MetaHuman to Manny: share animations between MetaHumans and the UE5 mannequins

How the MetaHuman skeleton relates to Manny

• •Same design: Epic's Mannequins Asset Pack on Fab says the mannequins use the same skeleton and Control Rig as MetaHumans.
• •A separate asset: Epic's steps for importing a custom FBX animation for a MetaHuman pick metahuman_base_skel as the skeleton, not SK_Mannequin.
• •The Body drives the rest: a MetaHuman is driven by its Body skeletal mesh component, and animation played there carries over to the face and other body parts.
• •Retargeting is Epic's route: even MetaHuman Creator's own template animations are retargeted onto an assembled character, with RTG_MH_IKRig as Epic's recommended retargeter for the body.

Manny animations on a MetaHuman

1. 1.In the Content Browser, right-click the Manny or Quinn animation and choose Retarget Animations (Retarget Animation Assets in Epic's auto retargeting docs).
2. 2.Set the target to your assembled MetaHuman's body skeletal mesh.
3. 3.Let Unreal generate the retargeter (Auto Generate Retargeter), or pick one you built (below). Preview a walk and something with arm swing before exporting.
4. 4.Select the animations, choose Export Animations and save them to a folder of their own with a prefix, so the retargeted copies stay apart from the originals.
5. 5.Select the MetaHuman in your level, click its Body component and drag an exported animation into Anim to Play, or use it in the character's Animation Blueprint.

MetaHuman animations on Manny

1. 1.Right-click the MetaHuman animation and choose Retarget Animations.
2. 2.Set the target to SKM_Manny or SKM_Quinn from Content/Characters/Mannequins/Meshes.
3. 3.Generate the retargeter or pick your own, preview, and export the copies with a prefix.
4. 4.Facial animation does not come along: Manny and Quinn have no face rig, so only the body motion transfers.

Share without copies: compatible skeletons

Unreal lets a skeleton use another skeleton's animations without retargeting: open the skeleton in the Skeleton Editor, open the Retarget Manager, and under Manage Compatible Skeletons click Add Skeleton. Epic says compatibility works both ways, and that it needs nearly identical hierarchies and naming plus similar mesh proportions.

MetaHuman bodies come in many proportions, so treat this as something to test: play a walk on the MetaHuman. If the feet slide or the arms clip into the body, the proportions differ too much, and Retarget Animations is the better route.

A custom IK Retargeter for a better fit

1. 1.Create an IK Rig (Animation, then Retargeting, then IK Rig) and set its preview mesh to the MetaHuman's body. Click Auto Create Retarget Chains, then Auto Create IK; Epic says MetaHuman skeletons are already set up for this.
2. 2.Do the same for Manny if your project has no IK Rig for it yet.
3. 3.Create an IK Retargeter. For MetaHuman animations the source is IK_MH_IKRig, the IK Rig that comes with MetaHuman Creator; for Manny animations it is Manny's IK Rig. Set the target to the other one.
4. 4.Click Add Default Ops, audition an animation, and adjust the retarget pose until the arms and shoulders match.
5. 5.Pick this retargeter in the Retarget Animations window instead of the generated one.

At runtime, without exported copies

Epic documents runtime options for assembled MetaHumans: an Animation Blueprint with a Retarget Pose From Mesh node that follows a parent skeletal mesh, using RTG_MH_IKRig, or a retarget component, which needs the experimental Performance Capture Core plugin. Exported copies are simpler to reason about; runtime retargeting saves assets when many characters share one animation set.

Honest limits

• •Manny and Quinn have no facial bones, so a MetaHuman's face animation stays on the MetaHuman.
• •Retargeted copies are new assets: every pack you adopt needs its own export, unless the compatible skeleton route works for your characters.
• •Very different proportions (a tall, broad MetaHuman on short Quinn clips) show up as sliding feet or clipping arms; adjust the retarget pose or the IK Retargeter's settings.
• •Epic's Fab listing for the Mannequins Asset Pack named Unreal Engine 5.0 to 5.6 on the date above; MetaHuman tools change with each engine release.

Sources

Facts on this page come from these pages, read on October 31, 2026.

• •Fab: Mannequins Asset Pack (Epic Games): the same skeleton and Control Rig as MetaHumans, Unreal Engine 5.0 to 5.6
• •Epic docs: Play a Custom Animation (MetaHuman): the Body component, metahuman_base_skel on import
• •Epic docs: Retarget MetaHuman Creator Animation: Retarget Animations, RTG_MH_IKRig
• •Epic docs: Create a Custom IK Retargeter (MetaHuman): Auto Create Retarget Chains, IK_MH_IKRig, Add Default Ops
• •Epic docs: Runtime Retargeting (MetaHuman): Retarget Pose From Mesh, the retarget component
• •Epic docs: Skeletons: compatible skeletons and their requirements
• •Epic docs: Auto Retargeting: Retarget Animation Assets from the Content Browser, Auto Generate Retargeter, Export Retarget Assets