VRMInterchange
Import VRM avatars into Unreal Engine with spring bones, IK rigs, and Live Link scaffolding
Overview
VRMInterchange brings VRM avatars into Unreal Engine through Unreal's own Interchange framework. Drag a .vrm file into the Content Browser and it arrives as a working character rather than a bare mesh: skeletal mesh and skeleton, textures and materials, blend shapes for facial expression, spring bone physics for hair and clothing, an IK Rig with VRM-to-UE5 bone mapping for retargeting, and a Live Link actor and Animation Blueprint scaffold ready to be driven by performance data. VRM 0.x and VRM 1.0 files are both supported. It's built for VTubers, XR performers, and virtual production teams who work in VRM and want their avatars usable in Unreal in minutes. VRMInterchange is a standalone plugin — it pairs naturally with our VMCLiveLink plugin for live performance capture, but neither requires the other.
Features
VRM Import via Interchange
Imports VRM 0.x and VRM 1.0 files using Unreal's Interchange framework, with VRM-specific pipelines you can configure in the standard import dialog.
Meshes, Textures & Blend Shapes
Brings in the full skeleton hierarchy with proper bone orientations, textures with material setup, and blend shapes as morph targets for facial expression.
Spring Bone Physics
Generates a spring bone data asset so hair and clothing get secondary motion, simulated with Verlet integration and sphere and capsule colliders.
IK Rig & Retargeting
Creates an IK Rig asset with VRM-to-UE5 bone mapping, so animation can be retargeted between different skeletons.
Live Link Ready
Generates a Live Link actor and Animation Blueprint scaffold, plus a retargeting actor, so imported avatars can be driven by live performance data straight away.
Pairs with VMCLiveLink
Our separate VMCLiveLink plugin streams VMC performance capture into Live Link to drive these avatars — though VRMInterchange works on its own with any Live Link source.
Installation
VRMInterchange will be available on the Fab Marketplace soon. In the meantime you can build it from source: clone the repository (which requires Git LFS) with `git clone https://github.com/lifelike-and-believable/VMCLiveLink.git`, then run `git lfs pull`. Copy the `Plugins/VRMInterchange` folder into your project's `Plugins` directory, then right-click your .uproject and generate project files. Open the project — the plugin enables itself, and Unreal will offer to rebuild the modules. The plugin targets Unreal Engine 5.6, and importing requires a Win64 editor.
Usage
Drag a .vrm file into the Content Browser. The Interchange import dialog appears with VRM-specific pipelines where you can enable or disable the Spring Bones, IK Rig, and Live Link steps — or set those defaults project-wide in Edit → Project Settings → Plugins → VRM Interchange — then click Import. Place the generated Live Link character actor in your level and point a Live Link source at it to drive the avatar.
Documentation
Getting Started
Building from source requires Git LFS. The plugin targets Unreal Engine 5.6.
- •Clone the repository and run `git lfs pull` to fetch large assets.
- •Copy the `Plugins/VRMInterchange` folder into your project's Plugins directory.
- •Right-click the .uproject and generate project files, then open the project and let Unreal build the modules.
- •Enable the plugin from Edit → Plugins if it isn't already active.
Importing a VRM Avatar
Drag a .vrm file into the Content Browser. The Interchange import dialog appears with VRM-specific pipelines where you can enable or disable Spring Bones, IK Rig, and Live Link features, then click Import.
What Gets Created
- •Skeletal mesh, skeleton, and physics asset.
- •Generated materials and imported textures.
- •Spring bone data asset (and an optional post-process Animation Blueprint).
- •An IK Rig asset with VRM-to-UE5 bone mapping for retargeting.
- •A Live Link actor and Animation Blueprint scaffold, plus a retargeting actor.
Import Options
Each of the three generation steps can be turned on or off — per import in the Interchange dialog, or project-wide in Edit → Project Settings → Plugins → VRM Interchange, where the import dialog picks up the defaults.
- •Generate Spring Bone Data — parse the VRM's spring bone configuration into a data asset. On by default.
- •Generate Post Process AnimBP and Assign Post Process ABP — create an Animation Blueprint that runs the spring simulation and assign it to the skeletal mesh. Both off by default.
- •Generate IK Rig Assets — create IK Rig definitions from the bundled templates. On by default.
- •Generate Live Link Actor Scaffold — create the Actor and AnimBP scaffolds. On by default.
- •Re-import behaviour — overwrite existing spring assets or post-process AnimBPs, or reuse the existing AnimBP. Overwrites are off by default; reuse is on.
Spring Bones & IK
VRM spring bones simulate secondary motion for hair and clothing using Verlet integration with sphere and capsule colliders, with deterministic sub-stepping so results stay consistent across frame rates. Tune stiffness, gravity, damping, and drag in the generated Spring Data asset. The generated IK Rig assets enable animation retargeting between different skeletons. Debug visualization is available via console commands such as `vrm.SpringBones.DrawColliders 1` and `vrm.SpringBones.DrawSprings 1`.
Manual Setup
If you'd rather wire the simulation up yourself, import with only Generate Spring Bone Data enabled, then add a VRM Spring Bones node to your character's Animation Blueprint AnimGraph, connect it to the pose chain, and point it at the generated Spring Data asset.
Driving an Imported Avatar
The generated Live Link actor and Animation Blueprint scaffold let an imported avatar be driven by any Live Link source. Our separate VMCLiveLink plugin provides one — it receives the VMC (Virtual Motion Capture) protocol over OSC from apps such as Virtual Motion Capture and VSeeFace. The two plugins ship from the same repository but are independent: either can be used without the other.
Platform Support
Importing is Windows only today: the VRM import pipelines and the spring bone editor tooling ship Win64 binaries only, so bringing a .vrm into your project needs a Win64 editor. The runtime modules — the translator and the spring bone solver — are not platform-gated.
Requirements
- •Unreal Engine 5.6 or later.
- •Built-in Interchange, InterchangeEditor, IKRig, and Live Link plugins (all are enabled automatically as plugin dependencies).
- •Windows (Win64) to import. See Platform Support above.
- •Git LFS when cloning the repository from source.
Credits
- •The VRM format is developed by the VRM Consortium.
- •glTF parsing uses the cgltf library by Johannes Kuhlmann.
Known Issues
- Not yet listed on the Fab Marketplace — build from source for now.
- Importing requires a Win64 editor — the import pipelines and spring bone editor tooling ship Win64 binaries only.
- Complex material shader graphs may need manual adjustment after import.
- Blend shape to morph target mapping is direct — there are no expression presets.
- Embedded textures must be PNG or JPEG.
- Cloning the repository requires Git LFS; run `git lfs pull` after cloning to fetch large assets.
Changelog
- •VRM 0.x and VRM 1.0 import through Unreal's Interchange framework.
- •Skeletal mesh, skeleton, physics asset, textures, materials, and blend shapes as morph targets.
- •Spring bone physics with Verlet integration, sphere and capsule colliders, and an optional post-process Animation Blueprint.
- •IK Rig generation with VRM-to-UE5 bone mapping for retargeting.
- •Live Link actor and Animation Blueprint scaffolding, plus a retargeting actor.
- •Per-import and project-wide settings for the spring bone, IK Rig, and Live Link pipelines.
- •Targets Unreal Engine 5.6.
Support
For bug reports, questions, or feature requests, open an issue on the GitHub repository (github.com/lifelike-and-believable/VMCLiveLink) or use the contact form on this site and include "VRMInterchange" in the subject line. Please include your Unreal Engine version, the VRM file or exporter you're importing from, and a description of the issue.
Contact Support