Importing the required assets

Unreal Engine allows users to import a wide range of file types for users to customize their projects. There are several import options that developers can tweak and play around with to match their required settings.

Some common file types that game developers often import are FBX for scenes, meshes, animations (exported from Maya and other similar software), movie files, images (mostly for the user interface), textures, sounds, data in CSV files, and fonts. These files may be obtained from the Epic Marketplace or any other means (such as the internet) and used within the project.

Assets can be imported by dragging and dropping them into the Content folder, or by clicking the Import button in the Content Browser area.

Now let’s tackle an exercise where we’ll learn how to import FBX files and see how this is done.

Exercise 2.03 – importing a character FBX file

This exercise will focus on importing a 3D model from an FBX file. FBX files are widely used to export and import 3D models, along with their materials, animations, and textures.

Follow these steps to complete this exercise:

1. Download the SK_Mannequin.FBX, ThirdPersonIdle.FBX, ThirdPersonRun.FBX, and ThirdPersonWalk.FBX files from the Chapter02 | Exercise2.03 | ExerciseFiles directory, which can be found on GitHub.

Note

The ExerciseFiles directory can be found on GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Game-Development-Projects-with-Unreal-Engine/tree/master/Chapter02/Exercise2.03/ExerciseFiles.

2. Open the blank project we created in Exercise 2.01 – creating an empty C++ project.
3. In the Content Browser area of the project, click Import:

Figure 2.10 – The Content Browser area’s Import button

4. Browse to the directory of the files we downloaded in Step 1, select SK_Mannequin.FBX, and click on the Open button.
5. Make sure that the Import Animations button is unchecked and click the Import All button. You may get a warning here stating that There are no smoothing groups. You can ignore this for now. With that, you have successfully imported a skeletal mesh from an FBX file. Now, we need to import its animations.
6. Click the Import button again, browse to the folder we created in Step 1, and select ThirdPersonIdle.fbx, ThirdPersonRun.fbx, and ThirdPersonWalk.fbx. Then, click on the Open button.
7. Make sure that the skeleton is set to the one you imported in Step 5 and click Import All:

Figure 2.11 – FBX Import Options

8. Now, you will see the three animations (ThirdPersonIdle, ThirdPersonRun, and ThirdPersonWalk) inside the Content Browser area.
9. If you double-click on ThirdPersonIdle, you’ll notice that the left arm is hanging down. This means that there’s a retargeting issue. When the animations are imported separately from the skeleton, the Unreal Engine internally maps all the bones from the animation to the skeleton. However, sometimes, that results in a glitch. Let’s resolve this:

Figure 2.12 – ThirdPersonIdle UE4 mannequin animation glitch

10. Open the SK_Mannequin Skeletal Mesh and open the Skeleton Tree tab if it wasn’t opened previously:

Figure 2.13 – SK_Mannequin Skeleton Tree tab

11. Under Options, enable the Show Retargeting Options setting:

Figure 2.14 – Show Retargeting Options

12. Now, inside the skeleton tree, reduce the spine_01, thigh_l, and thigh_r bones to enable better visibility.
13. Now, select the spine_01, thigh_l, and thigh_r bones. Right-click on them and, in the menu, click the Recursively Set Translation Retargeting Skeleton button. This will fix the bone translation issues we encountered previously.
14. Re-open the ThirdPersonIdle animation to verify the hanging arm has been fixed:

Figure 2.15 – Fixed ThirdPersonIdle animation

Note

You can find the complete exercise code files on GitHub in the Chapter02 | Exercise2.03 | Ex2.03-Completed.rar directory by going to the following link: https://packt.live/2U8AScR.

After extracting the .rar file, double-click the .uproject file. You will see a prompt asking Would you like to rebuild now?. Click Yes on that prompt so that it can build the necessary intermediate files, after which it should open the project in Unreal Editor automatically.

By completing this exercise, you’ve understood how to import assets and, more specifically, imported an FBX skeletal mesh and animation data into your project. This is crucial for the workflows of many game developers as assets are the building blocks of the entire game.

In the next section, we’ll look at the Unreal core classes for creating a game, how important they are for creating a game or experience, and how to use them inside a project.