Add a retargeted character¶

This tutorial puts your own character on the GASPALS pawns. The pawns keep animating the UEFN mannequin; your character copies that animation through an IK Retargeter. Read Characters and visual overrides first if you want the background.

You need: a skeletal mesh with its skeleton and physics asset imported into the project. Time: 30 to 60 minutes, most of it spent on the retarget pose.

1. Prepare the skeleton¶

Open your character's Skeleton asset.

1. Virtual bone. Right-click the root bone > Add Virtual Bone > pick head. Rename the new bone (VB root_head) to VB Camera, exactly. The first-person camera attaches to it.
2. Check the bone names. The systems need root, pelvis, head, hand_l and hand_r. The first-person overlay modes also need spine_01 to spine_05, clavicle_l, clavicle_r and neck_01. If your skeleton names them differently, plan on the TrueFirstPerson mode (step 6) or rename the bones in your DCC tool.
3. Equipment sockets. Equipment attaches to sockets on the skeleton. Open SK_Mannequin (/GASPALS/Characters/UE5_Mannequins/Meshes), select the seven sockets overlay_rifle, overlay_pistol, overlay_bow, overlay_box, overlay_barrel, overlay_binoculars and overlay_torch, right-click > Copy Selected Sockets, then in your skeleton right-click the matching hand bone > Paste Selected Sockets. On SK_Mannequin they hang from hand_r (rifle, pistol, binoculars, box) and hand_l (bow, torch, barrel).
4. Save the skeleton.

You will fine-tune the socket transforms in step 8, with the items in hand.

2. Create the IK Rig¶

Content Browser > right-click > Animation > Retargeting > IK Rig, pick your skeletal mesh. Then:

1. Set the Retarget Root to pelvis.
2. Click Auto Create Retarget Chains (or add them by hand). Use the standard names: Root, Spine, Neck, Head, LeftClavicle, LeftArm, LeftLeg, finger chains, and the right-side mirrors.
3. Add IK goals on the hands and feet (LeftHandIK, RightHandIK, LeftFootIK, RightFootIK) and assign them to the arm and leg chains.

Similar skeletons can start from a duplicate of IK_UE5_Mannequin_Retarget (/GASPALS/Characters/UE5_Mannequins/Rigs) or IK_Metahuman_Retarget (/GASPALS/MetaHumans/Common/Rigs).

3. Create the IK Retargeter¶

Right-click > Animation > Retargeting > IK Retargeter.

1. Source IK Rig: IK_UEFN_Mannequin (/GASPALS/Characters/UEFN_Mannequin/Rigs). Target IK Rig: the rig from step 2.
2. In the chain mapping, use Auto-Map Chains and check every chain.
3. Retarget pose: edit the target's retarget pose until the arms, hands and fingers match the UEFN mannequin's pose in the viewport. This is the step that decides the quality of the result.
4. Op stack: keep the default ops (pelvis motion, FK chains, IK). Make sure there is a Curve Remap op with Copy All Source Curves on: the hand IK weights travel as curves. The shipped retargeters have no Root Motion op.
5. Preview a few animations from /GASPALS/Characters/UEFN_Mannequin/Animations (idle, walk, a rifle pose) and fix feet, hands and pelvis.

The same retargeter is used twice: for the third-person pose and for the first-person overlays.

4. Create the retarget Anim Blueprint¶

1. Duplicate ABP_Retarget_UE5 (/GASPALS/Blueprints/RetargetedCharacters) and name it, for example, ABP_Retarget_MyHero.
2. Open it and change its target skeleton to yours (Asset > Retarget to a different skeleton, or in the Class Settings).
3. Select the Retarget Pose From Mesh node and set IK Retargeter Asset to your retargeter. Leave Retarget From on Parent Skeletal Mesh Component and the source pose pin unconnected.
4. Keep the CR_Humanoid_HandIK node after it, and keep the Event Graph, which finds the pawn's equipment component for the hand IK targets.
5. Compile and save.

5. Create the character Blueprint¶

Duplicate BP_RetargetedCharacter_Manny (quickest: every setting is already there) or create a child Blueprint of BP_RetargetedCharacter_Base. Name it, for example, BP_RetargetedCharacter_MyHero.

1. Select the inherited SkeletalMesh component:
   • Skeletal Mesh Asset: your mesh.
   • Anim Class: your retarget Anim Blueprint (ABP_Retarget_UE5 for the UE5 mannequin skeleton, ABP_Retarget_Kellan for MetaHumans).
   • Keep its component tag ThirdPersonRendering and Visibility Based Anim Tick Option = Only Tick Pose When Rendered.
2. Clothing, hair, accessories: add them as children of SkeletalMesh, each with the component tag ThirdPersonRendering.
   • Same skeleton and no post-process Anim Blueprint: use Leader Pose (Kellan's construction script function EnableMasterPose shows how).
   • Own skeleton with a post-process Anim Blueprint that copies the pose from the parent (typical for MetaHuman clothing): leave the anim class empty.
3. Keep SkeletalMesh as the first child of Root. The base class makes the first child tick after the pawn mesh, which keeps the pose in sync.

6. Set up first person¶

Select the inherited AC_FirstPersonRendering component (category GASPALS > FirstPerson > Setup):

7. Register the character¶

Open /GASPALS/Blueprints/GM_Sandbox, Class Defaults, and add your Blueprint to Visual Overrides Soft. Its position in the array is its index (0 = first).

If you use your own game mode, derive it from GM_Sandbox so the manager finds the list.

8. Test and tune¶

1. Play. Press M until your character shows, or open the console (`) and type DDCvar.VisualOverride <index>.
2. Third person: walk, run, crouch, jump, vault. Watch the feet (sliding means a chain or retarget pose problem) and the hands.
3. Equipment: press T, pick the rifle, then the pistol and the bow. If an item floats or sits in the wrong place, open your skeleton, select the overlay_* socket, right-click > Add Preview Asset with the item's mesh (/GASPALS/Systems/EquipmentSystem/Assets/Meshes) and adjust the socket.
4. First person: switch the camera to first person. Look down, aim (Right Button), run. If the camera sits inside the head or in front of the face, adjust First Person Eye Offset (X right, Y forward, Z up, in cm, in the head's reference pose). Aim with the rifle and check that the sights line up.
5. Warnings: orange messages starting with GASPALS First Person (...) list missing setup (no VB Camera, no head, missing retargeter...). See Troubleshooting.
6. Press N to switch to the other pawn and test again. For multiplayer, run a listen server with a client.

9. Make it the default character¶

Project Settings > Engine > Data Driven CVars: set the default value of DDCvar.VisualOverride to your index. Every pawn then starts with your character, and M toggles back to the UEFN mannequin. To stop players from cycling, remove the M mapping of IA_NextVisualOverride from the input mapping contexts, or keep only your entry in the list.

Checklist¶

• Skeleton: VB Camera virtual bone, root/head/hand_l/hand_r, seven overlay_* sockets
• IK Rig with standard chains and a pelvis retarget root
• IK Retargeter from IK_UEFN_Mannequin, retarget pose matched, Curve Remap op
• Retarget Anim Blueprint with your retargeter
• Character Blueprint: body mesh and anim class, clothing tagged ThirdPersonRendering
• AC_FirstPersonRendering: meshes, retargeter, eye offset
• Added to GM_Sandbox > Visual Overrides Soft
• Tested: locomotion, equipment, first person, both pawns, listen server