Export rigged character from Blender to UE4

After few trials and errors I've finally found a way to export a fully rigged character from Blender to Unreal Engine 4 and then re-target built-in animation for use within UE4. As there are few hoops to jump through, I'm going to document the workflow step-by-step (with pictures!).

  1. Make sure you're running at least Blender 2.72, I had some problems with the built-in fbx exporter in earlier versions.
  2. Switch Blender to metric units with scale 0.01 (properties panel, scene tab).
    Screenshot showing Blender being configured for metric system
    Screenshot showing Blender being configured for metric system
  3. Adjust camera camera clipping point.
    Screenshot showing setting up clipping point in Blender
    Screenshot showing setting up clipping point in Blender
  4. Your model is probably tiny now. Scale it up by 100 times (or to a desired height in meters!), remember to scale armature together with your mesh. Make sure you're in the object mode. After it's done apply your object transformations ctrl+a. If you have some transformations applied to your armature you might need clear the mesh first (in other words undbind the rig from the mesh), apply transformations, then re-attach your rig.
    Screenshot showing Blender with transformations applied
    Screenshot showing Blender with transformations applied
  5. Make sure your character is facing positive Y axis. Apply object transformations again if rotation is required.
  6. Select your character and your armature using shift+click.
  7. Select File -> Export -> Autodesk FBX (.fbx)
  8. Use the following settings:
    • Version: FBX 7.4 binary (newer is probably ok!)
    • Armature and Mesh selected for export
    • Scale: 1.0
    • Forward: Y Forward (actually doesn't seem to do much if -Y Forward is selected here, what's important is that your character is facing positive Y )
    • Up: Z Up
    • [] Apply Modifiers
    Screenshot showing export to FBX options in Blender
    Screenshot showing export to FBX options in Blender
  9. Next follow this tutorial for bones in your own skeleton to match bones in the built-in Humanoid skeleton. Re-target manager doesn't seem to have any save button which might be somewhat misleading - once you select matching bones you can just close it. Also do the basic mapping first then test with some simple animations - this will save you some time in case you need to re-import and redo the whole thing.

That should do it, you should be able to get your character re-use existing UE4 animations! Here's the little fella using run animation:

Video showing my model from Blender exported and animated in UE4