Original Youtube Upload: https://youtu.be/3aTuQ771qRE
Contest Upload Post, including screenshots and more info: https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/alpha-betta-furious-elegance-challenge/1221694
Here's a walkthrough of how I created a playable physics actor that I used to make my fish animation in UE5.2.1 for the UE July 2023 Animation Challenge, "Furious Elegance".
Things I forgot to mention:
-world settings: override gravity checked, gravity set to -5 (default -980).
-tail IK control is offset cause the IK effect only kicks in from translation not rotation alone, offsetting from the tail bone ensures rotation will also translate.
00:00 Intro
1:30 Maya new character from scratch
3:23 UE5 New scene import character
4:32 Set up physics bodies
8:41 Set up control rig
11:50 Set up blueprint
17:51 Attach physics actor to Third Person
19:07 Collision
21:49 Swap out third person to a ghost
24:32 Final Result
25:24 Fish Maya
27:29 Fish Skeletal Mesh
28:00 Fish Physics Asset
29:56 Fish BP
33:26 Fish FollowMe BP
36:36 Fish Procedural Control Rig
50:30 Fish set up a shot
51:27 Fish Take Recorder
52:43 Fish Subsequence
54:46 Fish Backwards Solve Rig
55:56 Fish Forwards Solve Adjuster Rig
1:00:51 Outro
New Enhanced Input Controls setup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9zEEY7dGaM
Credits to sourced content:
Base fish model: “Betta Spendens”
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/betta-splendens-f4eeb7f50ad24873842bd954ad27d23b
(Re-modelled, re-rigged, re-textured, re-skinned using maya and substance painter)
Skylight setup, water warping and caustics effects from “Underwater Blueprint v2”
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Rn80aX