Chapter 8: Using MetaHuman to Create a Photorealistic Human for UE5

In the previous chapter, you learned how to import your assets into UE5. Then, you learned how to create materials and assign them to your assets.

In this chapter, you will learn how to create a photorealistic human character for UE5 by using the free cloud-based app from Epic called MetaHuman Creator.

MetaHumans are essentially digital humans (photorealistic 3D models of humans). The MetaHuman Creator app allows you to customize the facial features of the digital human you are creating. Furthermore, you can choose from a selection of body shapes, facial textures, and hairstyles and select between three sets of clothing and accessories.

Note that, at the time of writing, the MetaHuman Creator app is still in development.

I expect that when the full release version of MetaHuman becomes available, it will have a lot more outfits, accessories, and hairstyles to choose from. This will allow you to create...

Technical requirements

You will need the following technical skills and software to complete this chapter:

• A computer that can run basic 3D animation software.
• You need to have installed Unreal Engine 5.0.1. You can download it from https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download.
• For the MetaHuman Creator app, you will need an internet connection with a Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari-based web browser. You will also need a computer with Windows 10 (or higher) that supports DirectX 12 or a macOS operating system and a ray-tracing capable NVIDIA graphics card to access the MetaHuman Creator cloud-based app.
• You must have a basic understanding of how to navigate the Unreal Engine 3D user interface. If you skipped ahead, then don't worry – this was covered in Chapter 6, Exploring Unreal Engine 5.

The files related to this chapter are placed at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Unreal-Engine-5-Character-Creation-Animation-and-Cinematics/tree/main...

What is MetaHuman Creator?

MetaHuman Creator is a free cloud-based app that's used for creating photorealistic human characters.

At the time of writing, this app does not allow you to create young people yet, but you might be able to create young people in the full release version.

This app is made by Epic, the creator of UE. All the MetaHuman characters that the app creates are fully compatible with UE5. The MetaHuman app runs in your internet browser window.

The app gives you fine controls to customize your MetaHuman's face. At the time of writing, a small number of options are available for the body shapes, hairstyles, and clothes. For the clothes and accessories, we currently only have a choice between three varieties of tops, bottoms (pants/trousers), and shoes.

Despite the current minor limitations, this app is the best tool that's available for creating photorealistic adult humans.

With that, you've learned what MetaHuman Creator is. In the...

Getting access to MetaHuman Creator

Since MetaHuman Creator is in early access at the time of writing, you need to request access from Epic. Follow these steps to do so:

1. Go to https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/metahuman-creator. On the page that opens, scroll down a bit and click on the link/button that says Request Early Access.
2. When you click on the link, it will take you to a page where you can log into your Epic Games Account.
3. You will be notified by email as soon as you've been granted access to the MetaHuman Creator app.
4. Once you've been granted access, simply go to the following website to start using the MetaHuman Creator app: https://metahuman.unrealengine.com/.

In this section, you learned how to gain access to the MetaHuman Creator cloud-based app.

In the next section, we will launch the MetaHuman Creator app and explore the MetaHuman Preset Selection screen.

Launching MetaHuman Creator

It will take a few minutes to launch the MetaHuman Creator cloud-based app and open your session.

At the time of writing, MetaHuman allows users to access the app for a maximum session time of 1 hour. Once this session time has expired, you can request as many new sessions as you want. The time limit (of 1 hour per session) will still apply for any new sessions.

When the MetaHuman app finally launches, it will open the MetaHuman Preset Screen in your browser window. You will see something similar to the following:

Figure 8.1 – The MetaHuman preset screen

Using the preceding screenshot as a reference, you will see that there are two headings below the MetaHuman tile, as follows:

• CREATE METAHUMAN: This option gives you a selection of MetaHuman presets that you can choose from to use as a starting point for creating your own MetaHuman. On the left-hand side of the screen, you will see the Character Preset pane,...

MetaHuman's UI

Now that the MetaHuman Creator app has been launched with your preset character in Edit Mode, you will see a screen that looks similar to the following:

Figure 8.2 – MetaHuman Creator's user interface regions

Here, you can see that the UI regions are highlighted and numbered for explanation purposes. Let's go over these numbered regions now:

1. Title bar: This UI region contains a link to return to the My MetaHumans gallery. On the right of this link, there is the option to edit your character's name. Then, there are icons for Help, Undo, and Redo.
2. Attributes and Properties selection: Here, you will find all the customizable attributes for your MetaHuman. These attributes are divided into three groups – Face, Hair, and Body. Each of these attributes can be customized by changing its properties.
3. Viewport Environment and Quality toolbar: This menu bar contains various controls. Starting from the left...

Creating a photorealistic female sci-fi character

Now that you have the MetaHuman Creator app open, and Pia has been loaded as your preset character, we can start the editing (customization) part of this tutorial:

1. You will notice that, by default, your character is moving around. In the Viewport Sculpting and Animation toolbar (Region 6 of Figure 8.2), click on the Stop icon (square) to stop the animation.
2. The first thing we want to do is establish the proportions of the female sci-fi character that we will create for your 3D movie. In Region 2 of Figure 8.2, you will see a list of all the adjustable attributes and properties that you can edit for your MetaHuman. In the Body section of this list, click on Proportions to open the Proportions menu.
3. The default Pia preset character has her proportions set to Short (height) and her body weight set to Normal. Let's change her proportions so that she's Average height, while still keeping her body weight set to Normal...

Adding your MetaHuman to Unreal Engine 5

In this section, you will add your newly created MetaHuman female sci-fi character to UE5.

Before we start, make sure that you have the Quixel Bridge plugin enabled in UE5. The Quixel Bridge plugin is included in the default installation of UE5. To check if this plugin is enabled, follow these steps:

1. Launch UE5. Navigate to the Menu bar and click on Edit | Plugins.
2. Type bridge into the Search bar and tick the checkbox to enable it (if it is not already enabled). Then, close this menu and close UE5.
3. Relaunch UE5. Use the project file that you created for Chapter 7, Setting Up Materials in UE 5..
4. In the toolbar, click on the Create icon. This will open a drop-down menu. Select Quixel Bridge from that menu to open the Quixel Bridge app.
5. The Quixel Bridge app window will open, as shown in the following screenshot. Maximize this window. On the top right-hand side of this window, there is a portrait icon. Click on this...

Customizing your character's clothing

You have just added your custom MetaHuman, named SciFiGirl, to your project file and she looks amazing!

To make her fit better with the sci-fi theme of an Alien-Planet movie set, let's add some custom-made sci-fi armor to her and modify her clothing materials.

Download the Armor and Materials files (including all their content) from this book's GitHub repository: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Unreal-Engine-5-Character-Creation-Animation-and-Cinematics/tree/main/Chapter08/SciFiGirl.

Important

When you download these files, keep their folder structure and the file's contents as-is.

The Armor folder contains 16 sci-fi armor pieces, their textures, and the materials that I have created for this chapter.

The Materials folder contains the updated clothing materials for the boots, jeans, and sweater of your character.

If you want to create some sci-fi armor of your own, then you can use the techniques that...

Summary

In this chapter, you completed the MetaHuman character creation tutorial. You learned how to create a character, how to export them, and how to add them to UE5.

Finally, you learned how to add custom assets to your project that will help your character match the sci-fi theme of your 3D animated movie.

In the next chapter, you will learn how to bring all your assets together in UE5 and build a virtual 3D movie set.

You will learn how to import a landscape mesh and rock assets from Quixel Bridge to build an alien landscape. After this, you will populate your alien landscape with your alien plants.

See you in the next chapter!