Character Animations ¶

This document is a work in progress.

This tutorial will guide you through the proccess of setting up the character rig (metarig) and importing animations from the game.

To get started you will need:

• Darklight Blender Addon
• PSA Import Addon
• umodel
• DH Metarig

Linking metarig to your .blend file ¶

NOTE
You can skip this step and use a template file provided with the metarig.

It's recommended to link the metarig so it can be easily hotswapped — to upgrade to a new version for example.

1. Link the metarig file ¶

• Open your blend file or create a new one, then go to File -> Link....
• Find the dh-metarig-x.x.blend file.
• In the metarig file select COLLECTIONS -> CHAR.

2. Create a library override ¶

• In the viewport, select the character you just linked.
• Press F3 and type Make library override.

3. Import keying sets ¶

• Open Text Editor window (Shift F11)
• Open provided dh-metarig-x.x-keyingset-all.py in the editor and click Run Script button.
• Repeat the same for dh-metarig-x.x-keyingset-transforms.py file.

If you look at Scene tab in the properties window on the right, you should now see two new keying sets.

4. Attach the weapon (optional) ¶

• Link the 3rd person weapon mesh the same way as the character rig and make a library override for it.

• Go to weapon's object constraints and add Copy Tranform.

• In the constraint UI, pick RIG as target and select ATTACH_WEAPON_HERE bone. The weapon should snap to the weapon control bone on the character rig.

  NOTE
  If weapon is attached sideways, switch Weapon Offset custom property on the PROPERTIES bone.

• Optional: Attach magazine bone to ATTACH_AMMO_HERE using a Copy Constraint. This will allow you to parent hands to the ammo controller using rig parenting system.

• Optional: Attach the camera to ATTACH_CAMERA_HERE bone to control the camera without switching out of the pose mode — handy for making pose library thumbnails.

5. Add rest pose to NLA editor (optional) ¶

• Create a new action (you can name it #rest).
• Optional: Adjust any custom properties if needed.
• Select RIG ALL keyset and make a keyframe.
• Add the rest action to the bottom-most NLA track.

Importing animations ¶

NOTE
Our character animations are stored in DHCharactersGER_anm.ukx package. To extract them, use umodel tool.

For this part you'll need the PSA Import Addon and Darklight Blender Addon installed.

1. Import sequences from the .psa file ¶

1. Go to File -> Import... -> Unreal PSA (.psa)
2. Pick the .psa file with character animations.
3. Select sequences from the list and click Import.

2. Transfer animations onto the character rig ¶

IMPORTANT
The animations will be transfered with the parenting relations you have setup. Make sure to adjust parenting before proceeding!

For example, for most weapon animations, you might want to have hands parented to the weapon.

1. Select the RIG armature and go to pose mode.
2. Go to armature data properties.
3. Find the Darklight Animation Baker tab.
4. Select IMPORT armature under Source Armature.
5. Select RETARGET bone collection under Target Bones.
6. Pick the sequences you want to transfer and click Bake Actions.

CAUTION
Selecting "rest" action or any other actions that modify metarig properties might mess up the transfer of other sequences.