Wanderer · Unreal Engine 5.1+

Wanderer User Guide

Modular & Customizable Game-Ready Asset

UE5 Mannequin skeleton + 45 cloak bones 52 ARKit face shapes 13 modular parts 28 material instances

DefaultIceFire

Compatible with Epic's Game Animation Sample (UE 5.4+)

Control Rig ready: pose and animate it in Sequencer with Rigs/CR_Wanderer_Body

Quick start

Open the project. It starts in Demo/Maps/Map_WandererDemo.
Press Play. Move with WASD, look with the mouse, jump with Space.
To see every version side by side, open Maps/WandererPreviewMap.

What is where

Everything lives in one folder, WandererCharacter.

The Unreal Content Browser showing the WandererCharacter folder and its subfolders: Animation (with Poses), Blueprints, Demo, Maps, Materials (Instances, Master), Meshes (Modulars), Rigs, and Textures with one folder per material.

Folder	What's inside
Blueprints	Playable characters and preview actors you can drop in a level.
Meshes	The one-piece and atlas meshes, and the skeletons.
Meshes/Modulars	Every separate part (head, shirt, boots, cloak…) with its physics asset.
Materials/Master	The master materials. You don't need to open these.
Materials/Instances	The instances on the character. This is where you change colours.
Textures	Textures, one folder per material (Body, Cloth, Hair…), plus Details for pores, sweat and blood.
Animation	The Animation Blueprints, walk/run/jump animations and 4 poses.
Rigs	Control Rigs, IK Rig and Retargeter for using other UE5 animations.
Maps	The preview map.
Demo	The playable demo map and Epic's Third Person template files it uses.

Ready characters

Blueprint	Type	Use it for
BP_WandererCharacter	Character	The playable modular Wanderer. Swap or remove any part.
Demo/…/BP_ThirdPersonCharacter	Character	The same character with a simulated cloth cloak (Chaos Cloth). Used in the demo map.
BP_WandererAtlasCharacter	Character	Playable, one mesh and one material, no hair. The lightest version.
BP_WandererAtlasHairCharacter	Character	As above, with hair, still one material.
BP_WandererClothPreview	Actor	For scenes and renders: clothed, with the cloak.
BP_WandererHalfClothPreview	Actor	For scenes and renders: shirtless, with pants and gloves.
BP_WandererNakedPreview	Actor	For scenes and renders: the bare body.

Character: a playable pawn with a collision capsule, movement and controls. To play as one, drop it in your level and set Pawn › Auto Possess Player to Player 0 in Details, or make it the Default Pawn in your Game Mode.
Actor: a character you place for scenes, renders and screenshots. It animates (idle and face) but can't be controlled and doesn't move by itself.

How modular works

The modular Wanderer is several meshes that move as one. The head is the main mesh: it runs the animation. Every other part copies the head's pose, so all parts always move together.

Four Wanderers built from parts: bare body; with pants and gloves; fully clothed with shirt, leather top and boots; and with the cloak added. — Bare body+ pants, gloves+ shirt, top, boots+ cloak

Swap a part

Open BP_WandererCharacter (or your copy of it).
Select the part in the Components panel, for example SK_Wanderer_HairCards.
In Details, set Skeletal Mesh Asset to another mesh, for example SK_Wanderer_HairCardsLow.

Remove a part

Easiest: select it and clear Skeletal Mesh Asset (set it to None). If you delete the component instead, open the Construction Script and remove it from the Set Leader Pose Component node too, or the Blueprint won't compile.

Add a part

Add a Skeletal Mesh component under the head, pick the mesh, and connect it to the Set Leader Pose Component node in the Construction Script (Target pin).

The parts

Part	Mesh
Head (main)	SK_Wanderer_Head · face, eyes, mouth, lashes
Hair	SK_Wanderer_HairCards · or the lighter SK_Wanderer_HairCardsLow (about a third of the polygons)
Clothes	SK_Wanderer_Shirt SK_Wanderer_Top SK_Wanderer_Pants
Leather	SK_Wanderer_Glove SK_Wanderer_Boots
Hands	SK_Wanderer_Hands
Cloak	SK_Wanderer_Cloak (moved by bones) · SK_Wanderer_CloakSim (cloth simulation)
Bare body	SK_Wanderer_BaseBody SK_Wanderer_UpperBody SK_Wanderer_LowerBody SK_Wanderer_LowerLegs · skin pieces that fill in when you take clothes off Check: which piece goes with which outfit

Every part has its own physics asset (PA_) next to it, so traces and ragdolls work with any mix.

Adjusting materials

Each material has a master (the recipe) and instances (the settings). You only ever change instances.

The Wanderer three times in front of a colour wheel: brown leather and blond hair, then blue-grey leather with blue hair and a glowing blue blade, then red leather with copper hair and a glowing orange blade. — The same character, recoloured with material instance settings only.

Right-click an instance in Materials/Instances › Create Material Instance. Work on that copy, so the original stays as it is.
Open it. Tick the box next to a setting to change it. Untick it to go back to the default.
Put your instance on the mesh: select the mesh component, Details › Materials.

The Materials/Instances folder in the Unreal Content Browser: 28 material instances shown as preview spheres - cloak, cloth, eyes, eyelash, hair, leather, mouth, skin body and head, sword and the two atlases, most with Fire and Ice versions.

Settings named Use … turn a whole feature on or off (for example Use Blood). Changing one takes a moment while Unreal rebuilds the shader. ORM Is sRGB must match the texture: leave it alone.

The settings that belong to a switch only show up once it's ticked on. For example, tick Use Sweat and the sweat settings appear under it. The panels below show each instance as it ships, so switched-off features show only their switch.

Skin · MI_Skin_Head, MI_Skin_Body

To change	Use
Skin tone	Albedo Tint, Albedo Brightness, Saturation
Oily or matte	Roughness Brightness, Specular
Light through skin	Scatter
Pores up close	Use Pores, Pore Strength, Pore Tiling
Soft peach fuzz	Fuzz, Fuzz Color
Sweat	Use Sweat, Sweat Amount, Droplet Amount · runs down the skin: Use Sweat Drips, Sweat Drip Reach
Blood	Use Blood, Blood Amount, Blood Color, Blood Dryness · drips: Use Blood Drips, Blood Drip Amount / Size / Reach
Underwear colour (body only)	Pants Color

Two close-ups of the Wanderer's face: on the left the skin glistens with sweat, on the right dark blood splatters cross the cheeks, nose and chin. — SweatBlood

See the panels in Unreal

The Details panel of MI_Skin_Head: textures, albedo, surface, normal, and the Pores, Fuzz, Sweat and Blood groups. — MI_Skin_Head

The Details panel of MI_Skin_Body: the same groups as the head plus Pants. — MI_Skin_Body

Cloth · MI_Cloth

To change	Use
Colours per piece	Top Color, Pants Color (needs Use Part Mask on)
Padded gambeson layer	Use Gambeson (off = plain shirt)
Soft fabric shine	Sheen Strength, Sheen Color
Weave close up	Use Detail, Detail Strength, Detail Tiling

See the panel in Unreal

The Details panel of MI_Cloth, with Use Gambeson ticked and the Pants and Top colour groups. — MI_Cloth

Leather · MI_Leather

Each leather piece has its own colour, roughness and normal strength: Jacket, JacketBelt, Belt, Boots, Glove and Metal (buckles). For example, Boots Color and Boots Roughness. Use Part Mask must be on.

See the panel in Unreal

The Details panel of MI_Leather, with a colour, normal strength and roughness group for each leather piece. — MI_Leather

Cloak · MI_Cloak

To change	Use
Colour	Albedo Tint, Saturation, Albedo Brightness
Darker inside	Back Side Darken
Torn, worn edges	Use Tears, Use Tear Edges, Fray Amount, Edge Darken

See the panel in Unreal

The Details panel of MI_Cloak, including the Tear Edges group. — MI_Cloak

Hair · MI_Hair

To change	Use
Hair colour	RootTint, TipTint
Thicker or thinner	OpacityBoost (thickness), TipFade (soft ends)
Shine	Specular, RoughMin / RoughMax, HighlightShift
Shadow from the hair	ShadowFloor (higher = lighter shadow)
Depth between strands	InnerDark

See the panel in Unreal

The Details panel of MI_Hair: Opacity, Colour, Shine and Shape groups. — MI_Hair

Eyes · MI_Eye_Split

To change	Use
Eye colour	Use Iris Colour Grade, then IrisHue, IrisSaturation, IrisBrightness · or IrisColorize with IrisColorizeColor
Pupil	PupilScale, PupilColor
Dark ring around the iris	LimbusStrength, LimbusWidth
Light reflection	Use Catchlight, CatchlightIntensity, CatchlightSize

See the panel in Unreal

The Details panel of MI_Eye_Split: Iris, Limbus, Colour, Surface, Occlusion and Catchlight groups. — MI_Eye_Split

Mouth, lashes, sword

MI_Mouth: Tint, Brightness, Roughness.
MI_Eyelash_Simple: LashColor, OpacityBoost (thickness), Cast Shadows.
MI_Sword_Metal: Metal Color, Use Detail for scratches. Use Glow with Glow Low / Mid / High colours for hot or magic metal.

See the panels in Unreal

The Details panel of MI_Mouth: textures, Colour and Surface groups. — MI_Mouth

The Details panel of MI_Eyelash_Simple: textures, Mask, Colour and Surface groups. — MI_Eyelash_Simple

The Details panel of MI_Sword_Metal: Metal, Albedo, Roughness, Normal, Wear and Brushed, and Glow groups. — MI_Sword_Metal

Atlas versions · MI_Wanderer_Atlas, MI_Wanderer_AtlasHair

One simple material for the whole character: Color Tint, Hue, Saturation, Lightness, Roughness.

See the panels in Unreal

The Details panel of MI_Wanderer_Atlas: three textures and the Look group with Color Tint, Hue, Saturation, Lightness and Roughness. — MI_Wanderer_Atlas

The Details panel of MI_Wanderer_AtlasHair, the same settings as the atlas without hair. — MI_Wanderer_AtlasHair

Fire & Ice looks

Two ready-made looks, each a full set of instances ending in _Fire or _Ice: skin, eyes, hair, cloth, leather, cloak and sword. To use one, put each part's matching instance on it (for example MI_Cloak_Ice on the cloak). WandererPreviewMap shows both. Use them as starting points for your own looks.

Animation & face

Body

ABP_Wanderer runs the character: idle, walk, run, jump and land, with feet that stay on the ground (foot IK).
The skeleton is the UE5 Mannequin skeleton with extra cloak bones. To use any UE5 Mannequin animation, retarget it with Rigs/RTG_Wanderer (right-click the animation › Retarget Animations).
Four still poses: A_Wanderer_Pose01–04, for screenshots and scenes.

Cloak

SK_Wanderer_Cloak is moved by its bones (ABP_WandererCloak): cheap and stable.
SK_Wanderer_CloakSim uses cloth simulation: more natural, costs more.

Face

The head has the 52 Apple ARKit blend shapes, so it can be driven live from an iPhone with the Live Link Face app:

Install Live Link Face on an iPhone with Face ID and point it at your PC's IP address.
In Unreal, open Window › Live Link and check that the phone shows up.
Play or simulate: ABP_Wanderer drives the face. Check: where the user picks the phone's subject name

Head turn from the phone

With Stream Head Rotation on in the Live Link Face app, the phone also turns the head. The rotation is split between two bones, neck_01 and head, so the turn looks natural. It runs on the Character Blueprints.

ABP_Wanderer's AnimGraph: Live Link Pose, then two Transform (Modify) Bone nodes for neck_01 and head, each rotation fed by Head Roll, Head Pitch or Head Yaw times a small number (0.2 for the neck, 0.3 for the head), then the Output Pose.

Phone movement	Variable	Limit	Neck ×	Head ×	Max turn
Turn left / right	Head Yaw	±60°	0.2	0.3	30°
Nod up / down	Head Pitch	±40°	−0.2	−0.3	20°
Tilt side to side	Head Roll	±30°	0.2	0.3	15°

Max turn = limit × (neck + head). The limits are the Clamp nodes in the Event Graph; the multipliers are the small number boxes in the AnimGraph (above).

To make the head turn…	Change this in ABP_Wanderer
More or less (follows your head more or less closely)	AnimGraph: raise or lower the multipliers, e.g. head 0.3 → 0.5 for more. Keep the neck smaller than the head.
Farther (bigger maximum angle)	Event Graph: widen the Clamp nodes (e.g. yaw ±60 → ±80), and raise the multipliers if you want the extra range to show.
Smoother / slower	Event Graph: put an FInterp To before each Set Head… node (Current = the variable, Target = the clamped value, Delta Time = the event's Delta Time X, Interp Speed ≈ 8). Lower speed = slower and smoother.
Faster / snappier	It already follows the phone instantly. If you added FInterp To, raise its Interp Speed.
The wrong way (e.g. nods down when you nod up)	AnimGraph: flip the sign of that axis's two multipliers (−0.3 ↔ 0.3).
Not at all (face only)	AnimGraph: set Alpha to 0 on both Transform (Modify) Bone nodes. Or just turn off Stream Head Rotation in the app.

Compile and save the ABP after each change. To get the head turn on the preview Actors too, open the Event Graph and connect the Character node's Is Not Valid pin to Evaluate Live Link Frame.

Which version to use

Four versions of the clothed Wanderer: modular, one-piece, atlas without hair and atlas with hair. The atlas versions wear a short mantle instead of the long cape. — ModularOne-pieceAtlasAtlas + hair

They look the same from a distance. The atlas versions wear the short mantle without the long cape.

Version	Good for	Draw calls
Modular	Customising: swap, hide or recolour parts. BP_WandererCharacter as it ships: head 4, leather top 2, every other part 1.	13 12 without the cloak
One-piece	SKM_Wanderer_FullBody, FullCloth, FullClothCloak: the same look in one mesh. Same materials.	6 / 8 / 9
Atlas	One mesh, one 4K texture set, one material: crowds, background characters, lower-end devices.	1
Low hair	SK_Wanderer_HairCardsLow: about a third of the hair polygons, same material.	1 same as the full hair

Draw calls are counted per mesh section (one per material slot), measured in Unreal. Every section casts shadows, so each shadow-casting light draws the same number again.

Two close-ups of the Wanderer's head: on the left the full hair cards, on the right the low version, which looks almost the same. — Hair cards (22,022 polygons)Hair cards low (7,998 polygons)

Requirements

Unreal Engine 5.1 or later.
Plugins (on in this project): Control Rig (on by default in UE5); Live Link, Apple ARKit and ARKit Face Support for the live face.
Extra bones beyond the UE5 Mannequin: 45 cloak bones, in 5 chains of 9: cloak_c, cloak_l1, cloak_l2, cloak_r1, cloak_r2 (each _01 to _09).

The skeleton in Unreal filtered by 'cloak': five chains of nine bones (cloak_c, cloak_l1, cloak_l2, cloak_r1, cloak_r2) on the left, and the skeleton in the viewport with the cloak bones hanging from the shoulders down to the legs.