Hello,
The Question is about UE5 Preview 2! (Or any UE5 with the new Retarget system)
I can not find the correct way to retarget the root bone for root motion animations.
When I set “Pelvis” as the retargeting root, the animations work but the root motion is lost.
When I set “root” as the retargeting root, the root motion works but the animations are buggy/broken a little bit, (maybe something about the IK?)
Does someone know what to do?
Is it a UE5 problem or am I missing something?
UE4
Actual hero. Can’t believe I missed this, probably spent 4 hours struggling with why I couldn’t solve it.
Thank you for the solution!
Direct and to the point
I have the same problem but the settings for translation mode are not there. Have they been removed in the new version? How can I retarget root motion now?
I can’t find the pannel with these settings. Where is it?
Hey @Blueprintbob & @AmusedAardvark, that panel that displays the translation mode is only displayed when you select a bone. To fix your root motion not retargeting properly, select the root motion bone in the “Chain Mapping” window located at the bottom right of the screen. Then the panel will appear and allow you to select the translation mode.
I’m finding that using @bengmusic 's method works to copy the RM, but it is not being scaled properly. I’ve tried Globally Scaled & Absolute, tried modifying retarget settings on the destination skeleton (animation, animation scaled) but no luck. At the end of all animations the root bone is offset in front / below where it should be. My target skeleton is significantly smaller than the source (UE4) skeleton.
Same issue as this post I think [UE5] Retargeted root motion animations have innacurate pelvis / hip placement - #7 by Hammerhead_Anims
My target skeleton is slightly bigger and my characters root bone is offset back instead. Have you found any solution?
Oh I missed that. No I have not found a solution.
*Update - further testing & @Faulkin’s comments lead me to believe this is not an ideal solution for all cases. I’m not sure to put that on this method or on growing pains in the the UE5 retarget system.
Key points: Dest SkMesh must have root bone retargeting option set to Animation Scaled && your IKRigs must have a chain that includes the pelvis (and those chains mapped). I found the default UE4 Mannequin IKrig does not have pelvis set up by default - so I just made a 1 bone chain and it worked!
you made my day 
Glad to hear it - I don’t take any credit though (not my video). Curious to hear how much mileage you get out of this process. I’m still finding stumbling blocks within it.
I’m trying to migrate animation data that I bought in Marketplace to my custom character. and Because of this issue, My character’s root animation was all messed up. Now it all works fine. but this is just beginning…haha
god! You are a life saver
Thank you so much. Worked like a charm!
this worked, thank you
I also had to UNSET all the flags in the Root Motion panel for the SOURCE animation
Set Retarget Root to pelvis for TARGET animation in the IK Rig
Interestingly, it doesn’t seem like the root motion is baked into the re-targeted animation, as changing the flags there causes the animation to be in-place.
@TheWolf
Initially, my retargeted animations looked kind of like your first picture, except the IK bones AND root didn’t move. I am using virtual bones for IK (we’ll see how long that works for). Now they all move with the animation, not perfectly though.
Outstanding. Still works. Thanks for this!
For clarification: You select the root motion in the IKRetargeter and choose Absolute in the Details panel under FK - Transition Mode. After that I didn’t have to change any root settings on the original animation and could leave them as default.
I think target pelvis height is fixed, so its not natural look
