Can A Car Be Rigged In Daz To Be Used In UnReal Engine?

mechengineer97

Hey Guys - I can't seem to find any info indicating a car rigged up in Daz3D can be used in Unreal Engine.  Assuming it can, I'm guessing I need to take a crash course in car assembly hierarchy found here https://www.daz3d.com/car-animation--daz-studio-iray-video-tutorial ; as I can't find other guides.  I presume bringing in a car into UE4 without the proper assembly structure is why wheels and other parts wander off.

Back in 2019, I posted a thread explaining that my boss saw an UE4 demo and decided I should abandon Daz3D and work exclusively in Unreal.  I had to explain to him you still need to use software to rig up assets to be used in Unreal.  I guess if the company used only assets that can be purchased within UE, I could use Unreal only.  But many of the props I use are automotive parts I create using Seimens NX12. 

Turns out my bosses boss saw a UE demo a few weeks ago and insisted we need to start using UE.   The time it takes for me to create an engineering storyboard video used to secure funding from corporate headquarters for a new project just keeps taking longer and longer.  It took me about an hour to set this scene up using Daz with just using parenting (the background is an 8K image).  Can't imagine how much longer it will take once UE4 is added to the workflow and all the extra steps that must be taken.

Sevrin

Woudn't you be better off using UE tools for that?

Vehicle User Guide | Unreal Engine Documentation

mechengineer97

Thanks, but was hoping just to use Daz to Unreal Bridge to import the simple animation of the truck driving by the camera.  The tutorial you referenced wll definitely be usefull when I need create an interactive user interface of a HUD to simulate 360 view for someone driving the truck.  But that's a few months down the road.

WendyLuvsCatz

creatives, artists working for the corporate world certainly face some obstacles .

Sadly an executive doesn't comprehend that art is about creating an illusion and sticking to a methodology they insist on has the opposite effect, in the movie industry any smoke and mirrors you can get your hands on are encouraged, nothing is at it appears, from greenscreens with actors holding balls on sticks for dragons, matt painted backgrounds, sets with no backs or roofs or added in post, a model die cast car is even fair game in some scenes, 3D in another, it's all about creating a believable illusion NOT the tools you use.

You know sometimes even the costumes have no back if it's needed only for a front shot, is elaborate and needs to be quickly removed between takes in case the actor passes out!

Nothing on a movie film is real!

The hobbits were not tiny, they were filmed at a perspective, foley stages are used to create sounds. squeezing a packet of crisps is a legitimate way to create a fire crackling.

Your bosses need to watch things like Weta Workshop videos on youtube and cut scenes of famous movies, TV shows and get schooled!

Chohole

Why don't you move your thread to the  Unreal Discussion Forum  you may get more help

FirstBastion

Make your boss happy,  rigged it in Unreal,  render in Unreal.

nonesuch00

Yes, I've used vehicles rigged by another PA that sells at DAZ in UE & in Unity.

However if you are going to be creating animations of scenes your boss wants, then you need to lean animating and rigging sufficienciently well to animate vehicles. It's much easier than people and other critters but would still be harder than you think. If you boss isn't willing to pay for you to attend 6 months of animation and rigging classes for vehicles during your regular work hours then they aren't being serious.  

mechengineer97

nonesuch00 said:

Yes, I've used vehicles rigged by another PA that sells at DAZ in UE4 & in Unity.

However if you are going to be creating animations of scenes your boss wants, then you need to lean animating and rigging sufficiency well to animate vehicles. It's much easier than people and other critters but would still be harder than you think. If you boss isn't willing to pay for you to attend 6 months of animation and rigging classes for vehicles during your regular work hours then they aren't being serious.  

They are really really really really really really cheap.  Corporate laptop I've been assigned to do this uses an onboard GPU.  Been working from home using my gaming/rendering rig since 2017.  My boss is calling different dept's in Canada and the US to see if he could find free Unreal training.

I really shouldn't complain as what I'm doing started off as an experiment when I had only a month left in my contract as an engineer.  They wanted a video to help get funding for an R&D project.  Started off using those online animation apps.  The video was absolutely cheesy, but it got several million dollars in funding and that got my contract extended to six months.  Learned how to use iClone and videos got better.  Some executive in Detroit saw one of my videos and invited me as an exhibitor for a convention at corporate headquarters.  It was after using Daz3D with iRay, they offered me a permanent position.  iRay really blew them away.  Since doing these videos, I've helped bring in $60M to $80M worth of funding for projects.

On the subject of Unreal, spent the entire weekend performing trial and error and finally figured out how to rig the vehicle correctly.  Frack Me, I purchased the tutorial mentioned above and it was absolutely useless.  The rigging lesson consisted of bringing in a pre-rigged car.  The highlight of the lesson was to set the camera angle so viewers don't see that half of the car wheels are swallowed up by the ground.

I ended up using a "How to rig a cupboard door" on YouTube.  Too bad the guy doesn't have a Patreon or any other account for donations.  The biggest obstacle was finding out you need to save and reopen a Daz project whenever you make changes otherwise, the Daz to UE4 bridge will fail.

WendyLuvsCatz

struth I thought you must have been in a third world country