Phantom engine plug-in - Maya LIVELINK - install and use

1 Maya LiveLink brief introduction

be used for Autodesk Maya Plug in for , Used to connect to UE4 Medium LiveLink To transfer animation data

Maya edition 2016 To 2022 A collection of plug-ins , Can be used through LiveLink take Maya Connect to UE4. The plug-in allows you to transfer animation and other attribute data from Maya Stream to Unreal. Support joint based characters 、 The props 、 Lights and cameras . It also allows users to control how these topics are transferred to the unreal . for example , The camera can send FOV Equal attribute , However, it can also be set to send only its transformation data .

2 Download address ： Unreal mall 【 free 】

Unreal mall link

3 Installing a plug-in

Online installation ：
Three versions are supported 4.23 4.26 4.27, Other versions cannot be used .
Clicking restart will automatically switch to the unreal engine for installation .

Offline installation ：
The local download address of the plug-in is as follows , Copy it to the same relative path to use ：

Engine installation path \UE_4.26\Engine\Plugins\Marketplace\MayaLiveLink

4 Technical details

characteristic :

Maya In C++ plug-in unit , Used to transfer data to UE4
Maya In UI Allow control of Maya Which topics of the scene should be streamed

install :

take Maya The plug-in path points to the Maya Download location of version
load MayaLiveLinkPlugin.mll
load MayaLiveLinkUI.py
( Optional ) If you want to do it next time Maya Load them at startup , Please set both to “ Automatic loading ”
stay MEL Input in the command window MayaLiveLinkUI

Support platform ：

Supported development platform :Win64
Supported target building platform :Win64

5 Official documents - Instructions :

Address Links

5.1 - Enable Live Link plug-in unit

5.1.1 In your project , from edit （Edit） Under the menu bar （Menu Bar）, choice plug-in unit （Plugins）.

5.1.2 stay Animation （Animation） Under part , in the light of Live Link single click Enabled （Enabled）, And click... On the confirmation window yes （Yes）, Then restart the editor .

This will enable Live Link Plug in to connect to the outside DDC Tools . To put your DDC The tool connects to the Unreal Engine , You will need to enable the corresponding plug-ins . For this method description , Our main concern is Maya, And need to Maya Enable plug-ins in .

5.1.3 Download from the unreal mall of the Unreal Engine MayaLiveLink Plug in files .

Unless you change the installation path , Otherwise, these files should be located in the following location ：C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.25\Engine\Plugins\Marketplace\MayaLiveLink.

5.1.4 For you Maya Version copy this folder , Then navigate to your Maya Install the folder and paste it into plug-ins In the folder .

2016-2019 Version of Maya There are prefabricated binaries . In this guide , We use Maya 2017.

In the next step , We will be in Maya Enable Live Link plug-in unit , And open Maya Live LinkUI（Live Link UI） window , So that you can view the connection status with the running version of the Unreal Engine editor .

5.2 - Enable Maya Live Link

5.2.1 open Maya, And then in Windows and Set up / Preferences （Settings/Preferences） Choose Plug in Manager （Plug-in Manager）.

5.2.2 single click Browse （Browse） Button , Then navigate to the copied MayaLiveLink Folder and add .mll file .

5.3.3 Repeat the previous steps , And from Plug in Manager （Plug-in Manager） add to .py file .

Once added , You will see the plug-in manager （Plug-in Manager） The plug-in status in is loaded （Loaded）.

5.3.4 stay Maya Lower left MEL Console , Input MayaLiveLinkUI, Then press Enter.

MEL Console commands are case sensitive , Therefore, you must strictly follow the instructions of the above steps to enter .

This will open Maya Live LinkUI Connection status （Maya Live Link UI Connection Status） window .

The connection status is displayed at the top right of the window , Indicates whether you are connected to a running version of the Unreal Engine editor . The lower window is used to name and add / Remove the unreal engine to be streamed （ This will be done later in this guide ） The theme of （Subjects）.

We are not connected yet , But in the next step , We will establish a connection with the Unreal Engine , We can export in Maya Animation resources and skeleton mesh bodies used in , And add it as a topic , Stream back to the unreal engine for real-time preview .

5.3 - Set up the unreal engine connection

5.3.1 stay Maya in , Select an object （ For example, Cube 、 Sphere, etc ）, And then choose " stay Maya Live Link UI Add the selected item to the "（Add Selection in Maya Live Link UI）. This will help UE Identify the newly enabled plug-ins .

5.3.2 In the Unreal Engine editor , from Window Under the menu bar （Menu Bar）, choice Live Link.

5.3.3 stay Live Link Window , single click Source （Source） Button , And then in Message bus source （Message Bus Source） Choose your Maya Live Link Source , And click determine （Ok）.

If you go back Maya,Maya Live Link Connection status （Maya Live Link Connection Status） The window will update , To reflect the new connection status .

Now we have connected , We need a theme to preview and test the connection .

5.3.4 In the Unreal Engine , stay Content/Mannequin/Animations Open in folder ThirdPersonRun resources .

5.3.5 Click... From the toolbar Export resources （Export Asset） And select Preview mesh body （Preview Mesh）.

5.3.6 choice yes （Yes） Export skeleton mesh body , Enable Export preview mesh body （Export Preview Mesh） And select an export location , And then in FBX Export options （FBX Export Options） Select in window export （Export）.

5.3.7 stay Maya Inside , stay file （File） Choose Import （Import）, And import the FBX resources .

5.3.8 Switch to Animation （Animation） Pattern , Then select the role's root （Root） bones .

5.3.9 stay Maya Live Link UI（Maya Live Link UI） Window , single click Add selection （Add Selecton） Button .

This will take the selection as The theme （Subject） add to , To flow to the Unreal Engine .

The plug-in knows that this is a joint level , And mark the topic as a role （Character）. name Root Is the name of the topic that you can change in the text input box . This name will be reflected in the unreal engine as the theme name . By default , Flow type （Stream Type） Will be set according to the type of data to be streamed . You can Flow type To modify in settings , To send the information you need .
…
If you have more than one network card in your machine , And you want to specify the network card used to receive data , You need to specify unicast breakpoints in the project settings .

Now set Maya To stream our topic to UE4 Editor , Next, we will set up the unreal engine to receive streaming themes , So that we can start from the Maya Live preview of content .

5.4 - Live Link Preview Controller

5.4.1 In the Unreal Engine , stay Content/Mannequin/Character/Mesh Open under folder SK_Mannequin resources .

5.4.2 single click Preview scene settings （Preview Scene Settings） tab , And then in Preview Controller （Preview Controller） Choose Live Link Preview Controller （Live Link Preview Controller）.

5.4.3 stay Live Link Subject name （Live Link Subject Name） Click the drop-down menu and select root.

The viewport updates , And the role will enter the role being Maya The posture used in .

5.4.4 Enable Enable Camera Synchronization （Enable Camera Sync） Options .

This will synchronize the virtual engine's camera to Maya Last used viewport camera in . No matter when , When you are in Maya When moving the camera in , The phantom engine's camera will be updated to match .

5.4.5 Go to your Editor preferences （Editor Preferences）, And in performance （Performance） Disable under Less used in the background CPU（Use Less CPU when in Background） Options .

This option limits the background performance of the editor , And prevent the editor from Maya Render when there is focus , This will prevent us from seeing real-time updates .

Tips ：

If you want the editor to continue evaluation while it is idle , It can also be in Live Link Adjust... In the connection window Effective engine time （Valid Engine
Time）, Get more time before the editor stops evaluating .

return Maya And erase the animation , Or move the camera in the viewport .

In this example , We used Live Link Preview Controller , But you can also pass Live Link Component to stream attached to a Actor The data on the .

5.5 - final result

When you are in Maya When erasing animation or moving the camera , The movement of characters and cameras in the phantom engine will be updated , To match you in Maya What you see in . The typical workflow is as follows , stay Maya Create your content in , Export the skeleton mesh body and import it into the illusion engine , Follow the connection setup steps described in this guide to establish a connection , Then in the Unreal Engine Live Link Preview on topic in Maya Animation created in .

You can also change your animation , The changes are reflected in real time in the illusion engine Live Link On the subject .

In the above, we updated the position of the head to make the character look around when running , Let's see what it looks like in the Unreal Engine . This is about how to use Live Link A simple example of a plug-in , This feature has many other advantages , You can Live Link Find these advantages on the plug-in documentation page .

Warning ：
If you are using 4.23 Previous Maya Live Link The plug-in version , It drives the camera through blueprints , May not transform correctly . You can click the following figure , add to Add
Relative Rotation Node and set it to 0, 180, 90 To fix this problem .