Intro to MetaHuman in Unreal Engine & Houdini KineFX for Animation

Perk 2 Members

Download HIP Project & HDA & Motion Capture Assets: Perk 2 Bridge Swing - Intro to MetaHuman.zip

Perk 1 Members

Download HIP Project: Perk 1 Bridge Swing - Intro to MetaHuman.zip

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MetaHuman in UE5 with Procedural Animated Bridge Rig in Houdini KineFX

Swinging Bridge

I got a small taste of creating a short animation! Well this is a 10s scene, but it’s a start. The swinging bridge was modeled, rigged, and animated completely in Houdini from scratch! The bridge was made procedurally, so if you wanted it to be longer or shorter that can all be adjusted in the HDA exposed parameters and the changed will automatically be reflected in the animated rig. The HDA will automatically regenerate the rig for the bridge.

Procedural Animated Bridge Rig in Houdini KineFX

Swinging Bridge Animated Rig Houdini HDA Generator

KineFX on MetaHumans

I think the more interesting part that a lot of people might be interested is how I used KineFX to align the hands of the MetaHuman onto the bridge. First I used motion capture to capture some general acting motion of the MetaHuman struggling on the bridge, but the hands don’t align with the animated bridge, because I’m just pretending in real life and there’s no physical bridge in my bedroom. Using KineFX in Houdini and some IK magic, I can lock the hands of the mocap animation onto the bridge while maintaining the original motion captured animation!