Why use Mutable with MetaHuman Assets?

The MetaHuman framework enables developers to create and animate highly realistic human characters. Its creator/editor doesn't really offer in-game real-time customization. That's where Mutable can help: it can augment the MetaHuman framework's functionality with powerful customization features that work both in-editor and in-game.

Limitations

Since MetaHuman bakes many features into the Skeletal Mesh, Mutable cannot do the same complex face creation MetaHuman Creator offers. Still, you can use the available morphs of the downloaded Skeletal Mesh.

Configuring Mutable for Optimal Results

Although MetaHuman assets imported into the UE Editor with Quixel bridge work out of the box with Mutable, there are a few Mutable tweaks we recommend:

• Enable 12 bone influences: Set CustomizableObjectNumBoneInfluences=Twelve in Engine\Plugins\Mutable\Config\DefaultMutable.ini, or in the equivalent file in your project's config folder.

• Enable 16 bit bone weights: Set Enable 16bit Bone Weight to true, located in the Compile options.

• Discard LODs: MetaHuman characters are expensive and many projects do not need or cannot afford a full character. You can leverage Mutable to skip unnecessary LODs.

Using the Correct Animation BP

The generated face Skeletal Mesh should be set up to use the MetaHuman-provided post-process animation BP in order to have the correct face animation. If you set the Face_Archetype Skeletal Mesh as the Skeletal Mesh Component's Reference Mesh it will copy the Animation BP automatically.

Passing the Facial Morphs to the GPU

To use facial morphs, see the Real-time morphs page. In order for the LOD0 facial animations to look completely right when zoomed-in, you should enable all morphs.

Hair Grooms

To use grooms, see Grooms page.