Rigging & Animation

Skeletal Mesh

Skinned mesh driven by a skeleton

Also known as: SK · Skinned mesh · Skeletal Mesh asset · USkeletalMesh

Definition

A Skeletal Mesh is a mesh whose vertices are skinned to a skeleton, so bones can deform it. In Unreal Engine it is the asset type for characters, creatures and anything animated through bones, and it takes the SK_ prefix. It is bound to a Skeleton asset (SKEL_) that several meshes and animations can share, and it can carry morph targets, LODs, sockets and a Physics Asset for ragdoll and collision.

In production

Export the mesh and rig from Maya or Blender as FBX with the skin weights applied, then import it and assign or create the Skeleton. Keep one skeleton per character family: animations are authored against the Skeleton, so meshes that share it can share animation assets. Skeletal Meshes cost more to render than Static Meshes because of skinning, so budget bone counts and LODs for characters seen at a distance, and test deformation in extreme poses before animation starts.