There are 3 stages:-
1. Making an Avatar in AVATURN
2. Adding a Root Bone in BLENDER
3. Importing into UNREAL and adding the character animations.
a further step is Adding mocap and playing on a character
(For this guide the term character & avatar are interchangeable.) And it seems like there are a lot of steps and this is long- but really its because I’m adding pix of almost every step to make it easy.
Note: Click images to display them bigger, use browser back button to close.
1. Avaturn
1.1 First Sign up for Avaturn https://avaturn.me
You should see a New Avatar option and from this screen choose Use Camera
1.2 The website will generate a QR code to scan with with your phone then following onscreen instructions to take 3 images, which will upload to the site, generating an avatar. Once done, you can customise the avatar with outfits, change hair etc.
1.3 When you are happy with the avatar look for the Download icon your Avatar selecting Avatar T-pose.
The downloaded file, in your downloads folder will be called something like Model.glb, rename it to something useful like YourNameAvaturn
(The downloaded file will be in .glb files format which can be easily imported into Unreal and many other 3D software and can contain textures and animations)
2. Blender
Before we go into Unreal we need to add an extra bone to the avatars Skeleton called a Root bone
And we’re going to do this in Blender.
But first, what is a Skeleton and a Root bone
Skeleton and Root Bone
What is a Skeleton?
An invisible stick-figure inside the mesh “skin”. Move a bone and the skin bends with them. Animation is just recorded bone movement over time — so one skeleton’s moves can drive many different characters.
What is a Root bone?
Think of it as a marker on the floor under the character. The character’s limbs animate above it; the marker tells a game engine where the whole body actually is in the world — so collision, movement, and camera all follow the right spot. Without it, the character can walk visually but the engine thinks it hasn’t moved.
2.1 Download Blender from over here (it’s a free open-source 3D creation software. I’m using Blender v5.0 -Want to learn Blender? try the Blender 5.0 Beginner Donut Tutorial )
Open Blender, and in the 3D Modelling window which opens, drag select over the Camera, Light and Cube and delete.
I have made a Blender Add-On ( what Blender calls plugins -which add extra functions.) that will add the root bone for you automatically and also move the character into an A-pose which is a bit better for the animations were going to be using. It’s in the green box below…
To install:
Download from the link above
In Blender, Go to top menu Edit/ Preferences/ Add-Ons, look for the tiny arrow on the right hand side and choose Install from Disk, navigate to the zip file you downloaded by clicking the link above and click Install from Disk. (Don’t Unzip it first) (After installation it will show up in the Add-Ons list) – you can now close this window.
To Open:
On the right side, look for the tiny arrow.. click it, or press n to open the sidebar..
..you should see a vertical tab for Avaturn, click it to open the Avaturn Root + Apose panel
To use:
inside the panel click the Source File to navigate to your Avatrun (or Mixamo) Avatar.
Tick Export to FBX and use the corresponding Where to export FBX to type in a name – something like YourNameAvaturn_Root, then click the folder icon to set a destination folder.
(Keep Add root bone ticked, don’t mess with Angle Scale or Measure Scaled Rig.)
Lastly click the Convert button to export the file. THe Blewdner 3d window will show your converted character but because it has already been exported you can close Blender.
Thats it.
Now this modified avatar will have a root bone and can be imported to Unreal,
If you did this you can skip the Manual Blender Method steps below.
SKIP THIS GREY SECTION if you did the GREEN Section above
Import your Avaturn .glb into Blender – choose File/Import/gltf 2.0
Should look similar to this..
Change the Viewport Shading to see Materials
On right hand side under Scene Collection make sure Armature is selected
On left side change the Object Mode drop down to Edit Mode then choose Add/Single Bone
On right-hand side, expand Armature/Armature and select Bone (this is the bone you just added)
Double click it and rename to Root
The order now is important – on this Armature list, select Root bone then hold Shift and select Hips,
R-click in empty space in the 3D window and choose Parent/Make
….then Choose Keep Offset.
…This adds a Root bone at the top of the Skeletal hierarchy – which is important for the next steps in Unreal.
If you do it wrong, CTRL-Z and try again.
You should end up with this.
In the list select Collection
Go to File/Export and choose GlTF, then in the Export Settings window make sure to untick all in the Include list & untick Shape Keys like this:
Give this exported character a name, something like YourNameAvaturn_Root
3. Unreal
3.1 Starting Unreal
If Unreal is not installed, Get Unreal from here (it’s a free game engine. For starting out in Unreal check out this guide )
(These following steps are for Unreal Version 5.4 but will most likely be very similar in later versions of the engine.)
Open Unreal 5.4, Choose Games, and choose the Third Person Template -this is a starting point for a game experience with a behind view of the player character – like Tomb Raider.
Choose a Project Location for the project and give it a Project Name and then press Create
3.2 Main Window
The project will open, The main window shows the level we are editing.
To navigate around the 3D scene (+ this will be a lot easier with a mouse)
L mouse + drag = rotate view Left / Right + move view in / out
R mouse + drag = rotate view
L + R mouse + drag = pan view
R mouse + W,A,S,D keys move like in a first-person game. R mouse + Q, E move up and down
3.3 Playing and Testing
Your project is made from the Third Person Template and when you hit the Play button at the top you will jump into Play mode as the default third person character – a shiny robot. Try this!
Clicking the 3D window will give it focus and let you control the character and get it to move.
W,A,S,D and Space Bar make the character move and jump.
The mouse looks around, with the character always in the centre.
Try this out!
You can also press F11 to toggle fullscreen mode. With some laptops the function keys need to activated by pressing both FN key and F11.
To return to editing mode press ESC key.
We are going to hack this third person character replacing the robot avatar with yourcharacter.
3.4 Importing a character
In the bottom left corner there’s a button to open the Content Drawer (often called Content Browser.) This shows all the assets that are in the project e.g. animations, meshes, sounds etc. arranged into folders. A project can also have many levels, these are game levels, like the ThirdPersonMap you have open now. (Map & Level mean the same thing). A typical project might have several levels and many assets. You can save and duplictate the levels, and assets can appear in muliple levels
In the Content Drawer, R-click Content frome the list on the left, choose New Folder, name it YourName. (Note: Some letters or symbols can’t be used for Unreal naming -no spaces for example)
R-click YourFolder and choose Set Color – in the colour palette that comes up, give it a custom color to make it be easy to find.
Import your content into this folder & make subfolders when necessary.
In YourFolder, make a folder called YourNameCharacter and inside this folder, another called YourNameCharacter_Anims.
Select the YourNameCharacter folder and import your exported avatar from Blender (created in the steps above) by clicking the Import button.
In the Import Window that pops up, the default settings are fine for now. It will import a ton of stuff.
When it’s done you will see something like the image below. There will be different asset types e.g. textures.
Each asset icon will have a small asterix *- this means it’s not saved so click the Save All button.
(Double clicking something in the Content Browser brings up an editing window for that type of content.)
3.6 Retargeting
The skeleton of Unreal’s character and Avaturn characters are slightly different, so we need to retarget Unreal animations, to work with the Avaturn character.
Taking motion recorded on one skeleton and making it drive a different skeleton — one with different bone names, proportions or joint counts. The retargeter matches bones between the two rigs and converts each rotation into the target’s own reference pose, so a tall actor’s walk still works on a short character.
There is a tool in Unreal that will do the retargeting for you.
Navigate to Content/Characters/Mannequins/Animations …or search for ABP_Manny
It’s visual code that controls animation. For ABP_Manny its a ‘rulebook’ that decides which animation a character plays at any moment e.g. ‘if speed is zero, stand idle; if moving, walk; if faster, run’
-and the animation blueprintblends smoothly between animaitions.
ABP Manny is an Animation Blueprint controlling the Third Person Character
R-Click it and choose Retarget Animations.
In the Retarget Animations window that pops up, leave the Source Skeletal Mesh but for the Target Skeletal Mesh choose YourNameCharacter from the dropdown. To refine the retargeting process there are a lot of more complex options, but for nows let’s use a simple mode so make sure Auto Generate Retargeter is ticked.
Now select everything from the list and click Export Animations
In the Export Animations window navigate to YourNameCharacter_Anims folder and under Rename New Assets, add a memorable Prefix, for example, your initials e.g. BM_ (and remember or write down what you used,
this is so we can filter/find these files in future) -for my character I’m going to use BM_
Whatever you pick, make a note. Then click Export.
In the Batch Export Window that pops up next, we don’t need to Overwrite Existing Assets but do tick Include Referenced Assets – this will make sure everything we need is retargeted.
Exporting makes a retargeted copy of all the animations for your characters skeleton & copies of all the Animation Blueprints. It will make a lot of files and open the Content Browser to show you.
Click Save All.
Thats retargeting done.
3.7 Set up the character
Now we just need to set up the character. First look in ThirdPerson/Blueprints for BP_ThirdPersonCharacter.
We will copy it an edit the copy, so R-click it and choose Duplicate and rename it BP_ThirdPersonYourName.
(This file is a Blueprint, basically a sort of ‘prefab’ or group of assets that can include meshes, animations and code to run it. When we pressed Play in 3.3 above, this blueprint is the character that we see.)
Double click your BP_ThirdPersonYourName to open it.
Inside BP_ThirdPersonYourName click the Viewport tab to see a 3D view
Under Animation on the right hand side use the dropdowns to:
change Anim Class from ABP_Manny to BM_ABP_Manny (the name will have whatever prefix you chose in 3.6)
and
change Mesh/Skeletal Mesh Asset from SKM_Quinn_Simple to YourNameCharacter
..as you do this, the 3D view should swap to your YourNameCharacter’s mesh..
In the top left of the BP_ThirdPersonYourName click the Save icon. You can now close this window.
Great! you’ve now made a custom version of the ThirdPersonCharacter.
3.8 Fix animation
…there is one of the animations that needs a little fix, so the Content Drawer, select Content on the left and in the Search bar, type in YourPrefix_MM_land (mine is BM_MM_land) and double click to open the file.
On the left hand side search under Asset Details for Additive Anim Type and change Additive Anim Type from No additive to Local Space.
Then search for base and set the Base Pose Type to Selected Animation Frame.
In the drop down where it says None click it …
…and in the pop up window, search for & select BM_MM_Idle (again, the name will have whatever prefix you chose in 3.6)
Finally hit the Save icon.
3.9 Tell the game to use your custom character
We have to tell the game to use your character instead of the default. In the top menu look under Window for World Settings.
in World Settings under Game Mode in Selected Game Mode change Default Pawn Class to BP_ThirdPersonYourName.
Thats it.
Now when the game runs this level it looks for settings which are in BP_ThirdPersonGameMode and in the settings which pawn it should use which you have set. To swap to other player characters stop playing the game and change the DefaultPawnClass to another pawn.
Actor = anything placeable in a level. Pawn = an Actor that can be possessed. Controller = an Actor that possesses a Pawn and drives it: PlayerController for human input, AIController for NPCs.
4.0 Testing
Now when you hit the PLAY button, in the 3D window your character is the third person character.
With an Avaturn avatar imported this way there will be some issues with the materials so check out the weird looking materials section below.
Other Bugs // Fixes // Tweaks
Weird Looking Materials
There may be some issues with the materials & textures when importing from Avaturn.
You may see black eyes on your character, bad hair & opaque glasses.
There is an easy fix -import the .glb version of your avaturn avatar <YourAvaturn> in an empty folder & copy the materials from the .glb to <YourCharacter>
Navigate to your characters Skeletal Mesh – that has got a pink outline. Double click it to open it and then…
..drag the <YourCharacter> window title tab up, to dock it on the top window – it will look something like the image below. Drag up the Asset Details tab on the right side to show some of the materials that are wrong. Now open the content drawer (bottom left of the window) and navigate to <YourAvaturn> folder and open its skeketal mesh and dock its title to the window in the same way.
This is a bit of a trick, its easy once you have done it a few times. With <YourAvaturn> tab selected, select the folder with a magnifiying glass icon, under one of the materials, clicking the icon, opens the content browser with it selected In this case its the avaturn_glasses_1_material . Now click on the Tab to swap to <YourCharacter>
Under <YourCharacter’s> Asset details navigate to the glasses material it’s called avaturn_glassess1_material_001 look for the left arrow in a circle icon, clicking this will swap the broken material to the correct one you just selected in the content browser.
Using this method repeat the steps to thru’ all the broken materials replacing them with the correct ones. You can see in the pic that the glass is now see thru but the eyes, hair and so on are still need fixing. Note the order of materials may be different between the two lists AND its best to swap all the materials because there are small details in the materials that may be missing -even though they look the right colour.
Fix neck/head squished on uneven terrain
You might see this error where the neck looks funny if the character goes into uneven terrain. This is because the original character bones don’t match the Avaturn ones.
The fix is quite simple. Look in the Content Browser under Characters/Mannequins/Rigs look for ‘CR_Mannequin_BasicFootIK’
Duplicate and rename the duplicate to rename to ‘CR_YourCharacter_BasicFootIK’. Double click to open it.
on the left had side, under Rig Heirachy, look for the Pelvis bone …
…right click Pelvis and under Refresh select <YourCharacterSkeletalMesh>
This will force this asset to use your characters skeleton & bones, not the default characters and the thing should update.
Now click Compile and then hit the Save icon…Close this window.
in the content browser search for <YourCharacter>_ABP_Manny (My one is called BM2_ABP_Manny) -its the prefix you used when we retargeted the animations. Double click to open it and select the AnimGraph, then in the main window look for the Control Rig.
…Select the Control Rig and in its Details panel on the right hand side, look under Control Rig/Control Rig Class and in the drop down change ‘CR_YourCharacter_BasicFootIK’ to ‘CR_YourCharacter_BasicFootIK’ –mine is called ‘CR_BM2_BasicFootIK’
Compile, Save and Close this window. That’s it.
Weird shadows
If the character seems to leave weird shadows behind this may be because it doesn’t have a physic asset.
To fix – select the characters Skeletal Mesh, R-Click and select Physics Asset /Create and Assign
in the next window, I found these settings to be good (smaller min bone size, then default, I chose 10)
Swapping player characters on the fly.
If you have more than one player avatar its possible to swap at runtime by writing some code. EEK! Unreal uses C++ and/Or Blueprint which is visual coding – you wire nodes together.
Lets do this.! Play the video (has captions if that helps)
Here’s a pic of the final blueprint – click to enlarge
