CADIA » Socially Expressive Computing Group

h1. Working with UMA characters

h2. Starting up

You can find the "UMA Character Asset":https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/uma-2-unity-multipurpose-avatar-35611 in the Store. Download it for free and import it into your project. 

To get your first character up and running find the prefab called 'UMA_DCS' (UMA\Getting Started). Drag and drop the object into the scene. This generator keeps track of everything, lets us swap clothing and everything else. Every scene that contains an UMA character must also contain this prefab.

To create your UMA character, create an empty object to carry it. Add a component to your object called Dynamic Character Avatar' To generate your character you have to pick a race for your character. In the drop down menu you can find the base recipes for male and female characters. After you pick your race you can press play and your character will be generated. 

(To see what is in these recipes you can go to UMA\Content\UMA_Core\HumanMale\Recipes\BaseRecipes. Normally you do not have to do anything in this folder unless you wish to create your own customised races.)

In play mode you can play with your character in the new component called UMA Data (script) and change the shape of pretty much every body part.

h2. Different Looking Characters

You can download other "race" packs for the UMA system for different looking characters, including the free "o3n Male and Female UMA Races":https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/humanoids/o3n-male-and-female-uma-races-102187 

h2. Default Wardrobe Recipes

To see what kind of clothing is available i suggest you first try it out in play mode. In Dynamic character avatar (script) open the Default Wardrobe recipes tab and then in your Project files go to UMA\content\UMA_examples\HumanMale\recipes\WardrobeRecipes. Here are all the wardrobe items you can use to press up your character. Just drag and drop the item to the square.

There is an option to copy and paste the component but if you do that to your UMA characters you will probably break them. So, if you want your character to wear those cloths each time you start your game, just write down the names of the objects and than drag and drop them to the component in edit mode.

If you are using the o3n races, we have purchased both "a female clothing pack":https://projects.cs.ru.is/attachments/download/1102/Modern%20Clothing%20Pack%20for%20o3n%20Female.unitypackage and "a male clothing pack":https://projects.cs.ru.is/attachments/download/1103/Modern%20Clothing%20Pack%20for%20o3n%20Male.unitypackage for those.

h2. Animation Controllers

You can easily set a default 'idle' animation on your UMA character, just pick the 'Locomotion' controller for Animation Controller. When you press play a new Animator component will be added to your UMA.

TIPS:

go to additional utility recipes and add:

- ForearmTwistRecipe - this will make the animation of the wrist on your character smoother and less distorted .

- ExpressionsRecipe - enables your character to blink and move his eyes around. It will also fix the jaw so that the characters mouth stays closed.

How to turn your UMA character into a 3rd person controller character is well described in this video: https://youtu.be/Wse9I72YJvc?t=648  

h1. UMA + LipSync 

h2. Integration

First you need to have UMA2 and LipSync in your project. Than you need the blend system for them. You can get it from Window -> rogo digital -> get extensions -> and find and download UMA 2 blend system.

Open the UMA character that you want to connect to LipSync pro and add the LipSync component to it. Choose the UMA blend system and drag and drop the UMA dynamic Avatar (script) to the Avatar box below. press continue. 

For setting up the poses you have 2 options. First is by using a preset you can find in UMA 2 blend system\presets and importing the package. Go to your character, in the LypSync component click on the icon(3 lines with dots on them), go to UMA 2 -> standard. And this should work for most characters. For any changes that you want to make you can do them in play mode and then copy and paste them to your character in edit mode. 

Before you can play anything you have to add the Audio source component to your character and drag it to the Audio source box in LipSync. To test this out check the play on awake box and choose a default clip.

h1. UMA + FinalIK

h2. Integration

First you need to have UMA2 and FinalIK in your project. Than add a script to your UMA character as a component (you can find my cs file down below). To activate the script go to 'Character events' in dynamic character avatar (script), click plus and add drag and drop the script into the box. Choose integrate method and press play.