All depending on your target platform when developing with Unreal, there are actually limitations on the number of bones many platforms can handle.

On some AR/VR platforms (95% of them), using android chip-sets, your bone-count is limited to 75 bones.

• CC3 exports characters with 108 bones.

The fidelity of the characters is wonderful in CC3 and we want the ability to leverage that.

• Is there a way to automatically lose the facial bones or is there an alternate skeleton that can be used?

You can very easily remove bones in Unreal, I've had to do it several times in the past just to get things to render when developing for android. Simply right click on the bone in the skeleton tree and select "remove selected bone" there is also a remove children option. The only downside is if you re-import the mesh, then you will have to repeat the removal process. So in that circumstance, if you had a bunch of characters that you made changes to then having a native solution built into "pipeline" would be nice.
https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Engine/Animation/Persona/SkeletonTree/index.html 

This is actually a pipeline / content question for Reallusion...

• This solution is destructive to the skinning data and is exponentially destructive for each bone you remove.
• It is not a solution for production, for pipelines or any actual product deployment.
• Additionally, this is why tools like Simplygon exist for handling large production optimization however we're talking about CC3, with it's own export path and proprietary architecture in going to Unreal.  Simplygon breaks cc3 data as well.

Most developers go back to design a new skeleton and reskin pre-integration back to engine.  This is, in essence, what we're looking for but in the internal capability side of the software or export pipe.  What exists in CC3 and it's unreal integration is very centric to high-fidelity cinematic content currently.  There is a number of great tools for generating LODs but not necessarily a solution for what I described.  It would be helpful to know if there is any suggestions, on the content/export side we might not be aware of.

• This isn't an Epic issue either, it's a limitation with OGLES 3.1 vs 3.2.

I'd be very interested in an alternative skeleton. In my case the problem with Clip Studio Modeler and Clip Studio Paint is that I don't understand the bones correctly.

The result is that when you want to work with this skeleton the result is awful.

Greetings

 The idea that  RL is going to tailor a workflow to every possible output that unreal supports is silly. And to say its not a solution is a bit short sighted.. There are many game developers, myself included that are using pipeline for professional production work. I think what your really asking for is an export option for mobile, and id agree. As for Android based VR like the Quest i can tell you right now having developed for it,  that skeletal bone count is the least of your problems. Also sorry for jumping on your thread, having faced that very issue i thought i might be of some help if not for you then maybe others. Best of luck 

Thanks for your response...

So in regards to both posts, it's about RL addressing what their recommendation is with what already exists but it needs to be answered by someone on the pipeline/engineering team.  Restating, the export pipeline functionality is incredibly flexible and extremely robust and I don't assume that this particular query is something that would necessarily be documented... if it even is possible.

The Quest is extremely easy and strait-forward to develop for, unlike the GO, and uses OpenGL ES 3.2 so, in almost all instances, my question is actually irrelevant specifically to the platform.
HOWEVER
It is a real issue when discussing AR applications on Magic Leap, Hololens or AR KIT/CORE hardware variants... even if they are using ES3.2.

Unshattered:

No one really assumes the following: "The idea that  RL is going to tailor a workflow to every possible output that unreal supports is silly" but the first example that you gave isn't applicable for the situation I initially described.  Your example has been commented to on and off Epic's forums and the UDN a number of times over the years.  A number of developers off the Epic community forum fielded that same solution and it's problems.  I was restating so that other's are not confused of it's limitations and pitfalls and I state unequivocally that it's not a solution for what I described in my post.

Your solution is only helpful in very limited situations so, not short-sighted, however my comments should never be taken as a personal slight.  We're all trying to assist one another here.

CC3 exports characters with 108 bones.

I do not know much about export to Unreal. But, maybe you are not aware (or maybe you are, but it's not applicable), the bones count is equal 73, if you convert to Game Base first before the export.
But this might help tije.tijeras with Clip Studio.

The only problem is, after converting to Game Base and exporting from CC, bones orientation is getting altered. This problem is confirmed and would be fixed at some point by RL.
Temporary workaround, is to send a Game Base character to iClone and export from there... if that is any help.

That's extremely helpful to know!  I will simply take our character packages and switch the base out and see if we're easily able to migrate but I'm crossing my fingers that this is a likely solution. Off I go and I'll comment as to the success.

4u2ges - Is the game base available in CC3 and is this just the CC1 base characters?

It also available in CC3 for CC3 characters. That's all I can tell you at this point, as I don't use this pipeline.

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