Votes
0
Product:
Character Creator 4
Version:
4.1
Status:
Closed
Issue 8973
Hair Appears Translucent When Exported to Unreal Engine
Hello, when using the Unreal Plug-In to export my Character into unreal, the hair loses an immense amount of quality and appears translucent. The product uses a Smart Hair product.
OS: Windows 10
Attachment:
  • Z help 1.jpg
  • Unreal Engine 5 Screenshot 2022.10.12 - 20.11.18.55.png
  •  3
  •  1097
Submitted bycaleborionscott
1
COMMENTS (3)
james978
Hi Calvin, thanks for the follow up message.  I appreciate it.  

I have continued to troubleshoot this and have some new information. 

According to the UE5.2 roadmap (https://portal.productboard.com/epicgames/1-unreal-engine-public-roadmap/c/994-lumen) Lumen has better support for hair grooms.  I was using 5.1 and struggled but starting with 5.2 things are MUCH better.  

If you'd still like to reproduce, here's what you can do:
1) Create a new UE project.  The "blank" template under "Film/TV" works well. 
2) Ensure the project is outdoors, and uses a directional light and skylight. 
3) drop a character into the scene.  Note how the hair looks in the viewport. 
4) Drop a camera into the scene and using the MRQ, render out a frame or two.  

The issues are more with rendering than they are with the viewport.  

But again, 5.2 is a big improvement over previous versions.  

While hair in Lumen looks ok, the RL hair in the UE path tracer does not.  Drop a CC character in the scene and compare to this free asset from the UE Marketplace: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/paragon-lt-belica

I did an export of a character I've been testing with.  It's just a stock Camila with a hair builder asset.  I've attached a screenshot of the export settings I used.  You can download her here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AghB3gZdj1BVgvM0A79Jd_tvCNPr-w?e=c3k4U0

Please let me know if I can help in any way. 

Thanks!
Attachment:
  • ExportSettings.png
james978
This is happening to a lot of us.  Just search the forums.  
Examples:
https://forum.reallusion.com/539908/CC4-or-iClone-8-Export-to-UE-52-Hair-Problems
https://forum.reallusion.com/534443/CC4-to-Unreal-Hair-Mesh-Problem
https://forum.reallusion.com/525254/iC8-to-UE5-Hair-Issues

I have watched the recommended video and have done as demonstrated.  However, that video covers legacy iC7/CC3 and UE4.  UE5 changed, and broke, a lot of things.  

I've noticed that the default Camila and Kevin hairs seem to work ok, but the hairs from the extra "Hair Builder" asset pack do not.  Other hairs not in the hair builder, such as "slick-back old style" hair also looks terrible in UE5.  

I think if the devs grabbed a Camila character, slapped hair builder assets on her, and exported into UE5, I think they would very quickly see the issue for themselves.  

Thanks!
Feedback Tracker Admin
Hi james978,

Thanks for your reply.
Cause we can't reproduce the issue, could you send your fbx file to us, so that we can check the issue properly.
You can upload it to cloud service such as Google drive, and attach the download link in your next comment.
Thanks for your help!

Calvin
Reallusion
Feedback Tracker Admin
Hi caleborionscott

Thanks for your feedback.
Could you please help to check your CC Export Settings & UE Import Settings?
You can take the screenshot of the settings and post it in your next comment.
Or you can follow the tutorial to check if the issue is caused by any different settings:
https://courses.reallusion.com/home/character-creator/pipelines-and-render/unreal?v=iclone-7-9-and-cc-3-4-tutorial-how-to-export-smart-hair-to-unreal-engine-873

Please feel free to contact us if any, regards.
Tina
1