The Unreal Live link window is where you create and manage live link connections from Maya to Unreal. You can access it via File > Unreal Live Link.

Add Selection

Select an object in the scene, then click this to add it to the list of active connections.

Connection list

Displays a list of objects currently connected to Unreal via live link. This list is saved with the scene file.

Type

Displays the type of object being linked. When you first add an object to the Connection List, Maya will set this automatically based on the first Unreal-compatible node-type it encounters in the selected hierarchy. However, you can manually change the type by selecting a different option from this dropdown.

Object name

The name of the object being sent to Unreal. You can change this name to match different objects in the Unreal project.

DAG Path

The Maya hierarchy location of the object being linked.

Linked Asset

The location of the Unreal asset currently linked to the object.

Sequence

The location of the Unreal sequence that the linked asset is being used in.

Modify Link

Opens the Asset Selection window when Linked Asset and Sequence have values for the selected object, allowing you to modify the link information.

Bake Curves Toggle

Show current Baked Curves status of the object (green check = baked, red = unbaked). If the object is Linked, then this value dictates how the animation curves for Blend Shapes and Custom Attributes are represented in Unreal.

When set to Baked, the animation curves for Blend Shapes and Custom Attributes will be baked (i.e. values sampled at each keyframe) before being streamed to Unreal. When set to Unbaked, the animation curves will be reconstructed in Unreal to try to match the curve in Maya as best as possible. Baked curves are able to support more complex scene setups in Maya (including support for Envelopes and Group Values for Blend Shapes), at the cost of more data being sent to Unreal.

Note that this option is only visible for Character subjects.

Link / Unlink

Shows the current linked status of the object (green = linked, red = unlinked). If the Linked Asset and Sequence columns are empty for the selected object, this will open the Asset Selection window. Otherwise, it will either link or unlink the selected object to the current linked asset and sequence.

Unlike the other columns in the Connection list, the link is not saved with the scene file.

Pause / Play

Temporarily suspends sending animation data between linked objects in Maya and Unreal. Use this to improve performance while making edits to complex animation data. While the link is paused, this button turns into a Play button, which you can click to resume the link and send all the edits to Unreal at once.

Trash

Select an existing object in the Connection list, then click this button to remove it.

Options

Select File > Options to open the Unreal Live Link options window with the following options.

Sync Time

Enable this to sync Maya's Time Slider with Unreal's playhead. This relationship is bi-directional.

Endpoints

Use this to point a specific instance of Maya to a specific instance of Unreal (if multiple instances are running).