This page walks you through creating a new MetaHuman, importing them into UEFN, and setting them up.
Importing a MetaHuman into UEFN
Using the MetaHuman Importer, you can easily bring your MetaHumans into UEFN.
Open the MetaHuman Creator and sign in with your Epic Games account.
Select Unreal Engine 5.4 and click Launch MetaHuman Creator.
Click the image for full size.
Click the Create button to open the Presets gallery.
Select a Preset from the gallery. The viewport on the right will display a preview animation of the Preset you selected.
Click the Create Selected button.
Edit your MetaHuman in the MetaHuman Creator. They will become available in the My MetaHumans gallery.
Once your MetaHuman has been saved to your account, you can close MetaHuman Creator.
Launch UEFN and open your project.
From the Window dropdown menu, select MetaHuman Importer. You can also right-click in the Content Browser and select the importer from that dropdown menu.
In the importer window, click Current MetaHumans and select the MetaHuman you created.
Select the quality and click Download.
When the download finishes, click Add to begin the import. A progress window appears.
Once the import finishes, close the importer window and open the Content Browser.
Navigate to All > My_Project > MetaHumans and double-click the folder named after your MetaHuman.
Drag the MetaHuman into your viewport. You just added a MetaHuman to your UEFN project!
If you try to re-import a MetaHuman you already imported, the previous instance of that MetaHuman will be erased. If you would like to duplicate your MetaHuman, rename them in the MetaHuman Creator. This prevents you from overwriting the previous version.
Quality Settings
The MetaHuman Importer allows you to choose between three quality settings when downloading your MetaHuman: Low, Medium, and Highest Quality. The quality you select will impact your project size.
The quality should reflect how you intend to use the MetaHuman in your experience and requires fewer resources as you go from Highest to Low:
Use Highest Quality for close-up shots, where the camera would be showing the details in a character’s face, wrinkles and hair. MetaHumans at this quality level have the highest fidelity Level of Detail (LOD) available to them that have all correctives, physics, and facial animation enabled. On current gen consoles this quality level also uses strand based hair. These MetaHumans will add more to your project’s upload and download size than for the lower levels.
Use Medium Quality for a scenario where 3 or 4 characters would appear at a reasonable distance from the camera.
Use Low Quality for crowd shots, where the camera is far away from the MetaHumans, or where the characters serve to set a background scene. At this level you only get hair cards, no correctives, and no physics (RBAN).
A high quality character will still scale down in quality to maintain performance when running on a lower-end platform. The choice of quality when downloading should reflect the intended use of the MetaHuman rather than performance considerations.
Levels of Detail (LODs)
If you are unfamiliar with LODs, they represent the level of complexity of 3D models used in video games and interactive experiences. They help reduce the processing power needed to run an experience by simplifying the geometric detail of the models visible in the scene.
LODs work by swapping between different versions of a 3D model depending on its size on the screen. In other words, the smaller an object is, the higher the LOD used and the less detail it needs rendered on the screen. Most 3D models have several LODs, starting with LOD 0 which contains the most detail and is shown when the model is closest to the camera.
For more information about using LODs in UEFN, see Setting the Level of Detail.
The table below shows you how UEFN MetaHuman LODs for the three quality settings match up with LODs from Unreal Engine.
Quality Setting | ||||
UEFN Low | x | x | LOD 0 | LOD 1 |
UEFN Medium | x | LOD 0 | LOD 1 | LOD 2 |
UEFN Highest | LOD 0 | LOD 1 | LOD 2 | LOD 3 |
UE Face | LOD 1 | LOD 3 | LOD 5 | LOD 7 |
UE Body | LOD 0 | LOD 1 | LOD 2 | LOD 3 |
A MetaHuman’s hair will have all LODs regardless of the quality level until the asset’s relative screen size swaps the component for a different mesh.
Modifying your MetaHuman
If you want to modify your MetaHuman, you can do so by opening MetaHuman Creator, selecting your existing MetaHuman and making the necessary changes. You can then reimport the new version using the UEFN MetaHuman Importer.
Make sure to keep the original quality setting for the modified MetaHuman to avoid crashes. We do not recommend modifying the character in UEFN. If you want to try this in Unreal Engine, see the DNA Calibration page for more information.