The MetaHuman Character asset is used to create a new MetaHuman and access MetaHuman Creator. New characters use a default template as the starting point, and can be initialized from a preset in the library. 

Prerequisites

To create a new MetaHuman Character asset, you need:

• An Unreal Engine 5.6 (or later) project.

• An Epic Games account.

• The additional content (MetaHuman Core Data) installed.

• The MetaHuman Creator plugin enabled.

Creating a Character

To create a new character:

1. Open an existing or new project in Unreal Engine.

2. Use the Content Browser to navigate to the desired folder in which to save the new asset.

3. Right-click and then select MetaHuman > MetaHuman Character. Assign a name to the new character.

   

   It may take a few seconds to create the asset and save the new name.

4. Double-click on the asset to open the asset editor, known as MetaHuman Creator, and explore the editing options.

The default character is a basic model without a skeleton, blueprint or assets. These will be generated later during assembly.

Managing Character States

When created, new characters are unrigged and limited to preview textures for faster editing. In this state they can not be animated or assembled for use in a project.

To show preview animation or run an assembly pipeline, the character must be rigged. There are two rigging options available, Full Rig and Joints Only Rig. A Full Rig includes joints and blendshapes, and will result in higher quality movement, at the expense of an increased footprint. A Joints Only Rig does not include blendshapes and so has lower quality movement, but is much smaller. 

Once rigged, the character’s head, body, and materials can no longer be modified and the rig must be removed for these options to be re-enabled. The character’s groom and clothing can be modified at any stage.

To run an assembly pipeline, high-resolution textures must be downloaded. These can be downloaded in 2K, 4K, or 8K resolution, and will also be applied in the viewport. A subsequent change to the character’s materials will invalidate these textures, requiring them to be downloaded again.

Next Up

Navigating MetaHuman Creator

This page describes how to navigate the MetaHuman Creator asset editor.