AXIS NEURON + Unreal Configuration

This article will have information on steps for setting up Perception Neuron and Unreal using our UNREAL Plugin.

https://neuronmocap.com/software/unreal-plugin

AXIS NEURON SETUP

Broadcasting

In Axis Neuron configure the broadcast settings to UDP. 

Enable BVH data stream and leave the default ClientPort of 7002

Output Format

Disable Displacement option so that the Unreal Plugin ignores Axis Neuron's bone translation data and only uses rotation data. Feet movement will still be tracked.

Note: If you enable displacement, the body size of the avatar inside of Axis Neuron will have 100% affect on the assigned Unreal Character.

Character Assignment

Our Unreal Plugin relies on the naming of your character inside of Axis Neuron. You will need to input the name from Axis Neuron correctly inside of the Unreal. (image e.g)

UNREAL SETUP

Download our Perception Neuron Avatar here to follow along.

PROJECT SETUP

Open the Unreal Create a Blank Project and use the following name “NEURONDEMO”. For the project settings select No Starter Content, recommended.for this example we are using 4.18.2

Close the Unreal Editor

Create a new folder in the root director of the Project. Rename the new folder “Plugins”.

Download and Unzip the PerceptionNeuron plugin from Neuronmocap.com downloads page. Based on the Unreal Editor you have use the corresponding version.

Copy the PerceptionNeuron folder found in the unzip file onto the Plugins folder of your Project

Restart the editor and open the NEURONDEMO project

Once the NEURONDEMO project is open, in the Unreal Editors Menu go to Edit->Plugins to check whether the PerceptionNeuron plugin has successfully installed and has started with editor as below:

Create an Animation Blueprint 

What is an Animation Blueprint?

An Animation Blueprint is a specialized Blueprint that controls the animation of a Skeletal Mesh.

Begin with importing a premade model with a skeleton. For this exercise use the following FBX file.

Unzip the Avatar.zip and locate NeuronRobot_SingleMesh.FBX file

In the Content Browser click on Import

In the FBX Import Options select “Import as Skeletal”

NeuronRobot_SingleMesh and NeuronRobot_SingleMesh_Skeleton have been imported to engine successfully in Content Browser:

Create an Animation Blueprint based on NeuronRobot_SingleMesh_Skeleton. Right-click on NeuronRobot_SingleMesh_Skeleton>Create>Anim Blueprint to create Animation Blueprint:

We can see the newly created NeuronRobot_SingleMesh_Skeleton_AnimBlueprint in ContentBrowser:

Double left-click on the Animation Blueprint to edit it. Right-click on Anim Graph to create a NewPoseCalc node and link it`s output to FinalAnimationPose node.

Of course you can also do some work on the output of NewPoseCalc node according to your requirement, and then output the final result to FinalAnimationPose node.

Compile Anim Graph:

Create Actor Blueprint

 We create a Blueprint class and will use it to create test character:

 For simplicity we choose Actor as ParentClass, create an actor Blueprint and named it as "AvatarBlueprint" 

We can see the newly created AvatarBlueprint in ContentBrowser, double  left-click  on AvatarBlueprint to open the BP editor to edit AvatarBlueprint:

Click AddComponent to add PerceptionNeuron and SkeletalMesh component:

Click the newly created SkeletalMesh component, set SkeletalMesh component`s properties in the Details panel on the right side

Result:

Compile AvatarBlueprint and close the BP editor.

Setup Data source

Drag and drop newly created AvatarBlueprint to the scene to create a new actor instance:

Select the newly created actor in the scene, then select PerceptionNeuron component under the actor in Details panel. We can find the properties Avatar Name and BVH Asset under PerceptionNeuron in Details panel:

In the Avatar Name section, use the same naming found in Axis Neuron.