Is MetaHuman 5.6 Body Conform feature broken in the public release?

I have not tried any preview build of 5.6. So when I dove into it yesterday, that was the first thing I tried because those new body modelling features were added as well as the option to 1-click import and conform to a custom sculpt.

Unfortunately no matter what I tried, I never got the body conform feature to work. Always ended in an abomination like this:

  • Used the option to export the Body straight out of the new Meta Human Assembly Window.
  • Used a pre-exesting body and only tried minor sculpts.
  • Tried manipulating it in Blender and Zbrush.
  • Tried changing different LOD body meshes.
  • You either get vertex monsters like above or for whatever reason it’s hitting you with inconsistent topology error upon import eventhough you haven’t changed anything on a pre-existing body export/import.
  • I have gotten it to import a few times, always using a blender sculpt. (always vertex crashes)
  • The only time where it properly imports is if I use the Body Export Option in the MH Creator and if I change the sculpt on the skeletal mesh directly inside Unreal Engine’s Skeletal Mesh Editor. That option however is not viable, symmetry does not work and it’s just not as strong as a toolset compared to ZBrush or even Blender for this use case.

It’s such a bummer, because it does work for some people. Or at least it used to work in the preview build? As it is shown here.

I have the same exact issue, with the exact same process. Exporting the meta human as fbx to blender, sculpt it, then try to re import it through the conform option and I get that.

Is there a a specific workflow to follow?

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I used Conform → From Template and used a 5.5 metahuman skeletal mesh, and that worked okay.

Yeah but I was under the impression that the point was to allow you to start from MH editor to setup your body then export it to sculpt details, then reimport it to proceed…
That’s too bad.

That’s definitely what it is supposed to be for.
I tried Importing 5.5 Metahumans as well, works perfectly fine. Tried sculpting on that 5.5 Mesh, without changing Topology of course → ā€œMismatching Topologyā€ Error or Vertex Explosion. Mostly Mismatching Topology, which of course it doesn’t. Going crazy over here haha

I’ve seen some tutorial for past version, with a plugin in maya, where they wrap the MH body to a sculpted mesh. And they have a step in the process where they ā€œreorderā€ the vertices.
I wonder if it’s not linked to this. Like the export / re import process would mess up the order somehow and when reimporting, the vertices are all scrambled.
I don’t use Maya so I can’t test this plugin, I wonder if there is something of the sort in blender.

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Yes, folks I’m having the same issue and it’s very frustrating. I dove in 5.6 with the official release and all was well, but yes, the Metahuman Creator just doesn’t have the same functionality that we’ve seen in the videos. I have 3 ā€œLibrariesā€ of metahuman hair meshes I can’t use anymore, NONE of my libraries of clothing will conform to ANY metahuman and all we have for options is that ugly shirt and shorts that would look horrible even on Sydney Sweeney. I’m off for the weekend and am trying to figure this out as I type this. Good luck all…

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If the topology appears to be identical, then this definitely looks like a vertex order issue. Ive never used blender but I do know zbrush will sometimes mess up the vertex order. Zbrush is kinda ratchet. You have to watch it closely or it’ll add some serious ā€œworkflow challengesā€ to your day.

Same issue for me aswell. could it be export from unreal?
I tried different things and got the error ā€˜inconsistant topology error’ I haven’t changed number of verts.
In the end I checked the same without even editing, still same error.
exported a working body skeletal mesh. from unreal (this is working as template)
reimported it into unreal without even opening in any DCC. still i got the same error.
But I seen a tutorial where it worked for him. He only showed importing and using as template though.

This is a vertex order issue. I will explain using maya workflow

  1. Grab a body from a bridge file or export the current body out of UE 5.6. No head attached, it should already be split. Remove the rig. Here’s a drive download link for convenience

  2. Import this into Maya (if it isn’t already). Import your broken modified body mesh (this will still work if it’s trianguled. Just make sure it has matching UVs with the Downloaded file)

  3. In the maya menu bar go to: Mesh > Transfer Attributes (click on the box for options)

  1. Set your settings as this (


    )

  2. Before transferring, select your meshes in this order (Hold shift as you click on the meshes):

a. Metahuman body mesh
b. Your broken vertex order mesh

They should be overlapping perfectly now.

  1. Export out the Metahuman body mesh to be used in conformed mesh. Make sure you grab the correct one and not your broken mesh.
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If this works, big for anyone that owns Maya.
I unfortunately don’t. Really hope there’s going to be a simpler way in order to get this working at one point down the road.

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It’s a bit complicated, I mainly use Blender. Could you please advise how to do this in Blender. I’m not the only one who has this error when importing from Blender. Thanks a lot anyway for any advice!

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Your file works great, could you please add the head from metahuman, many would appreciate it.

conform wont even work with 2 unedited fbx files

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Can someone tell me why some vertex points in the Metahuman base mesh aren’t merged?

It seems like this has to do with how blend shapes are set up—specifically how sensitive they are to vertex order. If you merge the points, the blend shapes break because the vertex order gets corrupted. But if you don’t merge them, you can’t use tools like Zwrap properly, because it creates holes in the mesh where vertices are split.

So there’s no real solution here.

You can’t Zwrap a mesh with unmerged vertices—it’ll result in holes or broken geometry. And if you do merge them just to get Zwrap working, you often end up with fewer polygons and broken vertex order. That leads to errors in Unreal, especially with complex blend shapes, or you get the dreaded ā€œtopology mismatchā€ error.

The whole custom mesh workflow for Metahumans feels completely half-baked. You can’t touch the mesh or change it without breaking something. Yet Epic released a Conform feature that no one seems to understand. It only works in Maya, using a four-year-old plugin that isn’t even supported in 2025. This is just insane—how poorly this was executed.

It’s honestly frustrating. They clearly need to improve how they roll out features and consider how people are actually supposed to use them. The current workflow is confusing, fragile, and locked to very specific tools.

TopoWrap v1.0 is an unsupported add-on for a 4 year old version of Maya.
And who can even afford Maya anymore? I already pay $200 a month for other software, so I’m locked into Blender. And dragging a slider to tweak arm length does not qualify as making a custom mesh.

If Epic wants people to build real custom Metahuman assets, they need to provide a solid, Blender-compatible solution that respects both vertex order and topology—without relying on expensive, deprecated tools.

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Hi,
this one works. Can you please tell me how do you download this mesh?
Whenever I export Skeletal mesh after adding from bridge, vertex number is changing (in reference to the mesh got from your drive link).

:stop_sign:
OK, this is messed up — we need to find out what’s going on here.

  • Give us the background details about that MetaHuman. There could be a version conflict caused by the new update.
  • Where is your mesh from? Your mesh is good — it works.
  • Now I just need a working MetaHuman head that works. Please upload that so I can get this one rolling.

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I managed to export the MH head from UE, modify the nose, transfer vertices from the original head to the new one and export everything as FBX simple mesh. I managed to get it into UE and rig it. Everything worked. But, as soon as I tried to do the same with my own head that I modeled, I got the UE message again. Something has to be done to the model before exporting it as FBX and it looks like nobody knows exactly what, or at least I don’t :smiley: PS I would need the head too and especially what somebody did to it to make it work :smiley:

Yeah, I’m waiting for someone who knows what’s going on to upload :slight_smile: But what I really need is a combined mesh that I can split afterward — so the head and body match up. im zrwapping the hole thing.

Now I managed to get my face in there at least, through DNA static mesh. I’m mainly concerned with the face, I don’t want to do a character with a big head and ears like Elf :smiley: but it would be nice to do it right, as originally intended. When I import just the FBX face and fit it to the head via DNA, the shape changes and everything kinda works. I didn’t have to edit anything anywhere, I just sculpted my face from the photo in Blender, exported it, and imported the static mesh blueprint through DNA. But it has to be better than this.