The MetaHuman character asset is the starting point for creating a new MetaHuman. Double-clicking the asset opens MetaHuman Creator, the asset editor where you do all character design work. New characters start from a default template that you can initialize from a preset in the library.
Create a MetaHuman Character Asset
To create a new character:
Open an existing or new project in Unreal Engine.
Use the Content Browser to navigate to the folder where you want to save the new asset.
Right-click an empty space in the folder, then select MetaHuman > MetaHuman Character.
Assign a name to the new character with MHC_ as the prefix. To learn more about naming standards, see Recommended Asset Naming Conventions.
Double-click the asset to open MetaHuman Creator and begin designing your character.
The default character is a base model without a skeleton, Blueprint, or assets. These are generated later during assembly.
Design and Assemble Your MetaHuman
After you have a MetaHuman character asset open in MetaHuman Creator, use these steps to build a base MetaHuman from a preset. This provides you with a rigged, assembled MetaHuman you can use as a starting point for other MetaHuman workflows, such as previewing animations or testing in a level.
Create a MetaHuman character asset in the Content Browser and open the editor (as described above).
Select a predefined character in the Preset panel.
Click Download Texture Sources to prepare the character's textures.
Click Create Full Rig to add a skeleton.
Open the Assembly panel.
Name your character, then click Assemble.
Wait for assembly to complete.
Click save icon in the toolbar.
The character's assets, along with the Blueprint assembled version of the character, are placed in the root directory that you set in the Assembly panel.
MetaHuman Creator includes tools to edit and sculpt the character's mesh along with adding details like hair and materials. To learn more about these tools and the overall editing workflow, see Navigating MetaHuman Creator.
Managing Character States
When you open the asset editor, new characters are unrigged and limited to preview textures for faster editing. In this state, they cannot 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: Full Rig and Joints Only Rig. A Full Rig includes joints and blendshapes, resulting in higher quality movement at the cost of a larger footprint. A Joints Only Rig omits blendshapes, so it has lower quality movement but a much smaller footprint.
As a debugging aid, once the character has been rigged you can display bones in the viewport using the console command ShowFlag.Bones 1.
Once rigged, you can no longer modify the character’s head, body, and materials. To re-enable those options, you must remove the rig. You can modify the character’s groom and clothing at any stage.
To run an assembly pipeline, you must download high-resolution textures in 2K, 4K, or 8K resolution, and they are also applied in the viewport. Changing the character’s materials afterward invalidates the downloaded textures, requiring you to download them again.
