# Skeletal mesh importing without bones? **URL:** \ **Category:** Character & Animation\ **Tags:** unreal-engine, skeletal-mesh-import, question\ **Created:** [February 10, 2015, 5:06am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500 "2015-02-10T05:06:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kapos](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Kapos](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Kapos)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 5:06am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/1 "2015-02-10T05:06:58Z")
Hey guys. I’ve updated the rig for my character and want to bring it in and re-point the animations to the new rig, etc. However, when I import my skeletal mesh FBX it seems to be importing without the bones. When I view the skeleton there are actually NO bones in the hierarchy. Instead, the only thing in the hierarchy is my character geometry (should that even be in there at all??). This obviously makes it difficult to reassign the skeleton, as there are no bones to reassign to. I’ve double and triple checked my FBX export settings as well as my import. I’m at a loss- I have no idea what’s going on here. Any help is appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_ac5cf46a](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_ac5cf46a](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_ac5cf46a)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/2 "2015-03-17T19:38:19Z")
same thing here any solutions yet? ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_ac5cf46a](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_ac5cf46a](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_ac5cf46a)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/3 "2015-03-17T21:51:33Z")
Figured it out, at least for my purposes. I don’t know where the hiccup is exactly Ue4 or the FBX exporter but the short version is: When exporting your Skeletal Mesh, instead of selecting your mesh(s) and your root joint then ‘Export Selection’ ing. What you need to do is delete everything except your skeleton and meshes then ‘Export All’. With the same FBX settings it WILL work this time. As an added bonus, if you can’t delete parts of your rig because the nodes are locked or hidden. use this script in the python script window to unlock everything. ##Unlock all Nodes Script import maya.cmds as mc allNodes = mc.ls() for node in allNodes: mc.lockNode(node, l=False) Then delete those unruly nodes. ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_f40bbba2](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_f40bbba2](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_f40bbba2)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/4 "2015-06-25T21:38:37Z")
I’m having the same issue. But unfortunately. “Export All” Did not work in my case. I’m using a Max to UE4 pipeline. I’ve tried exporting as both an fbx 2014 and as an fbx 2013. I’ve tried 3 different types of rigs/models. I’ve tried cleaning house and opening a completely new scene and porting my rig/geometry over there. All of these delivering the same negative results. I even did a “box test” where I grew a biped skeleton and attached some blank boxes to the limbs. Just to make sure it wasn’t my model/rig. No results. Upon importing, it doesn’t automatically recognize it as a skeletal mesh and it doesn’t import any of the bone hierarchy. It looks like it’s instead creating it’s own hierarchy out of the “character geometry” and then it will show up in the scene but the animation won’t play. Please help. I feel like I’ve tried just about everything. But maybe I’m missing a check box somewhere? Please and Thank you. Here are some images of my import/export settings. ![47917-export_settings_forunreal.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/a/3/2/a32d7d95b35d53fe15181dc7a596ebee4545a1e5.jpeg) ![47918-importsettings.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/6/5/4/6546717b64c780de5fa8c4a4bdd283307ebd6d51.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_5a95298e](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_5a95298e](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_5a95298e)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 12:48pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/5 "2015-09-15T12:48:04Z")
I’m having the same problem every time I reimport a certain skeletal mesh, which means I can never update the mesh on the skeleton. Any solutions? ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_6500283d](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_6500283d](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_6500283d)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/6 "2015-09-19T00:05:30Z")
I was having the same problem. Thank you so much! The “export all” worked ok. Finally got my character in. Why was this happening? “Export selection” worked fine for me for another project. ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_9caa13ca](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_9caa13ca](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_9caa13ca)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/7 "2016-10-05T20:37:19Z")
I just fixed the issue by adding an Armature modifier (selecting the parent armature within that) to my mesh, even though it was already a child of the armature. Might be helpful? ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_a2cc6f21](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_a2cc6f21](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_a2cc6f21)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/8 "2018-10-26T21:25:03Z")
2 years now im having this issue, cant find any solution, I have an fbx which works fine with bones and everything, if I bring this fbx into maya and re export again it doesn’t work, it brings the mesh as bone in unreal engine, it does this with all my files, i stopped importing for about 4 months now i return and not a single fbx from maya works, older files do work but no new ones, could this be a MAYA problem now? D: ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_5ee40243](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_5ee40243](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_5ee40243)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 6:44am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/9 "2019-03-07T06:44:56Z")
Hi everybody. I recently had this problem. It was in my fbx export (in 3ds max, with an old fbx plugin) : I hadn’t checked the “skin modifier”. I think the bones used to build the skeleton in unreal, are the ones referenced in the skin modifier. When unchecked, there were no bones when importing in UE4. When checked, the bones were there. I hope that could help. ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_5ee40243](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_5ee40243](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_5ee40243)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 6:46am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/10 "2019-03-07T06:46:12Z")
Hi everybody. I recently had this problem. It was in my fbx export (in 3ds max, with an old fbx plugin) : I hadn’t checked the “skin modifier”. I think the bones used to build the skeleton in unreal, are the ones referenced in the skin modifier. If unchecked, there were no bones when importing in UE4. When checked, the bones were there. I hope that will help. ---
**Author:** ![Arymee](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Arymee](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Arymee)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2019, 8:54am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/11 "2019-04-14T08:54:55Z")
Hi. I had the same problem. I switched from FBX export option to Preset “Autodesk Media & Entertainment” and then checked and exported other necessary options and it succeeded. The important point is that you first set up “Autodesk Media & Entertainment” before you “check” or “uncheck” other options. Then decide which options you need. When I did this, my character succeeded in bringing the bone. ---
**Author:** ![Nimillion](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/nimillion/32/897252_2.png) [@Nimillion](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Nimillion)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 5:05pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/12 "2023-01-25T17:05:12Z")
I spent hours trying everything I could find until I tried your solution. Very frustrating. Thanks a lot! ---
**Author:** ![raneyfish54](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@raneyfish54](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/raneyfish54)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-importing-without-bones/306500/13 "2023-06-03T22:11:36Z")
This is what worked for me, thank you very much!