tiedtke. AnimToTexture Tool converts skeletal mesh animations into texture-driven static mesh animations in Unreal Engine 5.8. Choose your character, add one or more animation sequences, and click Create VAT. The plugin creates the static meshes, animation textures, data assets, and materials for you, with everything connected and ready to place in your scene.
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The tool automates the setup and baking process using Unreal Engine’s AnimToTexture plugin in bone animation mode.
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It’s useful for crowd characters, background animation, and other repeating animated elements where you want to work with static meshes instead of individual skeletal mesh components.
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You can process several animations for the same character in one batch. Each animation gets its own static mesh and a numbered folder inside VAT, keeping the results easy to find. Asset names include the original character’s name and animation number, for example SM_Crowd_Man_07_VAT_Anim01.
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Features
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Select a skeletal mesh and one or more animation sequences.
Batch-create separate VAT assets for multiple animations.
Automatically create and assign the animation materials.
Preserve supported source material properties through generated material copies.
Save beside the original skeletal mesh or choose a custom output folder.
Organize results in VAT/Anim_01, VAT/Anim_02, and so on.
Keep existing outputs when creating additional animations.
Adjust the bake sample rate directly in the tool.
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How to use it
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Extract the zip archive and place it in your projects Plugins folder using explorer. Install and enable tiedtke. AnimToTexture Tool and its required AnimToTexture (by Epic Games) plugin. Restart Unreal Engine if prompted.
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Import your character and animations using Unreal Engine’s normal import workflow, then assign your character’s materials.
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Open Tools → tiedtke. AnimToTexture Tool.
Select your Skeletal Mesh and an Animation Sequence. Use + Add animation to include more clips.
Leave the output location at its default to save beside the skeletal mesh, or enable Override output folder to choose another location.
Set your sample rate and click Create VAT.
Drag a generated static mesh into your level. Enable Realtime in the editor viewport to see the animation play.
The generated material instance is already assigned to the static mesh, so there’s no manual texture hookup after baking.
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Compatibility and requirements
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Designed for the Unreal Engine 5.8 Windows editor and requires Unreal Engine’s AnimToTexture plugin. Your animations must use the same Skeleton as the selected skeletal mesh.The current version supports LOD 0, bone animation mode, four bone influences, and 16-bit animation textures. It requires an available UV channel within UV0–UV3.Standard surface materials and their constant material instances are supported. Materials using native Substrate, existing Material Attributes graphs, or an already-connected World Position Offset require adjustment before baking.
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Please note
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This is a tool for baking animation into textures. It does not import FBX files, retarget animations, or provide a crowd spawning or animation blending system.
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Morph targets and cloth simulation are not included in the bake. Animation is applied visually through the material, so collision does not follow the animated character. Generated meshes are intended for dynamic lighting; generated lightmap UVs are disabled.