Best import settings for BIG MEDIUM SMALL - Post Apocalypse Collection? (Or any nonstandard skeleton)

Hey guys,

Has anyone else had issues with importing the content from the B/M/S PA Collection into UE5? To clarify, I am very new to rigging and armature. I am trying to set up a control rig for D4_Mirbek, but the imported armature is completely off-scale and facing the wrong axis. When I try to fix the import settings, because the bone structure is not the same as the UE Mannequin, I can’t really follow any tutorials properly because something always goes wrong when I apply a forwards or backwards solve to the skeleton.

So far, the only thing that I’ve had success with is importing the FBX into Mixamo and having it auto-rig. Unfortunately, the rig is still not quite right, especially with the hands.

Does anyone have a suggestion to be able to properly work with this skeleton, and other skeletons that are not rigged to the UE Manny?

This might just be a problem of me being ignorant, and if that’s the case I would love it if anyone could point me in the right direction for learning how to rig for UE.

Thanks so much for reading this far, and I’m happy to provide more information/context/screenshots if you want.

Hi there, hope you’re good. I’m looking at a similar scenario - did you get it working?
Thanks

Hey! Sorry for the late reply. I ended up taking a break from this problem because I figured that it had something to do with my lack of experience.

It seems like the skeletons were rigged in Blender and have different scale settings than the UE Mannequin. Conveniently, I was recently able to find a plugin on the Marketplace: Mesh Scale Fixer in Code Plugins - UE Marketplace

I have to do some more research but this seems like it has a lot of promise. I will update this forum post when I’ve had time to play around with this plugin.

Sorry again for the late reply, hope you were able to find an answer to this question in the meantime.

Scaling and Rotation problems are primarily a settings issue on the modeling side. Axis Rotation can be rectified on import, but scaling issues can cause bone transform errors and incorrect physics asset generation.

Retargeting in UE5 appears to use IK rigs rather than the UE4 retarget manager. Replacing skeletons with something closer to the UE Skeleton might be desirable in that case too.

Hey. Were you able to solve this issue? I’m having the same problem and tutorials on how to retarget the BMS chars to UE5 Mannequin are nowhere to be found. ):

Update: So, yeah. Not even the Devs were able to help me since they only tested the workflow until 4.26 which works just fine. Anyway, after countless hours I’ve managed to solve the issue. For anyone who’s having trouble importing the characters from Big Medium Small into Unreal Engine 5, here’s what you have to do:

Ultimately it boils down to a scaling issue. So, just import the BMS character into Blender and apply All transforms onto the asset. Then reimport back to Unreal. You still have to build your own IK_Retargeter but there are plenty of tutorials for that. Just copy the bone structure from the SK_Mannequin. Then retarget your anims like you would do with any other asset. Animation errors (like jitters and shakings) should be fixed now.

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