How Do I Fix My Character's Arms From Being Squiggly?

Development Character & Animation
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Evening everyone! We all know that game development, the majority of which is (what at times feels like endless) problem solving. Tonight, I am having difficulty getting my character to not look like a monster, knuckle dragger, and knock off creepypasta.

My arms are squiggly!!! Help! How do I fix this?

Question Criteria:

  • I have swapped the Third Person Skeletal Mesh with the Knight.
  • When the mesh was swapped he became deformed, shortened, almost dwarfish (ironic because I’m making a fantasy RPG) and compacted.
  • I changed the animation blueprint to “None” and complied, he now is back to regular form.
  • Problem, his arms are all floaty, squiggly, and won’t cooperate with Retargeting.
  • “How did you retarget?” I went to the folder the Knight was in > Skeleton Window > Asset Details > Added Compatible Skeletons (I only have two others and it’s the default mannequins)
  • Arms are Squiggly!

If anyone has any idea on how to fix this, or how to find a work around, please let me know!

Thank you!

SquigglyArmKnight
SquigglyArmKnight1142×985 122 KB

2

Your weight painting is messed up, I believe. You can either redo your character retargeting/rigging or attempt to fix the bone weight paints. Youtube has tutorials for both. The second requires the following plugin (Skeletal Mesh Editing Tool).

Screenshot 2025-07-10 233135
Screenshot 2025-07-10 2331351670×916 107 KB

I recommend deactivating the plugin after completing your work and when not actively using it.

3

Hey there @ImagineBlue! Transferring from the other thread to here:

You mentioned you don’t use Blender or other programs, do you use any software for modifying the rig that you could use to make changes? There is a Skeletal Mesh Editing plugin in Unreal you can use but it’s not as robust as a dedicated program like Blender.

My first thoughts go to:

4

Try this:

  • Open the skeleton
  • Under the Skeleton Tree tab > Options > CHECK Show Retargeting Options
  • Beside all the bones, you’ll now see retargeting options, click the retargeting option for the root bone and set it to "Skeleton " and then right click the next bone in hierarchy (usually pelvis) and then “Recursively Set Translation Retargeting Animation Scaled”

See if the issue is fixed, if not then try it the other way around:

  • Root to “Animation scaled”
  • Everything else to “Recursively Set Translation Retargeting Skeleton”
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