Unreal Engine — FCS: Armor Set sets up for VROID with Blender
Welcome to my first dev blog about Unreal Engine, where we dive into the exciting world of VROID and Unreal Engine 5! Join me on a journey that combines the power of VROID, a fantastic character creation tool, with the cutting-edge features of Unreal Engine 5, the latest iteration of the renowned game development engine, and the amazing asset Flexible Combat System (FCS).
In this blog, I will guide you through the process of harnessing VROID’s intuitive character creation capabilities and seamlessly integrating them into Unreal Engine 5’s stunning visual environment and, more importantly, how to use Blender to split VROID’s mesh to use in FCS. Whether you’re an aspiring game developer, a seasoned artist, or simply curious about the possibilities of this dynamic duo, you’ll find step-by-step tutorials, insightful tips, and inspiring examples that will empower you to bring your virtual worlds to life like never before. Let’s unlock the potential of VROID and Unreal Engine 5 together and embark on a thrilling adventure in the realm of digital creation.
Disclaimer: This post heavily uses the Flexible Combat System (FCS) and its tutorials.
1. Creating Character with VROID
VROID is a FREE application that helps create anime-inspired characters easily. You can download the application from here. I am using version 1.22.0 in this blog.
You could change everything on your model from height to eye colors.
To set up for splitting the mesh easily later. I go with an empty character first. That means the character has no hair, and no shirt, no shoes, and only underwear. Beside, the mannequin we use in Unreal Engine 5 has a height of 184 cm so we need to match it for easy in retargeting.
Then we can export our base model by clicking on the export button at the top right hand side and choosing “Export as VRM”. You can also reduce the polygons by the right panel.
In this blog post, I use VRM0.0 as the export format.
2. Import and Split mesh in Blender.
First, you need to use VRM Add-On for Blender to import the VRM file.
Hide the bones to easy on modifying our mesh. Hit the eye button.
Click on the mesh and go to edit mode (Tab or Switch on Mode dropdown list)
Here is what you should see.
Let's start splitting the hands first.
Choose Face Selection Mode (3 on your keyboard or select Face Mode) to select faces in your mesh.
Also, Toggle on X-RAY (Alt-Z) to see through the mesh easier.
Hold shift when you drag your mouse to select and Control-Left Click to de-select.
Hit p on your keyboard to display the Separate popup menu then choose “Selection”
You should have something like this.
Because the VROID model comes with a separate face, we need to combine it into the whole mesh to split the head.
Switch back to Object Mode (tab or Mode dropdown list). Left click on the face, then Shift-Left Click on the body then do Control-j on your keyboard to join two objects.
Here what it should look like when you go to Edit Mode
Now apply the same method that we did for the hands to other parts (head, body, legs, and boots)
I renamed all the body parts for easier tracking.
Click the eye button on the parent to show the bones again. On the right panel, left-click to choose the body part you want to export, then control-left click on “Amature”.
The next step is exporting. Firstly, we need to export all body parts at once then export each part of the body later. The whole body mesh will be used to set up retargeting and animations for your character. Beside that, body parts use the whole body’s skeleton as their skeleton on importing.
Shift-Left Click on All body parts, then Control-Left Click on the “Amature”. It should look like this. The selected body parts outline must be RED, and the bones outline must be yellow.
Then choose File->Export->VRM
It might ask if you have multiple models in your workplace. Make sure you pick the correct parent.
Hit OK. Then you will get the below popup to export the VRM. Make sure you select “Export Only Selections”
3. Import to Unreal Engine
To import VRM file into Unreal Engine, you need to use the VRM4U plugin. Follow its tutorial to add that plugin in.
When you finish that, drag and drop the VRM model into the content drawer or just select “Import”.
You could change the material type that you see fit. I usually use Auto(Mtoon Unlit). Important, leave “Skeleton” option empty for the whole body import.
Tada
Recommendation: You should set up retargeting and animations which you could find the tutorials on the FCS’s discord before moving to the next steps.
Next, Do the same step to export and import other body parts. When you import, remember to pick the whole body Skeleton for the “Skeleton” option.
Note: You might have seen there are lot of duplicated files on each imports which I will make another post on how to clean them up (bc I have not figured out yet :D)
After finishing with the imports, go to FlexibleCombatSystem->Blueprints->BP_PlayerCharacter.
Select Chest, Boots, Legs, Helmet, and Hands then set their visible to ON. Select the “Mesh” (parent mesh) then change its Visible to OFF and Hidden in Game to ON.
Change the Skeletal Mesh Asset of The Chest, Boots, Legs, Helmet, and Hands to the assets we imported.
Then follow up the FCS’s tutorial to change the default meshes to the new meshes.
4. Split and Import cloths/armors
Thank you for reaching to this spot of the post. I hope you have fun and have gained some amounts of knowledge about Blender and VRM.
Next, we will use VROID to make an amor set.
In VROID Studio, use the same model you created above then go to Outfit tab->Tops and pick a top amor for your model.
Then import it to Blender and split the “body” out. You should use the body part that you have done above for the base model as the reference.
Then export to as VRM and import it into Unreal Engine like above (Don’t forget to choose the Skeleton).
Go to BP_PlayerCharacter blueprint and change the chest’s skeleton to the newly imported to test out your work (Don’t forget to revert it).
Then follow FCS’s tutorial on how to make a new armor with the newly imported asset.
That is it. You could use the same steps to create and import other amor parts from VROID Studio to Unreal Engine.
Recommend: you should create and split the armor part one by one for easy on splitting.
Alright my friends, that is it. Again, I hope you have fun with VROID because this tech has so much potential especially for our indie game developer.
