Maya
NOTE: The blend shapes that come with the FBX from Axis Face come in alphabetical order. Make sure to organize your character’s blend shapes in alphabetical order before using this retargeting method in Maya.
- After you do a recording in Axis Face and get the FBX, import the FBX in Maya.
- Import your character (it needs to have ARkit blendshapes) into the same Maya scene.
- Select the FBX you imported from Axis Face, go to Inputs where you will find the blendshapes with keyframes on it, select all the blend shapes, and Copy the keyframes.
- Select your character’s face, go to Inputs, select all the blend shapes, and Paste the keyframes.
If the animation does not look right, it might be that some of your blend shapes are not in alphabetical order.
Unreal Engine
Face Retargeting for Custom Characters
- Import the recorded FBX from Axis-Face to Unreal Engine
- FBX Import Options:
Select the Skeleton you are retargeting TO
Import Morph Targets needs to be Enabled
Import All - You will get a Warning Message saying that it FAILED TO MERGE BONES. Click on “Yes All”
- You will get another message asking if you want to merge all Skeletal Meshes using that skeleton. Click on “No”
- This will import a Skeletal Mesh, Material, Physics Asset and an Animation Sequence. Open the Animation Sequence and it will ask you if you would like to regenerate the skeleton. Click on “Yes”
- The animation sequence should have your character with the animation from Axis-Face. From there you can adjust the animation curves, you can add it in the Animation Blueprint, use it in the Sequencer, etc.
NOTE: For this method the character’s morph targets do not need to be in alphabetical order since Unreal sorts the morph targets in alphabetical order by default. The animation will not be baked into the character’s skeletal mesh.
Face Retargeting for Metahumans
- Import the recorded FBX from Axis-Face to Unreal Engine
- FBX Import Options:
Select the Face_Archetype_Skeleton (Metahuman’s Facial Skeleton)
Import Morph Targets needs to be Enabled
Import Animations needs to be Enabled
Import All - You will get a Warning Message saying that it FAILED TO MERGE BONES. Click on “Yes All”
- You will get another message asking if you want to merge all Skeletal Meshes using that skeleton. Click on “No”
- This will import a Skeletal Mesh, and an Animation Sequence. Open the Animation Sequence and it will ask you if you would like to regenerate the skeleton. Click on “Yes”
- Open the Sequence and go to the Asset Details panel, under Animation change the Preview Pose Asset to mh_arkit_mapping_pose. You should be able to see the animation playing now.