t have it, or if it’s outdated, simply close your Unreal project, download the latest installer from Reallusion’s website, and copy the plugin folders into your Unreal project directory. Once installed, the import dialogue in Unreal offers crucial settings:
- HQ Shader: Select this for the best quality materials.
- Disable “use T0 as ref pose”: Since the reference pose is already exported from Character Creator, this speeds up the import process.
- Import Morph Targets: Enable this if your character uses morph data, as animations and morphs can now be imported simultaneously without the errors seen in earlier versions.
- Animation Length: Set to “animated time” for accurate animation playback.
The Auto Setup plugin intelligently processes the character, applies motions, and creates all necessary retargeting materials, neatly organizing them in dedicated folders within the content drawer. This significantly reduces setup time and potential headaches for artists.
Two Powerful Motion Retargeting Methods
Reallusion’s tutorials highlight two primary methods for animation exchange in Unreal Engine, catering to different scenarios:
Retarget Manager (For Similar Skeletons)
This method is ideal when your source and target characters share highly compatible bone structures, such as a CC UE5 character and the UE5 Mannequin. Accessible from the skeleton preview window, the Retarget Manager allows you to “add skeleton” and select a compatible skeleton. The Auto Setup plugin pre-configures the five translation retargeting modes, enabling you to preview and apply imported Unreal animations directly with accurate results. This method is incredibly efficient for characters with closely matched skeletal hierarchies.
IK Retargeter (For Different Skeletons)
When exchanging motions between characters with significantly different skeleton structures, the IK Retargeter comes into play. The Unreal Auto Setup automatically generates both an IK Rig and an IK Retargeter for your imported CC characters. In the IK Retargeter, you designate a “source” character (e.g., a MetaHuman IK rig) and a “target” character (e.g., your CC character’s IK rig). This allows you to browse, preview, and export animations from the source onto the target, effectively baking the retargeted motion. This flexibility means you can apply MetaHuman animations to CC characters or vice-versa. While highly effective, results may vary slightly depending on bind pose compatibility, especially in nuanced areas like fingers. The OPS stack panel also provides options for fine-tuning parameters like bone offsets for customized results. For more in-depth tutorials on CC5 features, check out Reallusion’s CC5 tutorial playlist.
Reverse Workflows and Advanced Integrations
Once retargeting is complete, the baked animations become reusable across different characters and can be applied directly in a Level Sequence. Interestingly, animations retargeted to a MetaHuman can also be applied to any other MetaHuman character, showcasing the power of Unreal’s ecosystem. For reverse workflows, retargeted animation sequences can be exported back to CC or iClone as FBX files. When importing these external motions into CC or iClone, selecting the new “UE5 skeleton” motion profile ensures seamless integration with your CC characters. The creator also highlights advanced features like the iClone Unreal Live Link for effortlessly sending assets and characters to Unreal, and the CC UE Control Rig plugin, which allows direct animation and motion editing within Unreal Engine. These tools collectively establish a robust and efficient pipeline for character and animation production.
