Body Conform Controls

The Conform controls enable you to define the MetaHuman character’s body proportions using externally modified geometry exported from a third-party DCC tool. This workflow supports the optional customization of joint placement, skin weights, and RBF weights depending on your needs.  

These controls are found by navigating to the Body > Conform panel.

Conform Workflow Guidelines

Conforming both the body and head is a two-step process. We recommend conforming the body first to ensure the body/head boundary edge loop correctly inherits from the source (note the available Alignment Options when conforming the head). 

Specifying a Head Mesh is necessary to preserve neck/shoulder shaping from source. Note that this will not build the face rig and it is still necessary to Conform the head mesh as a second step in order to generate it.

Terminology

• Conform: The process of fitting a MetaHuman mesh and rig to the source mesh(es). Note that we do not import mesh data directly, but instead fit our internal mesh to the source. This will always result in a rigged mesh on MetaHuman topology.

• Core Joints: The main joint hierarchy used to describe locomotion (spine, neck & head, arms, legs, hands, feet). Typically these joints have a dependency to animation data.

• Helper Joints: Secondary joints that help preserve volume and shaping as the character animates. The transforms of these joints are automatically driven by RBF solvers in RigLogic.

Supported Input Formats

You can conform the body using one of the following input mesh types:

• MetaHuman DNA file

• Static Mesh

• Skeletal Mesh

Mesh and Joint Modification Guidelines

Mesh

To be compatible with the Conform process meshes must satisfy one or both of the following statements:

• The source body mesh is on standard MetaHuman topology.

• The source body mesh topology has a standard MetaHuman UV layout.

To Conform to a body mesh that does not have standard MetaHuman topology, such as different vertex orders, triangulated polys, or a different vertex count, enable Match Vertices by UVs. 

A compatible mesh may be obtained by;

• Exporting a MetaHuman Skeletal mesh from Unreal Engine as FBX.

• Assembling a MetaHuman character in MetaHuman Creator using the DCC Export assembly pipeline to use with MetaHuman for Maya or MetaHuman for Houdini.

• Use the MetaHuman Conform Topology asset from Fab and use a third-party application to wrap the provided archetype meshes onto your custom body or head sculpts.  

The MetaHuman Conform Topology asset includes detailed textures to allow for the precise alignment of topology edge loops with body landmarks when modifying a meshes. 

The correct alignment of edge loops has two primary benefits:

1. Ensures correct placement of helper joints during AutoRigging, which will result in optimal deformation quality.

2. Improves results when blending between custom and preset MetaHuman Character assets using the Body Blending feature by reducing edge sliding issues.

Joints

If Importing Joints, you must maintain the original joint hierarchy and naming conventions. 

Known Limitations:

Be aware of the following limitations when using the Conform controls:

• All operations (including Import Mesh) will generate a mesh with standard MetaHuman topology. Generating MetaHumans on custom mesh topology is not supported.

• Only MetaHuman joint hierarchy and naming conventions are supported.

• Conforming with the option Estimate Joints from Mesh enabled can help autorig biped meshes that are far from our database, but may not yield optimal results.

• Heavily stylized characters, including those with extreme non-human proportions or highly asymmetrical features, may produce unsatisfactory results.

Using Body Conform

Conform From DNA

Use the Import DNA option to generate the body from an external DNA file.  

You must specify a source Body DNA file, and (optionally) Head DNA file.  In both cases, the DNA file should contain a character with the standard MetaHuman topology and rig definition.

Once you have specified the DNA files, the remaining options are described in the section below.

Conform From Template

To begin, you must first define a source Body Mesh and (optionally) Head Mesh. These can be static or skeletal mesh.

To Conform to a body mesh that does not have standard MetaHuman topology, such as different vertex orders, triangulated polys, or a different vertex count, enable Match Vertices by UVs. 

Once you have specified the mesh assets, the remaining options are described in the section below.

Conform and Import Options

The Body Conform tab is split into the following functions; Conform, Import Mesh, and Import Joints.

• Conform is generally used when creating a MetaHuman for the first time, using a custom mesh as input.

• Import Mesh and Import Joints are used to modify an existing MetaHuman.

Conform

This option takes mesh information from the source data (static mesh, skeletal mesh, or DNA), fits a MetaHuman mesh to it, and AutoRigs it to MetaHuman standards.

All joints, RBF, and skin weights will be automatically generated to best fit the source mesh.

Import Mesh

This option updates the mesh vertex positions in the current MetaHuman Character from the source Body and (optionally) Head mesh.

This process is distinct from Conform in that it does not regenerate the Core Joints. You can choose whether or not to refit the helper joints to the new mesh. This makes it possible to update the neutral mesh for your MetaHuman while preserving the joint hierarchies, and therefore provides compatibility with existing animation databases or retargeting systems.

Import Joints

Imports joints from the source Body skeletal mesh. It does not update the MetaHuman mesh.

This option is not available when using static meshes as a source.

Import Whole Rig

Imports mesh, joints, RBF, and skin weights from the DNA file, resulting in a fixed, non-editable body type. A default head will be fitted to the body at the neck seam.

It is possible to subsequently convert this to a parametric state.

Body Conform Examples

This page outlines workflow examples when using Body Conform Controls.

Next Up

Head Controls

Blend, transform, sculpt, or conform your character’s head.