How to import and Blend Animations from Maya

Heya!

Today I would like to go over for you the basics on how to import and blend animations from Maya 2014-2017 to Unreal 4. Rather than discuss the nitty-gritty on how or why one might want to do this I'd like to just jump right in.

         Step 1. Animate something 
The first and most obvious step is to load up a rig in Maya and animate it. Doesn't matter what, and length really doesn't matter too much, depending on how long your willing to wait in order for the export to finish. Less key frames = Less export time.
       
         Step 2. Export from Maya
Alright here's where we get specific. Your going to want to select the character control node in the outliner of whatever you want to bring in to Unreal and hit export options. If what you want to import into unreal is the only thing in the scene, you can go to the export all options too. What you're going to want to do now is set your export file type to FBX, and hit export. Then, you'll want to go to the animate menu which you well see on your right, and click on "bake animation" and then where it asks you to input you start and end time, put where your key frames start and end. Next, you'll need to change the file type to Maya 2014/2015. This is paramount to the export working.
And with that you can now export your animation!

         Step 3. Import into Unreal 
You can start by creating a blank project in Unreal 4. When the map is loaded, you should create a folder to put the animation into. Call it whatever you i'm not the boss of you. Next you'll want to right click in the folder and hit "import to..." then select your FBX. A menu will appear and inside it, you're going to want to select import as skeletal (don't get too scared now), import mesh, and import animations. You can set the length to "Animation time" or "Exported Time" depending on what you plan on doing. Then hit Import and your animation should come into unreal looking something like this. Here you can get a feel for persona by double clicking whatever you named you FBX, and playing with some of the settings.





     

        Step 4. Using Blend Space

Unreal 4 has a new system called "Persona" that can allow you to blend your animations together in order to give better flow to your movements in game. you can create blend space by right clicking and going to the animation tab and selecting "Blend space". If you're working with 1-3 animations you might want to use the 1D version. If you are using more variable or are planning to work into the animation blueprint section, you may want to use the regular one. Next, you'll want to look to your right, where you can see the animations that you have linked to your skeleton. If they are not there, re-import them and under skeleton, select the one you are using. Then when making your blend space, select the skeleton you imported all your animations with. Now, you're going to want to set your range, in the X value, and save your settings. Next, drag and drop your animations onto the grid and you should see them blend together.

And Voila!