# How to fix the broken shoulder in mesh when playing animation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Character & Animation\ **Tags:** unreal-engine, meshes, question\ **Created:** [November 28, 2022, 10:32am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857 "2022-11-28T10:32:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![quano1](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/quano1/32/580625_2.png) [@quano1](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/quano1)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2022, 10:32am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857/1 "2022-11-28T10:32:13Z")
Hello everybody, I just bought an animation package from market place, it looks good until I use with mesh… How it looks with Epic mesh ![Screenshot 2022-11-28 101353](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/7/2/2/722c36b4236712ae949787b15c9eac3cdbd3861b.jpeg) ![Screenshot 2022-11-28 101328](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/8/6/3/8638b265930c5c731b53be489313948e4a0a3f21.jpeg) with my mesh ![Screenshot 2022-11-28 101300](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/6/a/26a130ce8a787fdddca995e5fc2b6e0001a5cdf7.png) ![Screenshot 2022-11-28 101238](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/e/6/d/e6d50e709cf00cdf60fe6ad4dc922d42132f1205.png) and with paragon character ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/4/2840e0f077af82bf1b975556b49c59380cbf72c2.jpeg) Does someone know what is causing the problem? animation or the mesh? And what is the technique to fix it? Thank you ---
**Author:** ![Quetzalcodename](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Quetzalcodename](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Quetzalcodename)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2022, 11:11am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857/2 "2022-11-28T11:11:23Z")
Hey @quano1! Have you adjusted the shoulders for your mesh on retargeting? Looks like the animation is a little high for the arms even with the standard male mesh. ---
**Author:** ![AyanMiru](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/ayanmiru/32/1194638_2.png) [@AyanMiru](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/AyanMiru)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2022, 12:08pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857/3 "2022-11-28T12:08:26Z")
I feel like this problem is not noticeable on mannequin, because the shoulder-body connection on it is sorta separated (Hard-skinned?) like robot arms. But it’s noticeable on more ‘fleshy’ characters, which need smoothed skinning but high rotation values result in this “candy wrap” effect. Usually you would need additional bones with CorrectivePoses (PoseAsset with set of poses for all directions, or morphs) that fix shoulder shape depending on pose of the upper\_arm or shoulder. Worth checking out UE5 ContentExamples project or metahumans as they have pretty good setup there. On a related note, if you have working rig with correctives in your DCC you may want to look into ML Deformer. It’s quite amazing. ---
**Author:** ![quano1](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/quano1/32/580625_2.png) [@quano1](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/quano1)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2022, 3:32pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857/4 "2022-11-28T15:32:10Z")
@Quetzalcodename no, it is just an illusion caused by the perspective view. The base poses are fitted perfectly. @AyanMiru, I have tried the latest ContentExample, seems like this one is what I am looking for ![Screenshot 2022-11-28 222715](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/5/7/257b1b22ca9364b8cd70ce8349a08e8704f0cd01.jpeg) It matches exactly my other problem ![Screenshot 2022-11-28 215220](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/9/b/f/9bff561045d949154666bd901d83a346e1cf395a.png) ![Screenshot 2022-11-28 215232](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/f/1/7/f17a4db059a0d2aedd3feb988256c5d5dda1ab8b.png) ![Screenshot 2022-11-28 215905](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/5/2/6/5265616ce92cedae193bef6fbd5d9ee4f2e3fd1d.jpeg) I’m C++ developer, so these issues really scare me, thank you a lot for the suggestion 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MostHost\_LA](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/mosthost_la/32/907035_2.png) [@MostHost\_LA](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MostHost_LA)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857/6 "2022-11-28T22:32:47Z")
Your animations are wrong. Period. Get/make better animations with the proper clavicle controls. Candy wrapping has nothing to do with the issue here, since there is no rotation. Consider a return. That’s 100% not how you make sword slash animations. The clavicles _have_ to move. ---
**Author:** ![quano1](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/quano1/32/580625_2.png) [@quano1](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/quano1)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 4:35am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857/7 "2022-11-29T04:35:22Z")
@MostHost_LA, author refused the issue is in animation, he requested me to ask Epic to fix paragon character instead, lol. If possible, could you give me some hint/reference that can fix the problem, please? ---
**Author:** ![MostHost\_LA](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/mosthost_la/32/907035_2.png) [@MostHost\_LA](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MostHost_LA)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 12:47pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857/8 "2022-11-29T12:47:00Z")
The author is out of his/her mind. The clavicle bones need to rotate along with the rest of the chain setup to allow for a correct animation. Export the animation to blender, along with a sample mesh. Rig it. If using the mannequin skeleton just one click on my addon for blender ([Bone Breaker: Unreal to Blender](http://MostHostLA.com/gamedev/bonebreaker)) Bake positions from the ue4 animation to the rig. Then delete and adjust frames manually. The extra shoulder control from the rig should help to fix the anatomy as well. Its a bit of a process to clean it up. Obviously. And/or Just use a different starting animation pack. I think the free set from mocap online has a peoperly made/rigged overhead swing. For instance. Since you have 2 bones that are completely bad, and another 2 (the shoulder rotations) that are also in need of adjustments regardless, starting somwhwre else could mean less work. Ps: Report the animation pack to marketplace support. Link them to this topic. ---
**Author:** ![quano1](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/quano1/32/580625_2.png) [@quano1](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/quano1)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 2:07pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857/9 "2022-11-29T14:07:15Z")
I don’t intend to request a refund due to it has passed about 2 months. But you are right, I should report to EPIC in order to force developer to fix the issue. Thank you a lot for the help ---
**Author:** ![JK\_Peng](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@JK\_Peng](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/JK_Peng)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2025, 6:20am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857/10 "2025-10-22T06:20:06Z")
Hi @MostHost_LA, Bone Breaker works with Blender 4.0? ---
**Author:** ![MostHost\_LA](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/mosthost_la/32/907035_2.png) [@MostHost\_LA](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MostHost_LA)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857/11 "2025-10-23T18:50:14Z")
It should, I haven’t updated in a long while, and blender still starts/load with it. If you find it doesn’t, shoot me an email 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JK\_Peng](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@JK\_Peng](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/JK_Peng)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2025, 4:36pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-to-fix-the-broken-shoulder-in-mesh-when-playing-animation/716857/12 "2025-10-24T16:36:15Z")
Thanks. Will test it out. Appreciate it.