Unreal Engine 5.3 and prior - Livestream to Default Metahumans

Introduction

You have imported your Default Metahuman from Bridge Quixel into your Unreal Engine 5 project. Next, you want to livestream your Rokoko Studio data to that Metahuman.

Requirements

• Install the Rokoko Studio Plugin in Unreal Engine.
  
• An imported Metahuman from Bridge Quixel. You need to be in your Unreal Engine Project to import the Metahuman into the project.
• The Rokoko Metahuman Assets. These include the Rokoko to Metahuman T-Pose and the Rokoko to Metahuman bonemap both of which you can find attached at the end of the article.

Important detail!

• If you have worked with 5.1 in the past, the only thing that changes in later UE versions is the rokoko receiver part. Now, you do not need to add a Rokoko Receiver actor in the viewport. We will enter the IP and port in the Live Link instead.
• This article goes through the setup of a Female Metahuman. If you are using a Male Metahuman, please use the following files instead. They already exist in the project along with the female respective files (m stands for Male).
  • m_med_nrw_body
  • m_med_nrw_animbp_C
  • m_med_nrw_animbp

Process

Follow the steps carefully. Missing a step or a detail will result in the setup not working. Let's start!

1. Download the zip files attached at the end of the article.
2. Extract the zipped folder in C:\MyDocuments\Unreal Projects\ProjectName\Content.
   Your path may be named differently, but the final Content folder inside your Project will be the same.
   
   
   
   
3. Open your Unreal Engine 5 project.
   
4. Open, compile and save both assets in the Rokoko_MetahumanAssets folder before applying any actions (important!)
   
   
   
   
5. Open the Metahuman Actor Blueprint. It is usually located in All->Content->Metahumans->MetahumanName named as Metahuman_BP
   
   

    

6. Click on the “Body” on top-left and double-click the “Skeletal Mesh Asset” box in Details (right). This should open the Skeletal Mesh of the Metahuman. 

   

   
   

    

7. Then, click on the Animation Blueprint of this mesh on top-right:

   
   
   

8. Click on the “Control Rig” node and in the Details in “Control Rig Class”, select the Rokoko_Metahuman_T_Pose that was included in the Rokoko folder.

   
   
   

    

9. Compile the Animation Blueprint and the Metahuman should be on T-Pose.

   
   
   

10. Right click on the Anim Graph and create the “Rokoko Body Pose” node.
    
    
    
    

     

11. Then, connect it between “Control Rig” and the next node.

    The “Local to Component” nodes get created automatically.
    
    
    
    

     

12. Drag a pin from “Rokoko Actor Name” and select “Promote to variable”.

    
    
    

     

13. Drag a pin from “Retarget Asset” and select “Promote to variable”, as well.

    
    
    

14. Compile and save.
    
    

     

15. Click on the “Retarget Asset” node and in Default Value, select the “character_boneMap” asset that was included in the Rokoko folder.

    

    
    

    Note: “Rokoko Actor Name“ should be set as None.

    
    
16. Compile, save and exit the Animation Blueprint.

     

     

17. Back to the Metahuman Blueprint, click on the “Body” on top left and make sure that the Metahuman uses this Animation Blueprint.

    
    

    

    

    
    
    

     

18. Drag the body into the Event Graph:

    
    
    

     

19. Drag a pin and select “Get Anim Instance”

    
    
    

     

20. Drag a pin and select “Cast to” and the Animation Blueprint you modified in previous steps.

    

    
    

     

     

21. Set the “Rokoko Actor Name” as the Actor Name inside Studio and connect the wires to the nodes.

    

    
    
    

22. Compile and save.

     

23. Drag the “Metahuman_BP” into the scene.

    
    
    

     

24. Omit this step if you are using a version later than 5.1
    
    Find the Rokoko Receiver Actor and drag it in the scene, by clicking on the top “Quickly add to the project”.

    
    
    

     

25. In Studio, click on Livestream and on the cogwheel next to the Unreal icon.

    The port should be enabled and the same as the Rokoko Receiver port inside Unreal.

    

    

     

26. Click on Activate next to the Unreal icon inside Studio.

    
    
    

     

27. Back in Unreal, select Windows -> Virtual Production -> Live Link.

    
    
    

     

28. Click on Source -> Rokoko Studio Source -> Studio
    

    

     
    You should see the following:

     

    If you are using UE 5.2 and later, you will need to type the IP and port found in the Rokoko Studio plugin window. In our case, it's 127.0.0.1:14045, then click "Studio" as shown by the arrow.

    This basically replaces the need for the Rokoko Receiver in Step 27. If you have already added it, there is nothing wrong and you can continue.
    
    
    
    
29. Click Play.
    
    

     

30. For Face Capture, click on the Metahuman inside the editor

    
    
    

     

31. Then, select the Face data in “ARKit Face Subj” in Details panel.

    
    
    

     

32. Tick the “Use ARKit Face”.

    
    
    

     

33. For the body, the live link data should remain as None.

    
    
    

     

34. Click Play.
    You should see the movement from inside Rokoko Studio be forwarded to your Metahuman in Unreal Engine 5.