The default +2cm offset applied to all MetaHuman characters has been removed.
Background
MetaHuman characters created in Unreal Engine 5.5 or earlier include a +2cm offset in the skeleton relative to the floor plane. This assumed a consistent 2cm shoe sole height for every character. As a result, this offset was inherently included in any animation.
The image below shows the foot of a MetaHuman character in Unreal Engine 5.5 with the shoe aligned to the floor plane. The sole of the foot is therefore offset by 2cm.
This behavior has changed with MetaHuman characters in Unreal Engine 5.6 onwards.
This behaviour is often referred to as the ‘flip flop’ issue because of the flip flop shoes worn by all MetaHuman characters added to Maya using the standalone Quixel Bridge application.
What’s Changed in Unreal Engine 5.6
MetaHuman Characters assembled in Unreal Engine 5.6 or later have removed the +2cm offset. This means that all MetaHuman animation content is now standardized as barefoot, and aligned correctly to the ground plane.
The image below shows the foot of a MetaHuman Character assembled in Unreal Engine 5.6 with the barefoot sole aligned to the floor plane. The sole of any footwear is therefore beneath the ground plane.
You can now control the character’s vertical positioning through a new skeletal mesh component, using the Component Based Offset from within the character’s blueprint transform parameters.
To find these settings, open the character blueprint. Select Body in the list of Components, and look for Transform in the Details.
You can choose to specify a custom offset to account for the sole height of your choosing, such as reapplying the 2cm offset.
Retargeting Animation
As a result of this change, you will need to retarget animation to the new skeleton to automatically remove the offset.
If you are using MetaHuman for Maya, you will need to import the retargeted animation.