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Mixamo to UE5 converter: Manny bone names and a root bone

Drop a rigged Mixamo character as FBX or GLB and this free converter gives you a GLB of the same character with its bones renamed to the UE5 Manny names and a root bone added at the origin, with its animation clips carried over. It renames the skeleton; it does not turn it into the Manny skeleton. No account needed.

Drop a Mixamo FBX or GLB here

A rigged Mixamo character or animation: an .fbx as Mixamo gives it, a .glb, or a .gltf with its data embedded. Up to 150 MB.

Your file stays on your device: it is converted in this browser tab and never uploaded.

What it does

  • Renames the 52 Mixamo bones that have a Manny counterpart (Hips to pelvis, LeftUpLeg to thigh_l, LeftHandIndex1 to index_01_l and so on), with the map the free UE5 skeleton checker uses. Finger tips and end bones such as HeadTop_End have no Manny counterpart: they keep their names without the mixamorig prefix.
  • Adds a bone named root above the pelvis, at the world origin with no rotation, and binds it into the skin, so the skeleton has a top bone as Manny's does.
  • Keeps every animation clip: the tracks follow the renamed bones. If you tick the option, each clip's travel along the ground moves from the pelvis to root; the pelvis keeps its height and turning.
  • Leaves the mesh, the skin weights, the materials and the embedded textures as they were. An FBX is first written as GLB in metres, the unit glTF uses.
  • Shows the bones before and after, and the Manny bones the character still does not have.

Why GLB and not FBX: three.js, which reads your FBX in this tab, writes glTF but has no FBX writer, and we know of no maintained FBX writer that runs in a browser. GLB is the binary form of glTF, an open format that Unreal Engine 5 and Blender both import.

What the output is good for

Names that match UE5 tutorials and Manny-based BlueprintsTested in the file

hand_r, foot_l, head and the rest are spelled exactly as on the UE5 mannequin, so sockets, bone lookups and tutorial steps that name Manny's bones find them. Tested: the converted names are checked against the Manny bone list in code.

Root motion has a rootPartly unverified in Unreal

The root bone sits at the origin above the pelvis, and with the travel option ticked the clip's ground travel is on it, where Unreal's root motion reads it. Tested in the file. Not yet checked in Unreal: playing such a clip with Enable Root Motion on.

A head start for the IK RetargeterPartly unverified in Unreal

The bone chains carry Manny's names, which gives Unreal's automatic chain mapping more to match. Not yet checked in Unreal: how much of the mapping it fills in by itself for this skeleton.

What it does not do

  • It does not make the Manny skeleton. Manny has 89 bones; a Mixamo skeleton has 3 spine bones where Manny has 5, and no twist, metacarpal or IK bones (36 Manny bones in all have no Mixamo counterpart).
  • It does not change the rest pose or the bone orientation. Mixamo characters come in a T-pose with Mixamo's own bone axes; Manny rests in an A-pose with different axes.
  • So Manny and Quinn animations do not play correctly on the converted character just because the names match. Do not import it with SK_Mannequin as its skeleton: retarget the animations with the IK Retargeter, or rig the character to the real Manny skeleton.

Not yet checked in Unreal Engine

The file facts above are tested. These are not, so treat them as open questions until they are:

  • How Unreal's glTF import builds the skeleton from this file: whether root stays the top bone and every clip comes in.
  • Whether a clip with its travel moved to root plays as root motion with Enable Root Motion on.
  • How much of the IK Retargeter's chain mapping fills in by itself for the renamed skeleton.
  • Opening the GLB in Blender and exporting FBX from there, for anyone who needs an FBX.

Questions

Is my file uploaded?

No. The file is read and converted by this page in your browser tab, and the GLB is made there too; nothing is sent anywhere. If you accepted analytics, the page counts the file's format, the result and how many bones and clips it had, never the file name or a bone name.

Will Manny animations play on the converted character?

Not correctly, as they are. The names now match Manny's, but the skeleton is still Mixamo's: 3 spine bones instead of 5, no twist or IK bones, a T-pose rest and different bone axes. Retarget Manny animations with the IK Retargeter, or rig the character to the real Manny skeleton so they play with no retargeting.

How do I add a root bone to a Mixamo character?

Drop the Mixamo FBX or GLB here: the output has a bone named root at the origin above the pelvis, bound into the skin. Mixamo puts a walk's travel on Hips; tick the option to move it to root as well. In Blender the same is done by adding a bone above Hips and moving the travel keys by hand.

Why do I get a GLB and not an FBX?

Because the conversion runs in your browser, and there is no maintained FBX writer for browsers: three.js reads FBX but writes only glTF. Unreal Engine 5 and Blender import GLB. If you need an FBX, Blender can open the GLB and export one; we have not checked that round trip in Unreal yet.

Which files can it read?

A rigged Mixamo FBX (binary, or text FBX 7.0 or newer), a .glb, or a .gltf with its data embedded, up to 150 MB. Bone names may carry mixamorig:, mixamorig1: or no colon. An animation downloaded "Without Skin" works too: its bones and clips are converted.

Is there a way to skip retargeting altogether?

Yes: rig the character to the UE5 Manny skeleton itself. RigMaster rigs a humanoid GLB in your browser and gives you an FBX on the Manny skeleton, so Manny and Quinn animations play on it with no retargeting. A rig costs 15 credits, and eligible new accounts get 50 free signup credits.

Related tools and guides

Mixamo is a product of Adobe. This converter is not affiliated with or endorsed by Adobe, and Unreal Engine is a trademark of Epic Games.