UE5 real-time retargeting - How to substitute the UE5 mannequin with your custom Mixamo character 

😅 Thanks a lot!

Thanks :) Glad it helped!!

Thanks :) Glad the video help!

@@UNAmedia I need just a little more help lol trying to do it in my actual project I’m getting “preview mesh hierarchy no longer matches skeleton” etc :(

Never saw this specific error, but it seems a problem with the skeletal mesh components hierarchy. They must be parented *exactly* as shown in the video, otherwise the retargeting system will fail to find them.

Or maybe you selected the wrong IK Retargeter asset… not matching the skeleton used by the animbp

@@UNAmedia I got it! Lol character has multiple layers for different campers views, I made mixamo child not off the main. Thank you so much for this video I’ve been trying to accomplish this non stop for days. One last thing since you clearly know what you are doing and I’m so new to all this lol I have the first person arms for my first person view, how would I replace the mannequin arms with those of my character?

Hi! With the "real-time retargeting" setup shown in the video, you play Unreal Engine animations to a Mixamo character, passing through the intermediate Unreal Engine Mannequin. With the same setup, if you want to play a Mixamo animation then you must use the plugin to retarget it to the Unreal Engine Mannequin, and then play the retargeted version. Then, the real-time retargeting system will take care of retarget it (again...) on the final Mixamo character.

There're many "small" modifications to skeletal meshes that would be very helpful to be supported directly in-editor (rotating the model, changing the bone names, etc.) maybe one day Epic will add them :) The issue is that your imported model has a wrong orientation. The correct orientation for characters in Unreal Engine is with them looking toward the positive Y-axis (like with the Epic Mannequin models). To fix it, you should re-import the source FBX model (www.unamedia.com/ue5-mixamo/docs/import-mixamo-character-in-ue5/) and use the "Import Rotation" option, in the Import FBX Dialog, to fix the wrongly oriented source FBX model. If you have access to Discord, here a thread for another user facing a similar problem with a model: discord.com/channels/898503629655408660/898527797788676106/983036510112723015

Hi! The video is old and was demonstrating how to retarget to the UE5 mannequin when its skeleton was not supported directly by the plugin. Now the plugin supports the UE5 mannequin out-of-the box so the intermediate step with UE4 is not required anymore. If you're using only assets based on the UE4 skeleton, then you can skip the UE5 mannequin part if not needed.

@@UNAmedia does that mean I have to select UE5 Mannequin or what exactly is their a video planned

Hi! Glad you're enjoying the tutorial! Likely the problem is that your NPC is using a different skeleton. When you create the Animation Blueprint you must select the skeleton used by your skeletal mesh, and it will not work on other skeletons. So if your playable character is using a skeleton different than your NPC, then you must create a new Animation Blueprint class.

@@UNAmedia thats what i thought so i switched over the npc to use the same skeleton but not working. well if i open the npc skeletal mesh and preview the animations they work perfectly but when i drop them in the level they just T pose hahaha im so confused. thanks for replying btw and keep up the tutorials dude they are great and so easy to follow

Ensure to have enabled the plugin in your project. If the option doesn't appear, the plugin is not enabled or you have right-clicked on an asset other than a "skeleton".

Hi! You can find detailed documentation on how to use the Mixamo Animation Retargeting 2 plugin here: www.unamedia.com/ue5-mixamo/docs/ . Each tutorial has dedicated videos.

Hi. Likely you not assigned the animation to the right component; or maybe your animation blueprint is not correctly configured, double check the steps in the video.

@john wellard So how does it work, is it like having three characters? I am also wondering how performance heavy this would be for an actual game with a lot of stuff on screen at once.

Hi! They're created by the plugin. Ensure you run the plugin on the needed skeletons. When you run the plugin on a Mixamo skeleton, it creates 2 retargeter assets: on from the selected UE Mannequin to the Mixamo character, and one for the opposite retargeting (from the Mixamo character to the selected UE Mannequin).

Hi! You mean www.mixamo.com/ ?

Hi! It's created at 1:35.

I'm sorry for the lack of attention. I'm learning slowly.

No problem :) You are welcome!!

Hi! The plugin works only on Mixamo assets and standard UE4/UE5/MetaHuman assets.

Hi! Thanks. I checked and the plugin is regularly available. Sometime the marketplace has transitory errors. Try quitting and re-launching the Epic Games Launcher or forcing a refresh of your browser.

Maybe you selected the wrong skeleton asset for the custom Animation Blueprints? Or you not parented the Skeletal Mesh Components as described?

@@UNAmedia Most probably. I will have to keep trying to get it right.

@@UNAmedia Finally did it after becoming bald and senile!

@@PEMBYSGAMINGWORLD :D Glad for you! Have you discovered what was the "missing step"?

Ciao! Come spiegato all’inizio del video, il video mostrava come passare da Mixamo ad UE5 quando il nostro plugin supportava il retargeting solo verso il manichino di UE4, quindi lo scheletro UE4 serviva come passaggio intermedio. Con la versione attuale del plugin il passaggio intermedio con lo scheletro UE4 è superfluo.

Hi! I’m sorry you not noticed it, but it’s written in the video description and it’s also the first thing said at the beginning of the video.

Hello! I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, but the video begins mentioning that the video is for our plugin, and this is also written in the description.