ALS Community: Metahuman Integration (UE5)

[NxRoot]

How To Integrate Metahumans with ALS Community?

1. Create a new C++ project with the Third Person Template and close it.

2. Move the ALS Community Plugin (V4.23/UE5.0) (V4.24/UE5.1) into the Plugins folder inside your project. (Create one if doesn't exist)
   Instructions here

3. Add a Metahuman to your project.

4. Duplicate ALS_CharacterBP, name it MH_CharacterBP and move it to your content folder.

5. Duplicate IK_UE4_Mannequin, name it MH_IKRIG and move it to your content folder.

6. Change Preview Mesh to AnimMan. (Optional)

7. Create a new IK Retargeter and name it MH_IKRETARGET.

8. Select MH_IKRIG.

9. Open MH_IKRETARGET and select Target IKRig Asset as IK_metahuman.

10. Set all metacarpal bones to None.

11. Search for "RTG_M" and open RTG_metahuman_base_skel_AnimBP.

12. Set IKRetargeter Asset to MH_IKRETARGET.

13. Open your metahuman BP and copy the entire body.

14. Open your MH_CharacterBP and paste the entire body.

15. Drag the body into the mesh.

• Reset all transformations to 0.
• Select RTG_metahuman_base_skel_AnimBP as the animation blueprint for the body.
• Scale the body to fit the mesh. (Optional)

16. Set the Mesh to invisible and to always refresh bones.

17. Set Master Pose on Body Parts.

18. Create a new game mode named MH_GameMode.

19. Set MH_GameMode to use the new MH_CharacterBP and ALS_Player_Controller.

20. Select MH_GameMode in world settings.

21. Go to project settings. Enable Enchanced Input or the engine will crash.

22. Final Result.

HAVE FUN!

[BigRocha]

Thank you very much, I followed the steps and got good results, but how to correct the position of the hands was not covered in the tutorial, maybe the socket is missing? could you help me indicating what to do?

[NxRoot]

So first you must understand that by using this method you are essentially reflecting ALS animations at runtime. So every calculation related to bones is using the ALS skeleton not the metahuman.

The hand sockets will always need to be fixed individually according to your needs because the weapons are attached to the ALS skeleton, so in order to fix hand sockets you have 2 ways:

1. Use Hand IK to place the hands in the same position of ALS skeleton hands. (Example here)
   • This is just a quick fix, I do not recommend doing this if you plan making something solid.
2. Add Sockets to the metahuman skeleton and attach the weapons directly to it. (Recommended) (Example here)
   • There are a lot of things to to with this approach, but I will always recommend it because you will have full control of your skeleton.

Obviously both processes are very complex. If you plan to make a solid game this is my advice:

• Forget about ALS weapons, keep only the overlay animations. (Its better to add your own weapons later)
• Fix the mantle animations if you need them. (Increase the values in Mantle_1m and Mantle_2m curves to fix them)
  • You can also use the HandIK approach just to fix the mantling.

• Fix Ragdoll. (Don't know. My workaround was not to use a retargeted character and use the ALS animations directly in the metahuman skeleton by re-targeting every single animation) (Maybe I will do a Tutorial on this later)

Ill be happy to help you if you need.

[BigRocha]

Thanks a lot for the explanation, it helped a lot, I'll try to use the method of manually adding sockets to the metahuman skeleton, and maybe fork the als community to remove the overlaystates and things that won't be needed in the final project (in order to add the weapons later as you mentioned), at the end of the explanation you said you would be happy to help, would it be possible for us to talk via discord sometime? my nickname is Rocha#4906

[NxRoot]

Thanks a lot for the explanation, it helped a lot, I'll try to use the method of manually adding sockets to the metahuman skeleton, and maybe fork the als community to remove the overlaystates and things that won't be needed in the final project (in order to add the weapons later as you mentioned), at the end of the explanation you said you would be happy to help, would it be possible for us to talk via discord sometime? my nickname is Rocha#4906

Sure, Ive send you a friend request. ninjaroot#3879

[ruchirlives]

Hey @NxRoot thanks for supporting me on YouTube. Your videos have been really well presented and insightful. I haven’t yet been able to get my Metahuman to lift its feet off the ground while walking or running but everything else works well. However, I can confirm that the project that you uploaded works fine.

[Brayinja]

Excellent tutorial!!! Thank you very much.

After panicking a bit on step 17, and not been able to continue with the tutorial due to the "Set Master Pose Component" node not existing at all, I searched and read about this and found out that this very specific node is now called "Set Leader Pose Component", so I'm leaving this comment in case someone else gets stucked at step 17.

Thanks, and greetings from Costa Rica 😄!