MetaHuman facial animation doesn't work in UE5.8.0 sequencer

General Issues and Bug Reporting
1

Summary

I added City Sample Crowds FaceMesh as a compatible skeleton to UE5.8 MetaHuman, and the facial animations in City Sample Crowds became selectable just like all previous versions of MetaHumans. It must have been done correctly since I confirmed the animation was working in the Preview Animation dropdown in the MetaHuman’s FaceMesh window.

But when I assigned the animation to a MetaHuman’s face in UE5.8.0 sequencer, the MetaHuman’s face didn’t animate at all. I removed the control rig track from the sequencer and added the animation, just like previous UE versions that was working without any problem.

Am I missing something?

Please select what you are reporting on:

Creative

What Type of Bug are you experiencing?

Character

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Create a MetaHuman
  2. Add City Sample Crowds asset from Fab to the project
  3. Open Face Mesh of the MetaHuman
  4. Add City Sample Crowd’s face mesh to compatible skeletons
  5. Create a level sequencer
  6. Add the MetaHuman to the sequencer
  7. Remove the face control rig track from the sequencer
  8. Add a City Sample Crowds facial animation to the MetaHuman’s face in the sequencer
  9. MetaHuman’s face doesn’t animate, unlike previous versions of MetaHumans

Expected Result

MetaHuman’s face animates

Observed Result

MetaHuman’s face doesn’t animate

Platform(s)

Windows