What you'll learn:
- You will learn how to create a stunning cinematic animation scene in Unreal Engine 4, from beginning to end
- You will learn how to create the scene in the "Preview This Course" video, step-by-step
- You will receive all scene files including alien character, male & female characters, spaceship interior & music
- Learn the benefits of "real-time rendering and animation" - a true game changer in the industry
- You will learn how to export a Genesis character from DAZ Studio, and import it to Mixamo to prepare for animation
- Learn how to export the character and animations from Mixamo and then import them to Unreal Engine 4
- You will learn how to use realistic PBR (Physically based rendering) Materials in your scene to give ultra realism
- You will learn how to create smooth camera moves inside Unreal Engine 4, giving your scene a professional cinematic look and feel
- You will learn how to color grade your scene with HitFilm 3 Express ( a free video editing program) and upload your finished scene to YouTube
- BONUS MATERIAL: You will get a tutorial on how to use Unreal Engine 4's "Decals" which will give your scene a new level of realism
IMPORTANT: Everything you'll learn in this course can be applied to the new release of Unreal Engine 5. The new features of UE5 such as LUMEN and NANITE are not covered in this course yet, however. You can even switch the layout of UE5 back to classic UE4 if you'd like to make it easier to follow along. (Iprefer the slick new layout of UE5 myself)
TESTIMONIAL
"One word for this course . . . "FANTASTIC"! This course is as close to perfection as you can get. The instructor speaks slowly, with enthusiasm. He covers all the necessities without bogging you down with too much info. I love how he gets you having fun quickly with the Sequencer section. The audio is of great quality. His depth of knowledge in a variety of 3D packages is amazing. I am familiar with DAZ3D, Mixamo and Unreal but I learned so many great tips and discovered several things that I was doing incorrectly. I searched Youtube for UE4 sequencer tutorials and found none of them to be satisfactory. After ten minutes with this course, I was very confident with Sequencer. If you are interested in getting DAZ3D characters into Unreal, and a ton of bonus tips and information on top of it, you DO NOT want to miss out on this fantastic course!" ~ J Jackson
What You Will Learn In This Course
In this course we will cover the steps on how to animate your character in Unreal Engine. This is a project based course, and I’ve designed it to be really, really fun! All the scene files you will need are included in the course. You will get the Exile Alien character along with 28 motion-capture animations that work with him. You’re going to love how easy it is - you just drag and drop your character in the scene and it’s ready to go!
We’re also going to cover lighting, physically based materials, camera movement and much more. Best of all it’s FUN!
DAZ Studio Export
We will coverhow to prepare your DAZ Genesis character for export and animation. There are certain steps that need to be taken in order for the character to be able to accept motion-capture animations in Mixamo and then imported into Unreal Engine.
Mixamo
(Note: Even though Mixamo discontinued direct support for Unreal Engine, this method works by exporting standard FBX from Mixamo to UE4.)
Next, we’ll upload your character into Adobe Mixamo and add motion-capture animations. Mixamo is a ton of fun, and super easy to use as you’ll see. There are literally thousands of animations in Mixamo, and all you have to do is click on the animated preview and it will be applied to your character. So you’re basically auditioning your character using different animations. You can adjust the speed of the animation, and adjust things like the arm spacing as well. Your character won’t have his materials or textures applied - we will do that over in Unreal Engine.
Unreal Engine 4 - Drag and Drop Animation
Inside of Unreal Engine we will have some fun with the Mixamo animations you applied to your character. All you have to do is select your character and drag him into your scene. Hit play, and the animation begins, being rendered in real-time!
An Army of Animated Aliens
Inside the course, there are 28 animated aliens, ready for you to drag and drop into your Unreal Engine scene for instant animations! In no time at all, you’ll have your aliens fighting, jumping, running, or falling. You’ll have enough animations to make some really awesome movie scenes!
Unreal Engine Sequencer
Next up is the Unreal Engine Sequencer, which is very similar to a non-linear editor. We will set up your scene, complete with spaceship interior, Exile alien characters, lights, smoke effects and cameras and get it ready for animation. Sequencer makes it really fun to get your scene set up and feels very similar to being on a real movie set. In fact, I’ve found that’s the best way to think about it - like you’re in the real world. Unreal Engine’s lighting system behaves like real world lights, so it’s very responsive and intuitive, as you will see.
Exporting your video file - and rendering in near real time!
Now we will export your movie in high-definition... in near real time! No longer does it take hours or days to render a single frame! This is a real game changer! Imagine being able to setup, animate and then render 1 minute of finished animation per day...it would be entirely possible to complete a 2 hour feature film in 120 days! Unreal Engine has provided the tools to make this possible some day.
HitFilm3 Express
We will then take our rendered video file and bring it into HitFilm Express, or your favorite video editing program. There we will add color grading, music, sound effects and fine tune our edits to prepare our scene for final output.
Your finished High-Definition Scene
By the end of the course you will have completed your own animation scene from beginning to end and have a good understanding of Unreal Engine's animation workflow.
Enroll Now
Go ahead and click on the enroll now button to get immediate access to your scene files and get started right away!
To recap, you’ll get:
The Exile Alien Character along with 28 motion-capture animations
The complete Unreal Engine 4 project with all assets
The Genesis 2 Male and Female characters
Complete sci-fi spaceship interior
Best of all, it’s FUN!
See you on the inside!
