Metahuman Fingers warp after exporting from sequencer HELP

[RustyWindChimes]

I’m working with metahumans at work and we’ve created our own using the metahuman creator and that is submitted through perforce,

To make animations for this, i have my own metahuman character created in exactly the same fashion, to animate with the sequencer and control rig. this is separate from our engine, but the same version etc

In the level sequence when animating the hand position looks absolutely fine - no issues whatso ever. Once i’ve done my work with animating i then export the time character from the time line using these settings.

the exported result - does not reflect what I have in the sequencer, fingers visibly deform incorrectly and almost bend like noodles

i’ve even tried retargeting this result to the same character and same result

i’ve even tried importing and retargeting animations from city sample to our metahuman and the fingers are with in reason acting as expected

ive had someone online suggest its a virtual textures missmatch but i cant seem to find any documentation about this

Please help my baccon is on the line

[ChenDong]

The virtual-texture suggestion is a red herring. A VT mismatch changes shading, not how bones bend. City Sample clips retargeting onto your MetaHuman with sane fingers also says the mesh and skeleton are fine. What you exported is not the pose Sequencer is showing.

MetaHuman fingers are driven by the hand Control Rig (FK/IK, plus the metacarpal and twist bones). The viewport evaluates that rig on top of the sequence. Exporting the skeletal-mesh actor straight out of the timeline often writes the body anim track only, or bakes the reference pose on the finger chain, so the fingers shear even though the sequence still looks right. Retargeting that FBX just copies the bad finger curves.

Do this instead:

1. In Sequencer, on the Control Rig track, use Bake To Animation Sequence. Leave key reduction off for the hands, or the finger keys get simplified into the bend.
2. Open that Anim Sequence and scrub a frame where the hand is posed. In the skeleton tree the finger bones (index_01 through index_03, and the metacarpals) have to actually move. If they stay on the ref pose, the bake did not include the rig. Bake the rig track, not the body AnimBP output, and make sure control rigs are evaluated.
3. FBX-export that Anim Sequence (skeletal mesh plus animation, Bake Animation on). Leave Force Front XAxis off unless your DCC pipeline requires it. Do not export the level-sequence actor.
4. On import: Animation Length = Exported Time, Import Bone Tracks = All, not additive, and not Use T0 as ref pose.

“Created the same way” is not the same skeleton asset. A different metahuman_base_skel will have different finger bone axes, and a bake that was correct on yours will noodle on the Perforce one. Bake and export against the same skeletal mesh you import onto.

If step 2 already shows the finger bones wrong inside the Anim Sequence, stop. The FBX settings are not the bug, the bake is.

[ChenDong]

Virtual textures will not bend bones. You can ignore that suggestion. The noodles are a transform problem, and your City Sample test already points at it.

The sequence looks right because you are seeing the Control Rig. MetaHuman fingers are driven by that rig, not by keyed finger bones. An FBX export of the level sequence writes the skeleton under the rig, before the rig (and the body post-process) runs, so the fingers fall apart. City Sample clips survive retargeting because they are already baked bone animation. Your export is not, which is why retargeting it onto the same MetaHuman still noodles. The damage is in the file you exported.

Bake the rig to bones first, and only then export.

In Sequencer, use the MetaHuman skeletal mesh track, not the control rig track, and choose Bake Animation Sequence. You want the bone transforms after the rig evaluates. If the dialog has a choice between controls and bones, bake bones. Leave key reduction off for this test.

Open that new Anim Sequence and set the preview mesh to your MetaHuman. Scrub the fingers there. If they are already noodles, the bake did not evaluate the rig, so try again from the body Control Rig track with Bake to Animation Sequence, targeting the MetaHuman skeleton. Do not export until this asset looks right. The Anim Sequence is the ground truth. The FBX will not fix it.

Export that Anim Sequence, not the level sequence. FBX, bake animation, local space. Do not include the control rig.

Two other checks if the baked sequence is already wrong. Both MetaHumans have to be the same body and the same DNA. A different finger length shears on retarget, but that would also break the City Sample clips, and you said those are fine, so this is secondary. And if the Anim Sequence has an animation layer on the fingers, mute it. A bad layer stacked on a good bake looks exactly like noodles.

Perforce does not change any of this. The version that matters is that the rig and the skeleton you bake to are the same engine version, which you already matched.