Hi
I’m really struggling to work out how to get animations working with a MetaHuman. I have my custom outfit set up and added, added it to the character in MetaHumanCharacter, and then hit Assemble, but I’m not sure how to test out an animation and tweak the outfit during animation.
I can’t find any of the default animations to add to my Blueprint, including Idle, and when I tried adding the Blueprint in Sequencer, I’m not able to manipulate any of the joints/bones to pose the character.
I’ve tried watching a few YouTube videos, but I just have more questions than answers. Plus, many are a couple of years old now, so certain options are missing or have been moved. I’m using the latest, which is 5.8. Many of those are for 5.6 and 5.7.
I’m just totally unsure what to do and how. There’s only a few minor clipping issues I’ve noticed, but they can only be seen during a test animation, so I need to be able to modify them during an animation. Thanks.
Hey @DustyShinigami
Working with the MetaHumans and clothing in the Unreal Engine can be a challenging task if the UI gets updated in the newer versions (5.8)
Beforehand I need to ask you a few questions to fully understand the situation and provide you with the best solution.
How are you targeting animations to your MetaHuman?
Are you trying to retarget standard UE mannequin animations (like the Third Person template animations) or are you using animations imported specifically for the MetaHuman skeleton?
For Sequencer posing
When you drag your MetaHuman Blueprint into Sequencer, Are you adding the Control Rig track to the body component or are you trying to pose the mesh bones directly?
For the clothing clipping
Is the custom outfit using standard Chaos Cloth simulation, modular mesh sections or is it bound via the Post-Process Anim BP/Retargeting setup?
Once you tell me a bit more about how you have these parts set up I can point you directly to the right workflow and share some great updated references/videos to get your cloth fitting and test animations running smoothly
Hi @BRS_GerDAngelo, thanks for the response. At the moment, I’m targeting animations imported for the MetaHuman, which I believe is using the AnimBP system. I’ve assembled everything in MetaHumanCharacter.
In Sequencer, I’ve only gotten as far as adding the assembled BP_MetaHumanCharacter, which appears to have the ControlRig track.
Now that you’ve brought to my attention the Control Rig, I’ve found out that various parts can be manipulated. I’m guessing the parts that can’t, or can only be rotated instead of moved with the translate gizmo, is because they’ve purposefully been locked off to prevent such movements…?
Though the ideal scenario is to bring in one of the MetaHuman animations rather than posing and creating my own.
Regarding the cloth clipping - I followed this video, after others I’d seen weren’t working for me, so that involves setting up Chaos Cloth. I created a skeletal mesh from my static mesh and transferred the weights etc. By the end I’d made a wardrobe item, which I dragged and dropped into the MetaHumanCharacter tool.
Thanks
Good to hear you found the Control Rig controls!
And you are absolutely right, some of the controls on the MetaHuman Control Rig are intentionally placed in locked rotation (FK control style) to avoid stretching or unnatural bone dislocations
Given that your main focus is testing imported MetaHuman animations in the sequencer and fine-tuning the Chaos Cloth I would typically break this step down into these.
1. Adding Pre-Made Animations in Sequencer
If you want to apply existing animation clips instead of posing manually:
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In Sequencer, right under your BP_MetaHumanCharacter, look at the Body track.
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Mute or delete the MetaHuman_ControlRig track under Body (otherwise the Control Rig will override incoming animations)
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Click the + Animation button directly on the Body track
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Select your imported MetaHuman animation from the dropdown list
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Note: Because the clothing components use Leader Pose Component or Post-Process Anim BPs linked to the Body, the custom clothing will automatically follow the body motion.
2. Tweaking Chaos Cloth & Fixing Clipping
Since you’ve set up Chaos Cloth on your custom wardrobe item, testing and adjusting it in real time is pretty straightforward
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Simulate in Real-Time
Once the animation plays on the Body track in Sequencer you can enable simulated physics preview directly in the Viewport to see how the cloth reacts
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Adjusting Physics/Collision
If you see minor clipping during the animation you can adjust the Chaos Cloth config asset on your clothing skeletal mesh (increasing backstop distance, cloth thickness, or adjusting ravity/damping)
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MetaHuman Physics Asset Collision
Sometimes clipping happens because the MetaHuman body collision capsules (in PhAT/Physics Asset) are slightly too small or clipping through the mesh.
You can tweak the collision bodies on the MetaHuman skeleton to push the cloth out properly.
Epic Documentation: MetaHuman Animator · Animate Using Sequencer
Videos:
· Unreal Engine 5.6 - Chaos Cloth for Metahuman
· Metahuman Customization 4/4 - Chaos Cloth Simulations
· Quick Chaos Cloth Simulation in UE5 Made Easy | Cloth Paint, Pinning Collision, Brush Workflow
· How to Add Animations to Metahumans in the Sequencer in Unreal Engine 5
I hope this assists you in getting those test animations up and running.
Let me know if you have any problems along the way!
Thanks for the lengthy response, helpful steps, and links. I did manage to find the default animations within the Engine Content folder and copied them somewhere they can easily be found, but I’m not able to add them anywhere. I was able to get to about step 4 before you replied, but this is where I’ve become stuck.
Once I click on the + and go to Animation, I don’t really have anything listed, apart from the one thing. I’ve tried doing a search, but it never turns anything up. So I’m guessing the animations haven’t be exported…?
