Retarget a Mixamo animation to a UE5 character

Retargeting a Mixamo Animation to a UE5 Character is very simple, and uses the standard UE5 workflow. You can read more about the UE5 retargeting system here: https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/ik-rig-animation-retargeting-in-unreal-engine/.

The UE5 Mixamo Animation Retargeting plugin automatically performs all the configurations needed by UE5.

MetaHuman

Direct support for the MetaHuman skeleton (used also by the Manny and Quinn mannequins in UE5) is under active development and will be added in a future update. In the mean time, you can continue using the plugin to retarget Mixamo animations to MetaHuman characters following specific instructions.

Video Tutorial

This video tutorial shows, after having applied the plugin, how to retarget a Mixamo animation to a UE5 character (based on the UE4 Mannequin skeleton).

How to - step by step

To retarget a Mixamo animation to an Unreal Engine 5 character based on the UE4 Mannequin skeleton:

• if not already done, run the plugin's Retarget Mixamo Skeleton Asset action on the Mixamo skeleton associated with the Mixamo animation (please read the detailed instructions if needed);

• open the IK Retargeter asset named RTG_<Mixamo-Skeleton>_<UE-Skeleton> (for example RTG_SWAT_Mannequin). It's created by the plugin and saved in the same directory as the Mixamo skeleton. It's used to retarget animations from the Mixamo character to the target UE skeleton.

  

• in the IK Retargeter editor, select an animation from the Asset Browser (double click on it to preview it in real-time);

  

• press the Export Selected Animations button;
• select the destination directory where saving the new retargeted animation.

Done :) You'll find the new retargeted animation in your Content Browser.

Alternative Skeletal Meshes

The plugin computes ad-hoc retarget poses for all the Skeletal Meshes using the target skeleton. This allows the Retargeting System of Unreal Engine to generate better results when properly configured.

If the target UE skeleton is used by several Skeletal Meshes, you can select a compatible target asset in the Target Preview Mesh property of the IK Retargeter editor (selecting a skeletal mesh not using the same skeleton is not directly supported by the plugin).

Ensure to select the corresponding Retarget Pose before exporting the animations.

This allows the Retargeting System of Unreal Engine to compute a retargeted animation better suited for the selected skeletal mesh.