Using Modular Rig for Environment Animation in Unreal Engine
Joe Chu demonstrates how the rig works in-engine on a mechanical prop.
Joe Chu
Unreal Engine is not usually the software that is used for rigging and animation, but Technical Artist Joe Chu proves that it can be with his experiments with Modular Control Rigs for simple environment animations.
In his latest showcase, he used a mechanical prop, something like an engine, and applied a Modular Rig to make it move.
He noted that it's possible to move beyond single-joint motion "as long as the prop parts are spitted with animation in mind," building a skeleton and painting skin weights directly in UE works well for moderate complexity props, and mechanical modules like Hinge and Piston are already well supported in the engine.
Despite the success, Chu emphasizes that this isn’t a full DCC replacement and the result depends on how well the asset is designed and segmented upfront.
"For me, this reinforced that Modular Rig lowers the barrier to keeping work entirely in-engine and expands what environment art and level design can include, especially for smaller projects where DCC round-trips aren’t available or are too costly. On top of that, it could potentially enable iteration to happen directly in the level."
You can see his other works and experiments on LinkedIn:
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