# Skeletal mesh rotates 90 degrees by itself **URL:** \ **Category:** World Creation\ **Tags:** Blender, unreal-engine, FBX, skeletal-mesh-import, question\ **Created:** [September 20, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201 "2014-09-20T22:58:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b204e58e1](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b204e58e1](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b204e58e1)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/1 "2014-09-20T22:58:27Z")
I’ve been experiencing a strange problem with skeletal meshes that I export from Blender. When I import, create a blueprint, and set it to simulate physics, the X axis automatically rotates by 90 degrees when the game starts. There is no visual change; the object stays in the exact same orientation on screen, but the rotation on the side panel changes to 90 degrees. This causes any components attached to the mesh to be rotated as well. This is extremely annoying when setting up a camera, since it never stays where I put it in the blueprint editor. This doesn’t happen with static meshes, only with skeletal meshes. What am I doing wrong? I attached the blender file that I used to test this. link text ---
**Author:** ![schauk](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@schauk](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/schauk)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/2 "2014-09-25T23:28:42Z")
i have the same problem… just when i hit simulate physics… i think it turns the bone somehow ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b9532c9a](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b9532c9a](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b9532c9a)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/3 "2014-09-26T16:56:49Z")
Hi TickleForce, This error seems fairly similar to this post: > **[FBX import - wrong application of animations to bones?](https://forums.unrealengine.com/questions/98704/fbx-import-wrong-application-of-animations-to-bone.html)** > > So, I’m trying to fix some issues regarding Blender’s FBX export towards UE4, and investigating that bug report, I found out UE4 (v4.4.2) seems to apply bones’ animations without taking ‘rest pose’ (i.e. binding pose, as defined in Clusters... Is that what you’ve been experiencing? ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b9532c9a](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b9532c9a](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b9532c9a)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/4 "2014-10-02T14:58:48Z")
Hi TickleForce, We have not heard from you in quite some time. I am marking this thread as answered for tracking purposes. If you are still experiencing this error, please respond with the requested information. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_33bb0bed](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_33bb0bed](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_33bb0bed)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/5 "2015-01-09T19:37:46Z")
I am also having this issue: [Strange camera rotation with physics based skeletal meshes - World Creation - Epic Developer Community Forums](https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/156372/strange-camera-rotation-with-physics-based-skeleta.html) Did you ever figure it out? ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_f3fb80e6](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_f3fb80e6](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_f3fb80e6)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/6 "2015-06-18T14:49:26Z")
Hi , we are experiencing exactly the same issue with UE4.8. An actor with static mesh works fine, but when I replace the static mesh with a skeletal mesh and activate physics, then the skeletal mesh gets rotated by 90°. When I disable physics OR remove the physics asset from the skeletal mesh OR keep the physics asset but remove all physical bodies from it, then it works fine again. Strange thing is also that when I set the actor rotation to 0,0,0 and print the actor rotation afterwards, it becomes 0,-90,0. I am totally out of clue here. Any ideas? Your feedback would be very much appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b9532c9a](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b9532c9a](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b9532c9a)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/7 "2015-06-19T17:02:27Z")
Hi , There have been some improvements on Blender’s end to the FBX exporter in blender 2.74 and 2.75 rc. I’d highly recommend using those. The bones no longer import incorrectly, however there is a new error we are looking into where animations import rotated 90 degrees. I’ve reported this as UE-17137. ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_f3fb80e6](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_f3fb80e6](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_f3fb80e6)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/8 "2015-06-19T22:52:29Z")
Only the animations? Hmm… Is that also the reason [why the skeletal mesh in the 3rd person template is rotated by 270°](https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?73452-Why-is-the-player-character-in-3rd-person-template-rotated-by-270%C2%B0)? ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_f3fb80e6](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_f3fb80e6](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_f3fb80e6)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 11:24am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/9 "2015-06-20T11:24:36Z")
Btw. we are using Blender 2.74, but the 90° issue is still there ☹ ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b9532c9a](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b9532c9a](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b9532c9a)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/10 "2015-06-22T17:41:07Z")
Hi , Unfortunately UE-17137 has been marked as minor, which means it may take some time to get addressed on our end. I don’t have a timeframe of when it will be addressed. ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_f3fb80e6](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_f3fb80e6](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_f3fb80e6)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/11 "2015-06-25T20:21:47Z")
Ok, I see, that is not so great news. Is there at least some kind of workaround you can recommend to handle that issue for now? ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b9532c9a](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b9532c9a](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b9532c9a)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/skeletal-mesh-rotates-90-degrees-by-itself/294201/12 "2015-06-28T13:55:54Z")
Unfortunately at the moment the best workaround would be to design your animations with this 90 degree rotation in mind or try the autodesk fbx converter to see if you get better results. I’m looking for a more reasonable answer, however this may take some time for me to get back to.