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Improving Your Workflow: How to Retarget Mixamo Animations onto a Metahuman

In today's tutorial, we'll dive into the intricate process of retargeting Mixamo animations onto a Metahuman in Unreal Engine. If you're looking to enhance your animation skills, follow along step by step as we break down the entire process.

Setting the Stage

Let's begin by setting up our workspace in Unreal Engine. Follow these initial steps to lay the foundation for seamless animation retargeting:

Creating Organized Folders

  1. Start by creating an IK Retargeting folder and a Mixamo folder within your project directory.
  2. Open Bridge and ensure it's installed to facilitate the animation import process smoothly.

Importing Assets

  1. Download a freely available preset from the Metahumans library on Quixel.
  2. Import the downloaded Metahuman character into Unreal Engine and adjust its position within the editor.
  3. Head over to Mixamo.com, download the desired character (we used "Y Bot" in this instance), and import it into Unreal Engine.
  4. Import Mixamo animations with root motion enabled and ensure correct configuration settings for smooth integration.

Rigging Setup

Mixamo IK Rig Setup

  1. Sequentially create IK rig chains for various bones of the Mixamo character, ensuring consistent naming for easy reference and future automation.
  2. Repeat the rigging process for both arms, legs, hands, and fingers, ensuring meticulous attention to detail.

Metahuman IK Rig Setup

  1. Configure the IK rig for the Metahuman skeleton in a similar manner, establishing alignment between corresponding bones for flawless animation retargeting.

Animation Retargeting Process

  1. Utilize the IK Retargeting tool in Unreal Engine to copy animations from the Mixamo IK rig to the Metahuman IK rig.
  2. Verify and adjust the bone mapping to ensure precise alignment between the source and target chains for accurate retargeting results.
  3. Manually adjust the pose alignment to fine-tune animations for a seamless transition between characters.

Finalizing Animation Retargeting

  1. Export the retargeted animations to a designated folder within the project structure.
  2. Alternatively, use the duplicate and retarget animation assets function to streamline the retargeting process for all animations quickly.

Applying Retargeted Animations

  1. To apply retargeted animations to your Metahuman character, use Live Link Skeletal Animation for real-time preview and testing.
  2. Select the Metahuman blueprint and enable auto-activation for the retargeted animation assets, allowing you to seamlessly integrate the animations into your project.

Conclusion

Now that you've mastered the art of retargeting Mixamo animations onto a Metahuman, you're ready to elevate your Unreal Engine projects with dynamic and engaging character animations. Remember to experiment with different animations and refine the retargeting process to suit your specific project requirements.

If you found this tutorial valuable, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share it with fellow enthusiasts. Stay tuned for more exciting Unreal Engine tutorials and advanced techniques coming your way!

Stay creative and keep animating!

Meta description: Discover the step-by-step process of retargeting Mixamo animations onto a Metahuman in Unreal Engine. Enhance your animation skills with this comprehensive tutorial.

Keywords: Mixamo animations, Metahuman, Unreal Engine, retargeting, IK rig setup, animation integration.

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