When creating controls for your Control Rigs, you may need to differentiate them visually from each other, or use a better-suited shape for a control. Using the Control Shape properties, you can affect a control's transform, color, and shape. You can also create and edit Control Shape Libraries to add or change the control shapes available to you.
This document provides an overview of these tools and features.
Prerequisites
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You have an understanding of the Control Rig Editor.
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Controls are added to your Control Rig.
Control Shapes
To view a control's properties, select it in the Control Rig Editor and locate the Control Shape properties in the Details panel.
Change Shape
To change your control's shape, select one of the options from the Shape drop-down menu.
You can also change the color of a shape by clicking the Color property, which opens the Color Picker. Select a color and click OK to change the color of the control shape.
Control Shape Library
If you want to add to or change the list of shapes available, you can do so using the Control Shape Library. Each Control Rig asset contains a reference to the library, and you can view it by clicking Class Settings in the Control Rig Editor, then locating the Gizmo Library property in the Details tab.
You can choose to use the existing library, or assign a different ControlRigGizmoLibrary to the control rig class.
You can open the library by either double-clicking the asset from the Details tab, or by navigating manually to it in the Content Browser. It is located in the Engine > Plugins > Control Rig Content > Controls folder. Because it is located within the Engine > Plugins folder, you must enable Show Engine Content and Show Plugin Content from the Content Browser Settings.
Library Properties
Once opened, the library is populated with the following properties:
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Gizmo Name | The name of the initial Control Shape when adding a new control. |
| Static Mesh | The mesh to use for the initial Control Shape when adding a new control. |
| Transform | The location, rotation, and scale to use for the initial Control Shape when adding a new control. |
| Default Material | The Material to use for all controls. |
| Material Color Parameter | The Vector 3 Material Parameter from the Default Material to affect when you change the Color property on the Control Shape. |
| Gizmos | The array that populates the Shape drop-down menu of the control. Here you can specify each shape's Name, Static Mesh, and Transform. New shapes can be added using the Add Element button. Shapes can be removed by clicking the drop-down button and selecting Delete. |
Adding New Shapes
Control Shapes are represented using Static Meshes, which you can view in the same folder as the Control Rig Library asset.
You can import your own .fbx static meshes to expand your library with custom shapes. To do this, assuming you have a .fbx model file already exported, import it into Unreal Engine by clicking Import in the Content Browser, selecting your .fbx file, and clicking Import.
When importing new meshes for use as a control shape, it is not necessary to import any textures or create materials for them. Therefore, ensure that Import Textures is Disabled and Material Import Method is set to Do Not Create Material in the FBX Import Options menu.
After your static mesh is imported, add a new shape entry into the array by clicking the Add Element button on the Gizmos property. Expand the array list and navigate to the newly created entry at the bottom, where you can fill in the Gizmo Name, Static Mesh, and Transform properties.
Now when you return to the Control Rig, your new control should be selectable from the Shape property.
