This tutorial will show you how to retarget the animations from the Unreal Engine 5 Mannequin (Quinn) to a MetaHuman at runtime, then use that MetaHuman as a playable character inside your Level.
This tutorial uses IK Rig leg placement functionality. Your animated MetaHuman's legs will conform dynamically to the terrain.
Required Knowledge and Setup
This page requires basic knowledge of Animation Blueprints in Unreal Engine.
Before you can follow the steps outlined on this page, you need to:
Create a new Unreal Engine project based on the Third Person Template. If you need help completing this step, refer to the following pages in the Unreal Engine 5 documentation:
Download a MetaHuman and import them into your project. If you need help completing this step, refer to the following pages:
Workflow
This workflow consists of the following steps:
Create the controllable MetaHuman Blueprint.
Create and configure a new Animation Blueprint.
Finish configuring the controllable MetaHuman Blueprint.
Hide the Quinn mesh.
Set your MetaHuman as the Default Pawn Class in the Game Mode Blueprint.
Create the Controllable MetaHuman Blueprint
First, create the controllable MetaHuman Blueprint. By the end of this tutorial, this Blueprint will be how you replace Quinn as the playable character in your Level with your MetaHuman.
The workflow below requires you to switch between two Blueprint Editors. Make sure you're in the correct Blueprint Editor before following a step.
Follow these steps:
In the Content Browser, find the
BP_ThirdPersonCharacter
Blueprint Class. This Blueprint is located in theContent/ThirdPerson/Blueprints
folder.Right-click the
BP_ThirdPersonCharacter
Blueprint and, from the context menu, select Duplicate.Name the duplicated Blueprint
BP_MetaHumanCharacter
.Double-click the
BP_MetaHumanCharacter
Blueprint to open it in the Blueprint Editor, then switch to the Viewport tab.The newly created BP_MetaHuman Character Blueprint still uses the Quinn Skeletal Mesh for now. We’ll change that in the next steps.
Go back to the Content Browser and find your MetaHuman’s Blueprint. This Blueprint is located in the
Content/MetaHumans/(MetaHumanName)
folder, and is namedBP_(MetaHumanName)
.This tutorial uses the Ada Preset, whose Blueprint is located in
Content/MetaHumans/Ada
and is namedBP_Ada
. Double-click theBP_Ada
Blueprint to open it in the Blueprint Editor, then switch to the Viewport tab.In the
BP_Ada
Blueprint, select all Components under the Root Component:Feet
Legs
Torso
Face
Hair
Eyebrows
Fuzz
Eyelashes
Mustache
Beard
To select multiple Components, click the first Component you want to select. Then, holding down the Shift key, click the last Component you want to select.
Use the Ctrl + C keyboard shortcut to copy the Components you selected.
Switch to the
BP_MetaHumanCharacter
Blueprint. In the Components panel, click the Mesh (CharacterMesh0) Component, then use the Ctrl + V keyboard shortcut to paste the Components you copied in the previous step.Continuing from the previous step, in the Components panel, select and then click and drag the Components you copied earlier to parent them to the Mesh (Character Mesh) Component.
Click and drag each of the Components you moved in the previous step to parent them to the appropriate Mesh Components. Your finished hierarchy should look like the screenshot below.
The order of the Components in this window doesn’t matter, as long as all Components have the correct parent.
Select the Body, Legs, Feet, Face, and Torso Components (1). Then, in the Details panel, navigate to the Transform section. Click the two Reset buttons (2) next to the Location and Rotation values to reset these values to zero.
To select multiple non-consecutive Components, hold down the Ctrl key and left-click each Component you want to select.
Your Blueprint will still show the Quinn mesh overlapping Ada. We’ll fix that in the next steps.
Create a New Animation Blueprint
Next, you will create an Animation Blueprint and retarget it. Follow these steps:
Continuing from the previous section, in the Blueprint Editor for your
BP_MetaHumanCharacter
Blueprint, click the Body Component to select it (1). Then, in the Details panel, in the Mesh section, find the Skeletal Mesh property and click Browse to Asset next to it.This will open the Content Browser at the location of your MetaHuman’s body Skeletal Mesh. For Ada, this mesh will be located in the
Content/MetaHumans/Ada/Female/Medium/NormalWeight/Body
folder and it will be calledf_med_nrw_body
.Right-click the
f_med_nrw_body
Skeletal Mesh and, from the context menu, select Create > Anim Blueprint. Name your new BlueprintABM_MHRuntimeRTG
.This action will create a few additional Assets in the same folder. You don’t need to worry about those.
In the Content Browser, double-click the
ABM_MHRuntimeRTG
Blueprint to open it.Right-click in the AnimGraph, then search for and create a Retarget Pose from Mesh node. Connect this node to the Output Pose node, as shown below.
Click the Retarget Pose from Mesh node to select it. Then, in the Details panel, in the Retargeter Asset dropdown, select the RTG_Mannequin Retarget Asset.
Compile and Save the Animation Blueprint.
Finish Configuring the Controllable MetaHuman Blueprint
There are a few more steps to configure the controllable MetaHuman Blueprint you created:
Go back to the
BP_Ada
Blueprint. In the Functions panel, click the EnableMasterPose function, then press Ctrl + C to copy it.Switch to the
BP_MetaHumanCharacter
Blueprint. Click in the Functions panel, then press Ctrl + V to paste the EnableMasterPose function.Switch to the
BP_Ada
Blueprint. In the Functions panel, double-click the Construction Script to open it. Shift-click each of the following nodes (or left-click and drag to select all of them), then press Ctrl + C to copy them:Enable Master Pose (all three of them)
Feet
Legs
Torso
Switch to the
BP_MetaHumanCharacter
Blueprint. In the Functions panel, double-click the Construction Script to open it, then press Ctrl + V to paste the nodes you copied.Connect the output pin of the Construction Script node to the input node of the first Enable Master Pose node, as shown below.
Still in the
BP_MetaHumanCharacter
Blueprint, switch to the Viewport, then click the Body Component (1) to select it. In the Details panel, in the Animation section (2), set the following properties:Animation Mode: Use Animation Blueprint
Animation Blueprint: Search for and select the
ABM_MHRuntimeRTG
Animation Blueprint you created earlier in this tutorial.
Hide the Quinn Mesh
The last thing you need to do in the BP_MetaHumanCharacter
Blueprint is to hide the Quinn mesh. To do this, follow these steps:
In the
BP_MetaHumanCharacter
Blueprint, click the Mesh (CharacterMesh) Component to select it. Then, in the Details panel, change the following properties:Visible: Uncheck this check box.
Visibility Based Anim Tick Option: Set this to Always Tick Pose and Refresh Bones.
Use the Search box in the Details panel to quickly find properties.
Compile and Save the Blueprint.
Set your MetaHuman as the Default Pawn Class
Next, you need to assign the BP_MetaHumanCharacter
Blueprint as the current Game Mode’s Default Pawn Class. This tells your game to use your MetaHuman as the playable character when the game starts.
Follow these steps:
In the Content Browser, navigate to the
Content/ThirdPerson/Blueprints
folder.Double-click the
BP_ThirdPersonGameMode
Blueprint to open it.Set the Default Pawn Class property to
BP_MetaHuman Character
.Compile and Save the Blueprint.
Final Result
When you play your game, the player character is now your MetaHuman. The MetaHuman has idle, run, and jump animations. Their feet conform to the terrain.