Metahuman head hidden face map texture not working

When I use a Wardrobe Item that applies a Head Hidden Face Map, it works fine within the MetaHuman Creator. But once I assemble the character, the Head Hidden Face Map seems to be completely ignored, while the Body Hidden Face Map works everytime. I’m using 5.7 and I can’t find anything on this issue… besides turning off Substrate and Virtual Textures in the Project Settings, which did nothing.

Has anyone seen this?

I have the same issue in 5.8

Same problem faced today, is very frustrating for it still exists even past so many months…

Hey! @chinohead

I think the issue is a common one in how meta human material instances and dynamic parameters have opacity/hidden face masks during assembly or at run time.

Some things I would suggest looking into or trying are

Check the Material Instance Override

Open the face material instance (MI_Face or similar) generated for your MetaHuman in UE.

Check the material parameters for the Hidden Face Map texture parameter under the Material Parameters. It’s possible the Wardrobe Item pipeline does not automatically bind/pass this texture parameter into the parent material instance upon assembly, be sure to have the texture BBM_Face assigned directly there, and that the scalar toggle for using the mask is set to 1.0.

Verify Opacity / Masked Mode Settings

Ensure that the Face Material is set to support Opacity/Masking (or standard Masked blend mode if not using Substrate for forced opacity). If the Substrate was recently toggled on/off in Project Settings, be mindful that you had to restart the editor completely as Substrate material shaders oftentimes have issues with compiling the opacity/transparency masks properly otherwise

Check the Blueprint Logic / Construction Script

Check if in you BP_MetaHuman there is any script that set dynamic material parameters on BeginPlay or Construction. It’s possible that some default script reset material parameters of the Face mesh, overriding what you have set in the Wardrobe asset

Re-bake / Refresh Textures

In the MetaHuman Character Assembly window perhaps try a Refresh of the Face Material Baking Options or a re-export of the character assembly to rebuild the texture parameters

Could you let me know if you’re assembling this in purely editor or at run-time via Blueprint? And if you look at the MI_Face material instance directly, is the Head Hidden Face Map slot filled or empty?
This will help determine if it’s a baking pass problem or a shader assignment issue.

Epic Games Documentation: MetaHumans in Unreal Engine

Video:

Metahuman Custom Clothing Tutorial (Unreal Engine 5) - Adaptable Outfits!

Metahuman Creator Body Hidden Face Maps guide

Body Masking Metahumans in Unreal Engine 5.6

Hope this helps you get it sorted! Let me know how it goes!

Hi, can you help me here in my Wardrobe item there is only one Body Hidden Face Map Texture slot and you have two slots one for Face Map too.. how i will turn on Face Map Texture slot in my Metahuman Wardrobe Item? i am using UE 5.6 ..many thanks

Hey @FireCG136

I think I know what’s going on here… The root cause for you only seeing the Body Hidden Face Map Texture slot and not the Head one likely has to do with two things: the specific pipeline your Wardrobe asset is using and the version differences in MetaHuman Creator/Unreal Engine (as 5.6 vs newer versions updated how outfit pipelines expose texture slots)

Here are a couple of things we could try to get that Head slot showing up;

Check the Outfit Pipeline Assignment

In your Wardrobe Data Asset (Details panel) check the Pipeline section. Make sure that the Editor Pipeline is set to either MetaHuman Outfit Editor Pipeline (or the specific head/outfit pipeline asset provided by the MetaHuman plugin) instead of a generic body pipeline.
Usually changing this parameter to the correct one will enable the missing Head texture parameters in the Details UI

Verify Asset Class & Target Mesh

Check if your asset is purely classified as a Body Clothing item or a Head/Accessory item (hood or hat)
In UE 5.6 if your item is purely classified as a body clothing sometimes the system defaults out the Head texture slot.
You might have to duplicate or assign the pipeline that targets the Face/Head component.

Manual Parameter Override in the Material Instance

If the Wardrobe Item details panel still won’t show the slot you can usually bypass this by opening the actual Material Instance applied to your item or character’s head/face.
Look for the Head Hidden Face Map parameter inside the Material Instance directly and enable the texture slot manually.

If you’re still having an issue, Could you share what asset class or pipeline preset your Wardrobe item is currently using?
Also let me know if this is a custom FBX asset you imported or a modified preset from MetaHuman Creator

For more information: MetaHumans in Unreal Engine Documentation

Hi THanks for your reply.. i am using them same pipeline.. also i am creating cloth assets for metahuman was my Wardrobe item i will have these masks saved so i can package them with my cloth assets so i want them to work properly without any neck clipping issues .i hope you understand my problem now. here is the image attached ..

Hi @FireCG136

Looking at your setup I believe the problem is that when you are generating custom clothing assets as MetaHumanWardrobeItem assets the pipeline slot in the Editor Pipeline for the Head Hidden Face Map isn’t explicitly exposed or mapped the same way the Body map is by default in custom items, leading to that neck clipping/geometry overlapping

I’d suggest trying this out to see if it forces it to recognize the map

Check the Editor Pipeline Settings
In your MetaHumanWardrobeItem details panel (where your see Body Hidden Face Map) look at the array/dropdown options under the Editor Pipeline or Outfit settings to see if there’s an explicit slot to add a Head Hidden Face Map texture parameter override.
Sometimes custom wardrobe assets default to only expose body-part masks unless explicitly added via a custom property or override.

Apply Runtime Material Parameters/Override Materials
Since the wardrobe item packages those textures I would usually try adding a manual entry under Runtime Material Parameters or Override Materials within said details panel.
You can manually feed in your head mask texture into the facial material parameter collection or instance parameters there to apply it upon assembly

Check UV Channels/Mapping Spaces
Ensure that the texture mask coordinates are aligned to the MetaHuman body/head UV space expectations expected by the body/face material shader, otherwise the engine will ignore this mask if it can’t find the correct UV channel mapping.

When you look at the MetaHumanWardrobeItem details, Does it only give you the body map option or is there a dropdown to include head mapping slots under a different section?

Let me know if this helps you!