ZenDyn

Important:

ZenDyn is a standalone product and is animation blueprint based. In order for it to function correctly, it changes your Metahumans default Face animation blueprint at runtime. This can create conflicts with other components attached to your Metahuman such as ZenBlink, that also set their own facial animation Blueprint. It is advised to use ZenDyn independently from these other products, as integration requires skills and experience that are beyond the scope of these setup instructions.

Setup Instructions

  • Prepare the Project:
    • Add a MetaHuman to your scene.
  • Enable the Plugin:
    • Go to Edit > Plugins.
    • Search for ZenDyn and enable it.
    • Restart Unreal Engine to activate the plugin.
  • Access ZenDyn Content:
    • Enable Engine Content and Plugin Content in the Content Browser settings.
    • Search for ‘ZenDyn‘ in the Content Browser to view all plugin-related content.
  • Preferred Method: Add ZenDyn World Actor:
    • Drag the included Example BP_ZenDyn blueprint into the scene. ( The blueprint is located in the plugin Content folder, you may need to enable “show plugin content’ in the content browser)
    • Zero out its transform.
    • Alternatively, use Quick Add to add the blueprint by typing and searching for ‘ZenDyn.‘
  • Option 2: Add ZenDyn Actor Component:
    • Select your Metahuman Actor in the Outliner
    • In the Details Panel click the “Add” button
    • Search for “ZenDyn” to attach the included Actor Component.

Usage:

Use in Sequencer:

  • Create a Level Sequence and add your Metahuman.
  • Add an existing facial animation to your Metahumans “Face” animation track in sequencer.

  • Option: Use LiveLink Live animation *instead of existing animation.
  • *There is a bug in some engine versions that may cause a crash, If you use both LiveLink and Existing animation in sequencer at the same time.

  • Select ZenDyn in the Details panel and click the “Add Keyframe” icon to add a keyframe to sequencer for the selected property. Example: “Brows”, “Brows Smoothing”

Results:

  • Simulate or Play to view results.
    • Note: You cannot adjust properties of the ZenDyn Actor Component in the details panel during P.I.E. This is a limitation of the UnrealEngine Editor. You can change the properties in sequencer or programatically. This is why the preferred Method is to use the ZenDyn World Actor Instead.

Baking:

You can bake ZenDyn animations in sequencer in the same way as you would normally. When you are happy with the results, right click on the “Face” component track of your Metahuman in sequencer and “Bake Animation Sequence” to create an animation that contains your ZenDyn modifications/effects.

Use Programmatically (Advanced):

  • You can utilise and access the public variables of the ZenDyn Actor Component by adding the component to your Metahuman blueprint and then referencing it.

Use Details Panel:

  • Adjust Default properties in details Panel
    • Note: You cannot adjust properties of the ZenDyn Actor Component in the details panel during P.I.E. This is a limitation of the UnrealEngine Editor. You can change the properties in sequencer or programatically or before you press play/simulate.

Default Properties:

Metahuman:

  • Here is where you choose your Metahuman Actor that you want ZenDyn to use.

Live Link:

  • LLink Face Head: Enable or Disable LiveLink Facial Animation
  • LLink Face Subj: Choose LiveLink Face animation subject (Example: iPhone)
IMPORTANT:

You must use ZenDyn LiveLink properties for Facial capture instead of those provided by the Metahuman Blueprint

Each facial group has various default controls the current available groups are:

  • Brows
  • Eyes
  • Nose
  • Cheeks
  • Mouth
  • Jaw
  • Blinks

Control And Smoothing:

These sliders control the strength/weight and Smoothing of the animation.

  • Control: You can Reduce or Boost animation for each group by adjusting these properties 0 (Disabled/Reduced) , 3 (Boost/Max).

  • Smoothing: You can also control the amount of smoothing 1 is none and 100 is maximum.

Dynamics:

These properties control the dynamics of the facial animation. You can add “Wiggle” to facial animation groups Brows, Nose and Cheeks. For each group it is possible to adjust Dynamics Enable, Strength, Acceleration, Damping, Frequency.

  • Use Dynamics: Enables Dynamics “wiggle effect” for the chosen facial group.
  • Wiggle Strength: Controls the weight of the effect.
  • Wiggle Smoothing: 1-100 (1 is disabled, 100 is maximum) ,
    • Adds smoothing (interpolation) to the facial group. This is helpful in removing “jitter” from existing noisy facial animation.
  • Wiggle Frequency: The time in seconds between effects.

Breath Dynamics:

Use this section to simulate breathing:

  • Use Breathing: Enables or Disables the Breathing effect
  • Breath Strength: Strength of the breathing effect
  • Breath Speed: The speed of the breathing effect

Eye Dynamics:

Use this section to simulate breathing:

  • Micro Saccadic Enable: Enables or Disables the Saccadic effect
  • Micro Saccadic Weight: Strength of the Saccadic effect (Left Right/Up Down)
  • Micro Saccadic Speed: The speed of the Saccadic effect (Left Right/Up Down)

Emotion:

Use this section to inject an Emotion Pose into your facial animation:

  • Emotion Enable: Enables or Disables the Emotion Pose
  • Emotion: Select a predefined Emotion Pose
  • Emotion Strength: The strength of the Emotion Pose

Global:

Use this section to control Global proprieties:

  • Global Control: Overall Animation strength
  • ZenDyn Enabled: Global Enable/Disable

Advanced:

Use this section with caution:

  • Zen Dyn Curves: A Data Asset that contains the curves used for Control and Smoothing.
  • ZenDyn Enabled: Global Enable/Disable