Animating MetaHumans with Control Rig
This page demonstrates how to animate a MetaHuman in Sequencer using Control Rig. Use this page as a guide to learn the basic controls for animating the body movements of a MetaHuman.
Required Knowledge and Setup
To understand the contents on this page, you should have working knowledge of the following Unreal Engine features:
Before you can follow the steps on this page:
Complete the Using MetaHumans in Sequencer guide.
Animating in Sequencer
For the purpose of this example, we will create an arm wave.
First, in the Animation panel on the left, enable the Only Select Rig Controls option.
This option helps prevent accidentally selecting other actors in the scene.
In the Viewport, while holding Ctrl + Alt, click and drag your cursor to select all of the body controls.
Place the mouse cursor over the Sequencer window and press S on your keyboard to add a keyframe.
In Sequencer, click and drag the timebar to the 0015 mark. This is where you will create your next frame.
In the Viewport, select and modify arm controls to move the arm to its next position.
When in the desired position, select all arm controls, place your cursor over the Sequencer window, and press S to add a keyframe.
Repeat these steps for as many keyframes as you want to add more range of motion to your animation.
See the video below for a full, step-by-step guide.
For a complete list of keyboard shortcuts and details on how to use keyframes, see the Keyframing page from the Unreal Engine documentation.
Baking the Animation
Once you’re happy with an Animation Sequence you created, you can save it by baking the sequence.
To bake a skeletal animation, you have two options:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
Create Linked Animation Sequence | Create an Animation Sequence for this Skeletal Mesh and have this Track Own that Anim Sequence. Note it will create it based upon the Sequencer Display Range and Display Frame Rate. |
Bake Animation Sequence | Bake an Animation Sequence for this Skeletal Mesh. Note it will create it baked upon the Sequencer Display Range and Display Frame Rate. |
In the Sequencer window, right-click the Skeletal Mesh track, then select Create Linked Animation.
Select the folder location to save the animation, name the file, and click OK.
A dialog window will appear where you can specify options related to the bake operation. Select relevant settings, then click Export To Animation Sequence to bake the animation.
For a detailed list of all available options, see Bake Animation to Control Rig.
Bake Animation to Control Rig
When you have an animation sequence that wasn’t created with Control Rig, you can bake it to Control Rig to allow changes.
To do this, you must first add the animation track in Sequencer.
Click + Track on the Body track in Sequencer, select Animation, then click the animation you want to bake.
Right-click the Body track, select Bake To Control Rig, then select MetaHuman_ControlRig.
A dialog window will appear where you can specify options related to the bake operation. Select relevant settings, then click Create to bake the animation sequence to Control Rig.
For a detailed list of all available options, see Bake Animation to Control Rig.
Once completed, you should now see a Control Rig track with keyframes along the timeline. These keyframes should correspond to the overall animation that you have baked from.
When you are done editing your animation, you can bake it back to an animation sequence by right-clicking the Skeletal Mesh track and selecting either Bake Animation Sequence or Create Linked Animation Sequence.
Additional Resources
In this video demonstration, you'll learn some of the ways you can start animating your MetaHumans using Control Rig in Unreal Engine. These techniques can also be applied to animating any asset that is rigged with Control Rig.
This video was created for an earlier version of MetaHumans with Unreal Engine 4. Some terms and workflows may be different in Unreal Engine 5.