Retarget a UE5 Animation to a Mixamo Character

Retargeting a UE5 Animation to a Mixamo 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.

Thanks to the Root bone that the plugin adds to the processed Mixamo characters, you can also retarget Root Motion animations.

Video Tutorial

This video tutorial shows, after having applied the plugin, how to retarget a UE5 animation to a Mixamo character.

How to - step by step

To retarget an Unreal Engine 5 animation (based on one of the supported skeleton types: UE4 Mannequin, UE5 Mannequin, MetaHuman) to a Mixamo character (including Root Motion animations):

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

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

  

• 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 Mixamo 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.