Animate Character Mouths with Your Microphone in Unreal Engine (R.E.P.O.-Style)

🎁 FREE simple mouth animation rig you can download and use to follow along:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gQMS...

In this Unreal Engine 5 tutorial, we’ll build a real-time microphone-driven mouth animation system that lets your character “talk” using your voice — similar to systems seen in indie games like R.E.P.O. and We Gotta Go.

We’ll capture live mic input and drive a jaw bone with smoothing, thresholds, and timing so the motion feels natural instead of jittery. This setup works with any microphone and any character that has a mouth or jaw bone.

🔧 Engine Version: Unreal Engine 5.6.1
🎤 Input: Any microphone (USB, headset, studio mic)
🧠 Use cases: Horror games, comedy systems, VO-driven animation

⏱ Chapters
00:00 Intro + What we’re building (Mic → Mouth, R.E.P.O.-style)
00:44 Create the project (Third Person Template)
01:02 Enable Audio Capture plugin
01:18 Import the rig + quick skeleton check
02:24 Replace the mannequin with our character
03:07 Create the Animation Blueprint (ABP)
03:47 Add Audio Capture component + verify mic input works
05:03 Map/normalize envelope → “raw mic volume”
05:58 Send mic volume into the Animation Blueprint
07:01 Drive the jaw bone (basic setup + jittery result)
08:38 Upgrade the system: thresholds + speaking hold timer
14:02 Smooth the jaw motion (interp + open/close speeds)
17:09 Final test + tuning tips (different mics)
17:42 Wrap-up / like + subscribe / Discord help

💬 Join the Discord
Need help troubleshooting or want to share what you’re building?
👉   / discord  

#UnrealEngine #GameDev #repo