How to Modify MetaHuman: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction: What Are MetaHumans?

MetaHumans are photorealistic digital characters created using Epic Games’ MetaHuman framework, specifically through the cloud-based MetaHuman Creator tool. This tool enables users to create unique, fully rigged 3D human models by blending presets and adjusting features, resulting in lifelike figures with facial and body rigs, high-resolution textures, hair, and clothing unrealengine.com.

These characters are utilized across gaming, film, and digital media to deliver realistic virtual humans quickly, a process that traditionally took months. In gaming, MetaHumans enhance immersion as lifelike player avatars or NPCs; in film and VFX, they serve as digital actors for stunts or performances, exemplified by Sony Imageworks’ use in an episode of Love, Death & Robots; and in digital media, they function as virtual influencers or interactive characters. MetaHumans offer a fast, high-fidelity solution for creating believable digital humans across various industries.

How to Modify a MetaHuman

1. Create or Select Your MetaHuman: Use the MetaHuman Creator to create or pick a preset character. Customize it as much as possible to save time for later modifications.
2. Download to Unreal Engine: Link your MetaHuman to your Epic Games account, access Quixel Bridge in Unreal Engine, and download the character into your project.
3. Export Meshes for Modification: Right-click the body or head skeletal mesh in Unreal’s Content Browser and export them as FBX files to edit in external tools like Blender, Maya, or ZBrush.
4. Modify in External Software: Import the FBX into Blender, Maya, or ZBrush for sculpting, body reshaping, or adding custom accessories. For advanced facial changes, export the head to ZBrush or Blender.
5. Reimport to Unreal: After making changes, reimport the modified meshes back into Unreal. If the topology remains unchanged, use “Reimport” to update the mesh, or import as a new asset with the original MetaHuman skeleton.
6. Add Custom Clothing and Hair: Import custom clothing as FBX and new hairstyles as Groom assets. Attach them to the MetaHuman in the Blueprint.
7. Test and Adjust: Frequently test your modifications in Unreal, ensuring that animations, textures, and proportions work as expected. Adjust skin weights, morph targets, or rigs as necessary.
8. Refine and Optimize: Use LODs for performance optimization and keep your assets organized with meaningful names and backups.

Is It Legal to Modify a MetaHuman?

Modifying MetaHumans is legal for Unreal Engine projects under Epic Games’ End User License Agreement (EULA). You can customize their appearance, like adding scars or changing hair, and export assets to external software (e.g., Maya) for editing, but the final output must be rendered in Unreal Engine. Epic’s license allows free use in UE-based projects and encourages customization, but reselling, using in other engines like Unity, or for purposes like facial recognition or AI training is prohibited. For non-Unreal uses, such as 3D prints, you need permission or a separate license from Epic Games.

Why Modify or Customize MetaHumans?

Modifying MetaHumans, despite the MetaHuman Creator’s ability to generate realistic characters quickly, offers several key advantages:

• Uniqueness and Branding: Customization ensures characters are distinct, aligning with a project’s art direction, essential for making main characters stand out with features like scars, tattoos, or custom outfits.
• Enhanced Realism: Fine-tuning details, such as sculpting wrinkles or using higher-resolution skin scans, enhances realism and captures subtle nuances like facial asymmetry, making characters more lifelike.
• Creative Freedom: Modifying MetaHumans allows creators to break typical human design limits, enabling fantasy or sci-fi designs like elves or cyberpunk characters, and even non-human beings like aliens or zombies.
• Optimizing for Specific Uses: Customization tailors MetaHumans for project needs, optimizing features for better game performance or adjusting rigs for unique animations.
• Diverse Applications in Industry: Customized MetaHumans are used in film, TV, advertising, and AR marketing, helping streamline character creation or even acting as virtual brand ambassadors.

In short, modifying MetaHumans blends the efficiency of procedural generation with the artistry of manual design. Starting with a quick, rigged base from MetaHuman Creator, creators can then customize extensively to fit their story, style, and needs, unlocking the full potential of these digital characters.

Understanding MetaHuman Technology: An Overview of Unreal Engine’s Digital Characters

MetaHuman technology, built on Unreal Engine’s advanced character system, provides a standardized framework for creating realistic digital humans. Here’s a concise overview of its key components:

• MetaHuman Creator (Cloud Service): A cloud-based tool where you assemble characters by selecting and blending faces, adjusting features with sliders within anatomically plausible limits to ensure realism. It also offers preset body types, hairstyles, eye colors, teeth, and clothing options.
• Unified Mesh and Rig: All MetaHumans share the same mesh topology and skeletal rig (for body and face), enabling animations and poses to be shared across characters. The rig, compatible with motion capture (e.g., Live Link Face), includes bone rigging and blendshapes for detailed expressions.
• Real-Time Character Rendering: Optimized for real-time rendering in Unreal Engine, MetaHumans use advanced shaders (e.g., subsurface scattering for skin, eye shaders with caustics), physics-based hair and clothing, and eight Levels of Detail (LODs) for performance efficiency.
• Integration with Unreal’s Ecosystem: MetaHumans seamlessly integrate with Unreal Engine’s character systems, including the Control Rig for custom animations, animation Blueprints, and physics assets. Quixel Bridge manages importing MetaHumans, ensuring proper setup of meshes, textures, and rig data.
• Mesh to MetaHuman Plugin: This plugin converts custom head meshes (e.g., from 3D scans or modeling) into fully functional MetaHumans by fitting them to the standard topology and transferring the rig and materials.

Understanding these components is essential for effective customization. For example, the shared rig means drastic proportion changes may require rig adjustments, while the standardized materials and UVs guide texture modifications. MetaHuman technology offers a robust, real-time-ready solution that balances consistency with creative flexibility for animating and integrating human characters into Unreal Engine scenes.

Limitations of the MetaHuman Creator (and How to Overcome Them)

The MetaHuman Creator is a powerful tool constrained by Epic to ensure stability and realism. Below are its key limitations and solutions:

• No Custom Mesh Imports in Creator: You cannot import custom 3D models (e.g., hairstyles, clothing) into the web tool; only presets are available.
  Workaround: Use external 3D software to create or modify assets (hair, clothes, accessories) and attach them to the MetaHuman in Unreal Engine.
• Limited Hairstyle and Clothing Options: The Creator restricts you to Epic’s provided hairstyles and outfits.
  Workaround: Use third-party asset packs or create your own hair and clothes, designed to fit the MetaHuman’s 18 body presets, and integrate them in Unreal Engine.
• Physically Plausible Faces Only: Extreme facial changes are blocked to maintain realistic human ranges.
  Workaround: Export the head mesh to a sculpting tool (e.g., ZBrush, Blender), alter it, and re-import using Mesh to MetaHuman or adjust the rig. Extreme edits may require the DNA Calibration tool.
• Texture Editing Not in Creator: Painting or importing new textures (e.g., tattoos, makeup) isn’t possible in the web interface.
  Workaround: Edit material instances or replace textures in Unreal Engine using tools like Photoshop or Substance 3D Painter.
• No Height Slider or Child Proportions: The Creator lacks controls for very short/tall characters or child/teenage bodies, offering only adult presets.
  Workaround: Scale the MetaHuman in Unreal (proportions stay adult-like), attach a MetaHuman head to a custom body, or modify the body mesh externally and adjust the rig.

In essence, while the MetaHuman Creator is user-friendly, it’s limited. For deeper customization, use Unreal Engine and other 3D tools. Epic designed MetaHumans to be extended, clothing and hair are separate, replaceable assets, and features like Mesh to MetaHuman and DNA Calibration support advanced modifications. Start with the Creator for basics, then refine in Unreal for full control.

Tools and Software That Can Help You Modify MetaHuman Characters

To modify MetaHumans beyond the online Creator, you’ll need external tools that integrate with MetaHuman workflows. Here are the key tools and their uses:

• Blender: A free tool for editing meshes (e.g., shaping the face or body), creating accessories, and rigging. Community plugins like Metablriger support MetaHuman DNA files and rig data. Use it for sculpting, modeling, and basic rigging.
• Autodesk Maya: Essential for rigging and animation, supported via Quixel Bridge. Adjust skin weights, fine-tune skeletons, or create custom hair with XGen. The DNAViewer plugin enables deep rig adjustments.
• ZBrush: Perfect for high-resolution sculpting (e.g., adding wrinkles or asymmetry). Export the MetaHuman mesh to ZBrush, sculpt, then use Mesh to MetaHuman to re-import it into Unreal.
• Substance 3D Painter / Photoshop: Texturing tools. Substance Painter allows painting directly on the model (e.g., dirt, tattoos), while Photoshop handles simpler 2D texture edits (e.g., logos, eye color changes).
• Marvelous Designer: Specialized for realistic clothing design. Create garments fitted to MetaHuman body types, then rig them in Maya or Blender.
• Unreal Engine (MetaHuman Plugin and Editor tools): Central for customization. Mesh to MetaHuman converts custom meshes, while the Control Rig and material editors adjust rigs and shaders. The MetaHuman DNA Calibration Library (on GitHub) supports advanced edits like modifying blendshapes or joint names.
• MetaHuman DNA Calibration Library: For technical artists, this toolset enables deep modifications to DNA data (e.g., adjusting joint names or blendshapes) to refine animations after heavy customization.
• Other Tools: Wrap3 for projecting meshes, RealityCapture for photogrammetry, and Unreal Marketplace plugins for additional integrations.

In summary, use Blender/ZBrush for shape changes, Maya for rigging and hair, Substance/Photoshop for textures, Marvelous Designer for clothes, and Unreal Engine to assemble and refine everything. These tools enable extensive customization while keeping MetaHumans compatible with Unreal’s real-time animation and rendering.

What Parts of a MetaHuman Can Be Modified?

Nearly every aspect of a MetaHuman can be customized, though the approach and impact vary by component. Below is an overview of what can be changed and key considerations:

• Face and Head Shape: Modifiable via MetaHuman Creator’s tools (e.g., adjusting eyes, nose, jaw) or external programs for deeper reshaping. Small changes preserve the facial rig, but drastic alterations may require tweaking rig weights or blendshapes to maintain animation quality. Teeth can also be swapped or customized.
• Body and Anatomy: Preset body types and a build slider are available in the Creator, but external tools allow mesh reshaping (e.g., adding bulk) or bone scaling (e.g., longer arms). Significant changes may need re-skinning or animation retargeting to ensure natural movement, especially for extreme proportions.
• Hair: Fully replaceable. Import new hair grooms or cards, or edit textures for color and style. Eyebrows and facial hair are separate, customizable assets attachable to the face.
• Clothing and Accessories: Swappable or expandable with new meshes (e.g., shirts, glasses). Custom items must be rigged to the skeleton and should align with the LOD system to prevent distortion across detail levels.
• Textures and Materials: Highly customizable. Edit skin, eye, and clothing textures (e.g., adding scars, changing colors) while preserving UVs. Use instances of MetaHuman’s shaders to retain realism, like skin subsurface scattering.
• Rig and Animations: Adjustable with care. Modify the skeleton (e.g., scaling bones, adding extras) or tweak blendshapes, but this may require animation retargeting. Advanced facial rig changes might need Epic’s DNA Calibration tools.

All parts, face, body, hair, clothing, textures, and rig, can be tailored. Simple swaps (hair, clothes) are easy, while complex edits (face, rig) demand more effort to maintain compatibility. With the right tools, a MetaHuman can become nearly any character, leveraging its robust rig and shading.

Importing MetaHuman Assets: Getting Started with Your Digital Character

• Create or Select Your MetaHuman:
  Use the MetaHuman Creator online app (via browser) to create a new character or pick a preset sample provided by Epic. Customize it as much as possible (e.g., face, skin tone) to align with your final vision, even if further tweaks are planned, starting closer to your goal saves time.
• Download the MetaHuman to Unreal Engine:
  Open Unreal Engine (UE5 recommended for best integration, though UE4.26.2+ is compatible) and sign into your Epic Games account, ensuring your MetaHuman is linked to your library. In UE5, access Quixel Bridge via the Content Browser (look for the Bridge icon or Add content > Quixel Bridge), find your MetaHuman in the MetaHumans section, and download it into your project. For UE4, use the standalone Quixel Bridge app to download and export it to your project. The assets (meshes, materials, etc.) will be imported automatically.
• Open the MetaHuman Blueprint:
  Locate the MetaHuman folder (e.g., MetaHumans/YourCharacterName) in the Content Browser. Drag the Blueprint into a level to view the assembled character, which includes skeletal meshes for the body and face, groom assets for hair, and other components.
• Export Meshes for Modification:
  Decide which part to modify (e.g., head for sculpting in ZBrush/Blender or body for shape/clothes in Marvelous). In the Content Browser, find the skeletal mesh (e.g., YourCharacterName_Head or YourCharacterName_Body), right-click, select “Asset Actions > Export,” and choose FBX format. Include the skeletal mesh and, if needed, the skeleton. Export at LOD0 for the highest detail.
• Import into DCC Tools:
  Import the FBX into Maya, Blender, or ZBrush (via GoZ or manual OBJ/FBX import). If using Maya with Bridge’s integration, a pre-set scene may be available. Modify the mesh as needed (e.g., sculpting, modeling).
• Bring Modified Assets Back into Unreal:
  For modified face/body meshes with unchanged topology and vertex count (e.g., minor shape changes): Re-import onto the existing skeletal mesh using “Reimport” or import over it, avoiding a new skeleton. Alternatively, import as a new mesh and assign the original MetaHuman skeleton during import, skin weights and morph targets should transfer, though significant vertex shifts may require weighting tweaks.
  For meshes with changed topology (e.g., different vertex count): Import into Unreal and use the Mesh to MetaHuman workflow to generate a new MetaHuman asset.
  For new clothing/hair assets: Import as new skeletal meshes or groom assets, selecting the MetaHuman skeleton in FBX import options. Add them to the Blueprint (e.g., via post-process anim BP for clothing or Groom component for hair).
• Follow Asset Management Best Practices:
  Duplicate the original MetaHuman Blueprint and assets before editing to keep the original as a reference. Use meaningful names for new assets (e.g., HeroCharacter_Head_Custom). Manage source files (e.g., ZBrush projects, Substance Painter textures) for iteration.
• Verify in Engine:
  Update the Blueprint with modified meshes or materials, then spawn the character in a level. Test animations to ensure fit (e.g., no gaps between neck and head, proper clothing deformation, functional eye blinking). If issues occur (e.g., arms poking through a shirt), adjust skin weights or add corrective morphs.

For heavily modified faces, create a MetaHuman Identity asset in Unreal, link it to your custom mesh, and run Mesh to MetaHuman to generate a new MetaHuman with recalculated blendshapes for your new shape. Due to the complexity of MetaHuman assets, use version control (e.g., Git, Perforce) or regular backups to avoid accidental loss of critical files.

Modifying Facial Features: Enhancing Expressions and Details

• Use MetaHuman Creator for Initial Sculpting: Adjust facial markers like brow and cheeks in Sculpt mode to refine shapes such as eye width or lip fullness, blend preset faces and tweak to match your vision to save time on later edits, preview default expressions like smiles and frowns to ensure natural animation since extreme changes may cause minor rig issues though constraints help prevent this.
• Export and Sculpt for Detailed Changes: Export the head mesh to tools like ZBrush or Blender for unique features such as scars or non-human traits, preserve topology by avoiding vertex count changes and use move brushes for adjustments, maintain symmetry for broad changes and add asymmetrical details like one-sided scars knowing blendshapes remain symmetric, pose the face in an expression like a smile and export to sculpting tools to tweak the neutral face for better expression quality.
• Enhance Expression Range: Sculpt new morph targets or adjust existing ones with Unreal’s DNA Calibration tools since MetaHumans use standard blendshapes like ARKit’s 52 to exaggerate expressions such as a fiercer frown, use the Control Rig in Unreal to amplify expressions like raising cheeks for a bigger smile or create custom animation curves, export morph targets and sculpt in Blender or Maya then re-import for tailored expressions.
• Add Micro-Details for Realism: Edit normal maps for skin details like pores, wrinkles, and scars and adjust roughness maps for texture variation, paint diffuse maps for freckles, moles, or makeup and use skin material masks for blush or lipstick, customize eyes by swapping iris textures, tweaking glossiness, or using emissive materials for effects like glowing eyes.
• Test Expressions Post-Modification: Test in Unreal with Preview Animation or Live Link Face to ensure eyelids close, lips seal, and teeth don’t clip, fix issues by adjusting morph targets or mesh shapes like tweaking eyelids if eye shape affects blinking.
• Calibrate for Performance Capture: Calibrate for face mocap like MetaHuman Animator if your neutral pose differs such as a downturned mouth, adjust the animation blueprint to offset the pose for accurate capture.

Balance shape edits and texture details to create a distinctive face and tweak the rig’s expressions to ensure your character looks and emotes believably.

Adjusting Body Proportions and Anatomy for Greater Realism

MetaHuman Creator provides limited body presets, but for realism or style, like a tall basketball player or stout dwarf, you’ll need to customize. Here’s how:

• Choose body type (small, medium, large), build (fit, average, overweight), gender, and skin tone in Creator, using sliders for minor tweaks like muscle, or go external for more.
• Export the skeletal mesh (torso and limbs) and sculpt in Blender/Maya, scaling the skeleton in Unreal for height or adjusting leg bones/mesh in Maya for custom proportions, ensuring mesh and bones align.
• Sculpt biceps, narrow waists, or enlarge hands/feet, adjusting normal maps and skin weights for natural limb bending on bulked-up meshes.
• Export a new skeleton if bones shift (e.g., broader shoulders), retargeting animations in Unreal, or tweak poses in the animation blueprint for minor changes.
• Modify hand/foot size or finger length in the mesh, testing grasping animations, and resize feet or tweak toe bones, noting major rig changes for animal-like legs.
• Add realism with collar bones, knee caps, or posture tweaks via normal maps, geometry, or Blueprint’s custom pose offset, optionally using muscle simulation in Unreal.
• Adjust skin weights in Maya/Blender to fix joint issues on altered shapes, using Unreal’s control rig for corrections like bicep bulges.
• Apply changes to LOD0 and regenerate lower LODs in Unreal to avoid shape pops during switches.
• For non-human bodies (e.g., four arms), heavily customize the rig, possibly keeping just the MetaHuman face on a custom body.

Subtle tweaks like shorter legs or longer torsos enhance diversity, test walk cycles to match stride to new proportions, using Unreal’s IK retargeting if needed. Fine-tuning and animation testing ensure a natural, unique character, selling individuality over a template.

Customizing Textures and Materials: Creating Unique Skin, Hair, and Clothing Looks

Textures and materials shape your MetaHuman’s skin, hair, and clothing, letting you create distinct looks, like varied ethnicity, age, or outfit style. Here’s how to modify them:

• Export skin textures (albedo, normal, roughness, specular, subsurface) from the material instance or SourceImages folder, editing in Photoshop or Substance Painter to adjust color, add freckles, scars, tattoos, or sunburn, then reassign in Unreal for instant updates.
• Edit normal maps to add wrinkles or scars, sculpt in ZBrush, blend into the base map, or overlay noise for rougher skin, ensuring proper blending for realism.
• Tweak roughness/specular maps for oily (shinier) or dry (matte) skin, painting variation like shiny lips or a dusty look, and adjust subsurface color in the material instance for a ruddy or pale effect.
• Apply makeup via mask slots in the material instance for lipstick or blush, or bake it into the albedo, toggling via parameters if needed.
• Change hair color in the material instance using melanin or gradient settings for strand-based hair, or recolor textures for card-based hair, tweaking roughness for wet/dry looks and adding random variation for realism.
• Swap iris textures for unique eye colors or heterochromia by duplicating and overriding one eye’s material, and edit teeth albedo for stains or gold, adjusting mouth interior for effects like blood.
• Retexture provided clothing via Quixel parameters or Substance Painter, or create PBR materials (diffuse, normal, roughness, metallic) for custom outfits, adding dirt or weathering with masks or vertex painting.
• Replace shaders for special effects like translucent ghost skin or metallic android looks, diverging from realism but showing flexibility.
• Test texture resolution (up to 4K/8K) for performance, using LOD bias or mipmaps, and render-test to ensure skin variation and tattoo deformation look natural.

Customizing textures and materials, an easier artistic task, transforms a base MetaHuman into a rugged survivor or pale office worker, proving surface detail drives character appearance, all within your control.

Refining Eyes and Other Character Details

Eyes and small features like teeth and nails are vital for a MetaHuman’s realism, and refining them enhances the character’s believability. Here’s how to customize:

• Swap iris textures or adjust the material instance for eye color, using high-res images with patterns, and assign different materials for heterochromia.
• Adjust pupil size via material parameters in Unreal for light conditions, or enlarge the iris for a stylized look, keeping realism in check.
• Fine-tune cornea roughness or refraction for sharper reflections, ensuring lighting adds a specular highlight, with fake highlights as a backup.
• Replace eyelash assets or recolor eyebrows to match hair, editing brow shape via textures or presets for uniqueness.
• Tweak the rig or morph targets if custom eyes affect blinking, and add eyeliner or eyeshadow via textures or material masks.
• Boost tearline opacity for a glossy or teary look, enhancing realism with subtle moisture.
• Alter teeth color for stains or gold, sculpt morph targets for chips, and attach braces or grills to the jaw bone, ensuring fit.
• Recolor the tongue for unique effects, rigging it if needed, and add corrective blendshapes for thicker lips to fix phoneme clipping.
• Paint nail polish on skin texture or assign a glossy material to nail polygons, and attach jewelry like rings or earrings to bones with physics if dangling.
• Model scars with mesh indents and normal maps, paint stubble or vitiligo on textures, and add freckles or pigmentation variance for charm.
• Test animations to ensure long nails or earrings don’t clip, adjusting finger curls or adding collision as needed.
• Adjust waterline redness or paint under-eye darkness for a tired look, and add caustic texture to the iris normal for lively shading.
• Offset morph targets in the animation blueprint for a subtle resting expression, like a friendly mouth or tough brows, adding character when idle.

Refining eyes and details elevates a MetaHuman, pushing realism through careful customization and testing, ensuring nothing feels off to the viewer.

Modifying the MetaHuman Rig and Ensuring Natural Movement

Customizing a MetaHuman’s look requires rig adjustments to ensure natural movement post-modification. Here’s how to manage the rig:

• Understand the MetaHuman skeleton, root, pelvis, spine, limbs, facial bones, and blendshapes, and tweak bone placement for changed limb lengths or body shapes, aligning them with the stretched mesh.
• Adjust bone positions in Maya to fit the new mesh, exporting to Unreal, noting that major shifts may need animation retargeting while small changes adapt with slight differences.
• Use Unreal’s IK Retargeter to map standard MetaHuman animations to a modified skeleton, adjusting stride and reach for altered proportions like longer arms.
• Edit the Control Rig in Unreal to reposition pole vectors for IK if body proportions shift significantly, or manually fix poses using FK/IK for natural joint bending.
• Test range of motion with poses, arms up, bending, twisting, fixing odd collapses with corrective morphs or weights, like maintaining chest shape on broader shoulders.
• Adjust stance width or posture in custom idles for balance if height or weight changes, ensuring the center of mass fits the new form.
• Test phonemes after face changes, tweaking blendshapes via DNA Calibration for thicker lips or larger jaws to fix lip sync issues like incomplete “O” shapes.
• Add bones in Maya for ponytails or skirts, skinning and importing them to Unreal for Control Rig or Sequencer animation, leaving unused bones if removing isn’t needed.
• Tune physics assets for cloth or jiggle parts, adjusting constraints to prevent unnatural flapping on custom clothing.
• Re-run the MetaHuman Blueprint after changes, updating the skeletal mesh and tweaking collision capsules in the Physics Asset for accurate ragdoll reactions.
• Test with mocap via Live Link to spot subtle issues like odd shoulder breathing, fixing with animation tweaks or correctives.
• Use Live Retargeting or Control Rig in Sequencer to check extreme poses, adjusting skeleton or morphs to correct issues like knee collapse on wide hips.

Modifying the rig focuses on subtle tweaks to the robust default setup, updating animations, weights, and collisions to keep the MetaHuman lifelike in motion, walking, talking, gesturing seamlessly as intended.

Using Asset Packs Like PixelHair for More Customization

MetaHumans benefit from a growing ecosystem of third-party assets like PixelHair, expanding options for hair, clothing, and accessories without starting from scratch. Here’s how it works:

• PixelHair offers 3D hairstyles (braids, buns, dreadlocks) created in Blender, exportable as Alembic for strand hair or FBX for hair cards, imported into Unreal as Groom assets or skeletal meshes.
• Attach PixelHair to the Head bone via a Groom Component in the MetaHuman Blueprint, adjusting position and scale slightly to fit, using provided or MetaHuman hair materials for consistency.
• Clothing packs from Unreal Marketplace or ArtStation offer outfits like casual wear or fantasy armor, imported, weighted to the MetaHuman skeleton, and attached in the Blueprint.
• Accessory packs with glasses, hats, or earrings, Unreal-scaled, attach to bones like ears or nose, some with textures or morphs for fit.
• Expression/morph packs, if available, add nuanced facial animations via DNA or morph targets, while animation packs from the Marketplace provide MetaHuman-tailored walks or gestures.
• Ensure quality, PixelHair offers realism, clothing must match MetaHuman LOD switching, and assets should align with the current MetaHuman version.
• Find assets on Unreal Marketplace under “MetaHuman,” Blender Market or CGTrader with “for Unreal Engine MetaHuman” tags, or community forums sharing free resources like medieval outfits.
• Customize further, recolor PixelHair in the material, trim strands, or edit clothing textures for a unique look, respecting licenses allowing project modifications.

Asset packs like PixelHair enrich MetaHumans with diverse, ready-made options, perfect for unique hair, cultural attire, or fantasy gear, blending Epic and community assets for a distinct character fast.

Troubleshooting Common Challenges in MetaHuman Modification

Modifying MetaHumans brings challenges, but solutions exist. Here’s how to tackle common issues:

• Fix texture glitches like neck seams by ensuring UVs match the original, blurring edges in an editor, and adjusting Unreal’s mip smoothing for blend zones.
• Prevent mesh explosions on LOD change by applying MetaHuman_LODSettings to custom meshes, matching bone reductions, or disabling cloth simulation at lower LODs.
• Correct odd deformations from resized bodies by refining weights in a DCC with a T-pose, reducing single bone influence, or adding helper bones if advanced.
• Adjust off facial animations post-customization with Animation Blueprint curve tweaks, Face Retargeting calibration, or DNA Calibration for blendshape deltas like a wider mouth.
• Avoid “uncanny valley” by ensuring eye highlights and subsurface scattering, adding subtle blinks or gaze shifts, and using realistic lighting or tone mapper tweaks.
• Address performance drops from high-res additions by dropping textures to 4K, setting groom LODs, disabling unused morphs, or using medium skin shaders for background characters.
• Fix import/export scale or orientation issues by setting Blender to metric 0.01, applying transformations, and ensuring root bone aligns with Unreal’s X-forward, Z-up.
• Stop hair clipping through the body by enabling collisions in the groom or cloth settings with the Physics Asset’s capsules, tuning parameters, or hand-keying extreme poses.
• Restore lost detail on import by using BC5/BC7 compression for normal maps, checking material detail slots, and testing with sharp light or higher-res maps.
• Resolve DNA file errors from edits by keeping backups, validating with DNA Calibration, or reverting to lighter changes if tools fail, following documentation.

Troubleshoot by changing one thing at a time, using Unreal forums for community fixes, like matching LOD settings for clothing crashes, and rolling back if needed. With practice, you’ll preempt issues, creating a unique, reliable MetaHuman.

Expert Tips and Best Practices for Customizing MetaHumans

Customizing MetaHumans demands skill, but expert practices ensure top results. Here’s how pros do it:

• Plan with concept art or reference photos for face, body, hair, and clothing to guide coherent design choices.
• Preserve mesh topology and vertex order to keep the rig and animations intact, tweaking vertices without adding or removing, unless regenerating via Mesh to MetaHuman for a new rig.
• Duplicate assets like Blueprints, meshes, and materials before changes, keeping backups and incremental saves to revert easily.
• Use layered texturing in Photoshop or Substance, base skin, freckles, scars, dirt, to tweak details modularly, exporting layers as material masks.
• Base textures on high-quality scans or photos, like real irises or wrinkles, to match MetaHuman realism.
• Test changes with animations, like expressions or walk cycles, after tweaks to catch issues early, using a suite of poses.
• Optimize for the platform, reducing shader complexity or texture size (e.g., 4K instead of 8K) for games, profiling with Unreal tools to avoid performance hits.
• Tap community resources, DNA Calibration, Blender add-ons, forums, and Epic updates, for tools and workarounds.
• Adjust materials live in Unreal’s real-time rendering, using Shader Complexities or LOD visualizers for quick, polished iterations.
• Follow PBR principles for materials, setting accurate metallic and roughness values, testing under varied lighting like daylight or HDRIs.
• Test the MetaHuman in its scene to adjust skin tone or scale against the environment, using post-process volumes if needed.
• Organize assets with clear names (e.g., MI_JohnDoe_Skin) and folders to avoid mix-ups, especially in multi-character projects.
• Use built-in features like wrinkle maps for expressions or material LOD switching to enhance realism and efficiency at all distances.

These practices streamline workflows, balancing realism and performance through planning, iteration, and smart use of MetaHuman tools, expert habits you’ll master with practice.

Case Studies: Successful MetaHuman Customizations in Movies, Games, and Other Media

Examining real-world MetaHuman customizations reveals their potential. Here’s what pros achieved:

• In “Love, Death & Robots – In Vaulted Halls Entombed,” Sony Pictures Imageworks used MetaHumans for soldiers, tweaking faces for age or scars and adding custom military gear, freeing time for storytelling and rendering in Unreal with grime-smeared textures.
• Treehouse Digital’s “The Well” created four characters in Unreal, exporting to Maya for XGen hair and Marvelous Designer outfits, binding them to the MetaHuman skeleton with physics, iterating late with face paint via live texture updates and control rig tweaks for a photoreal horror look.
• For “CARGO,” Marcelo Vaz’s team built an alien, Lyra, with a custom tentacled head on a MetaHuman rig, using Mesh to MetaHuman and manual bone adjustments, adding skin scans and Marvelous clothing, rendered in Unreal’s path tracer for human-like expressiveness.
• In “The Matrix Awakens” and game prototypes, Epic’s crowd MetaHumans got varied faces, bodies, and attire via Creator blends and custom touches like clothing colors, while indie devs used them as gameplay templates, later swapping parts for stylized art, all within Unreal.
• Virtual hosts and VTubers customized MetaHumans to resemble themselves or original characters, driven by live facial capture in Unreal, proving accessibility for lifelike real-time avatars while respecting likeness rights per Epic’s EULA.

These cases highlight staying in Unreal for licensing and real-time benefits, using DCC tools for custom assets, adapting rigs for unique designs, leveraging quick iterations, and enabling small teams to create pro-grade characters with MetaHuman as a foundation.

FAQ

1. Is MetaHuman Creator free to use, and can I use the characters in my commercial project?
   Yes, MetaHuman Creator is free with an Epic Games account, and characters can be used in Unreal Engine projects at no cost. For commercial use, final rendering must be in Unreal per Epic’s license, distribute freely in Unreal games or films, but not in other engines like Unity without permission.
2. How do I export my MetaHuman to Blender or Maya for editing?
   Use Quixel Bridge in Unreal Engine 5 to download the MetaHuman, then export the skeletal mesh as FBX via Asset Actions > Export, including morph targets. Import into Blender or Maya, or use Epic’s Maya plugin for rig setup. Edit, then reimport the FBX into Unreal as a new or updated asset.
3. Can I create a MetaHuman that looks exactly like a real person (for example, myself or a famous actor)?
   Yes, approximate real people with Mesh to MetaHuman using a 3D scan and manual tweaks, though exact matches need effort and likeness rights for commercial use, fine for yourself, but not celebrities without permission.
4. My custom hair or clothing is clipping through the MetaHuman’s body. How do I fix this?
   Fix clipping by refining skin weights, enabling groom or Chaos cloth collision with the body’s physics asset, hiding body mesh under clothes, or tweaking animations with corrective morphs for dynamic or minor fixes.
5. Can I use my MetaHuman character in a Unity game or render it in Blender?
   No, Epic’s EULA restricts MetaHumans to Unreal Engine for final output, edit in Blender or Maya, but render or release in Unreal only, unless you secure special permission for Unity or other platforms.
6. How do I add custom clothes to my MetaHuman?
   Model clothes in a 3D tool, rig to the MetaHuman skeleton, import as FBX into Unreal, attach to the root bone in the Blueprint, apply materials, and sync LOD settings to match the body’s reductions.
7. The MetaHuman is very high-poly and detailed. How can I optimize it for better game performance?
   Use LODs (up to 8), reduce hair strands, lower textures to 4K or 2K, simplify skin shaders, remove unseen elements like hair under hats, and merge meshes to cut draw calls for real-time console performance.
8. My MetaHuman’s facial animation using Live Link Face doesn’t look right after I changed the face. How can I improve it?
   Calibrate Live Link Face with your custom face, tweak curves in the Animation Blueprint, use MetaHuman Animator if available, test FACS poses with corrective morphs, and smooth or amplify mocap data for accuracy.
9. Can I share my customized MetaHuman with someone else or across projects?
   Share via .mhb files from Creator for shape and DNA, or migrate assets in Unreal’s Content Browser, including custom items like PixelHair and “Common” assets, ensuring license compliance.
10. What do I do if a MetaHuman asset (mesh, blueprint, etc.) gets messed up during editing?
    Revert to backups, re-download from Bridge, reimport meshes with correct settings, reassign Blueprint components, seek forum fixes, restart Unreal, or reapply changes step-by-step with notes to recover.

Conclusion: Unlocking the Full Potential of Your Modified MetaHuman

Customizing MetaHumans opens up endless creative possibilities beyond the default presets. By now, you should be able to modify faces, bodies, hair, clothing, and materials while maintaining the powerful realism and animation framework that Epic provides.

Best Practices: Tackle one aspect at a time and test frequently in Unreal Engine. Keep performance in mind, using LODs and simplifying non-crucial assets.

Further Experimentation: Don’t be afraid to mix techniques. Combine MetaHuman facial rigs with custom bodies or use them for stylized characters. The flexibility is there.

MetaHuman resources continue to grow, making the process easier. Mastering customization gives you the power to create characters for any project, whether for games, films, or virtual avatars.

References & Additional Resources

• Epic Games MetaHuman FAQ (Usage and Licensing): See Epic’s official FAQ for MetaHumans on Unreal Engine’s site for details on usage rights and rendering requirements. unrealengine.com​
• Unreal Engine MetaHuman Official Page: Overview, documentation links, and updates on MetaHuman features. unrealengine.com​unrealengine.com
• cgchannel.com​c
• Rokoko Tutorial – “How to Turn Your Custom Mesh into a MetaHuman”: Step-by-step community tutorial on using the Mesh to MetaHuman plugin, including requirements for the mesh and tips for photogrammetry usage. (Rokoko Blog, July 30, 2022) rokoko.com​rokoko.com
• Yelzkizi PixelHair Asset Pack: Collection of high-quality hair grooms for MetaHumans (and Blender). Great for expanding hairstyle options. (Available on BlenderMarket – search “PixelHair Unreal Engine”). Yelzkizi.org
• Unreal Engine Spotlight – “MetaHumans star in Treehouse Digital’s The Well”: Article on how a short film team utilized MetaHumans, including custom clothing workflow and character design process. (Unreal Engine Blog, March 2, 2022) unrealengine.com​unrealengine.com
• 80.lv Interview – “Creating Realistic Alien for Short Film CARGO”: Insightful piece on how MetaHuman technology was used and heavily customized to create a realistic alien character, blending human and non-human features. (80.lv, Oct 24, 2024) 80.lv​
• ActionVFX Blog – “How To Get Started With MetaHuman Creator in 2023”: A beginner-friendly tutorial that covers the basics of MetaHuman Creator and offers some tips on customization and integration with Unreal Engine. (ActionVFX, June 16, 2023) actionvfx.com

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