(Solved) Morph targets not showing in curve containers for control rig in 5.5

Development Character & Animation
1

Been working with morph targets in UE for a while, but since the unreal 5.5 update with the import changes I have been unable to use the Curve containers for the control rig. Instead, a bunch of strange values for hip fire and calf_l_back_50 have been showing up.

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This is despite them showing up and working as morph targets

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My whole character pipeline has been broken because of this so any help would be appreciated.

1 Like
2

So I figure out that the problem is that curves are not in the skeleton if you import using 5.5.

The easiest solution is to import the skeleton with the morph targets into a 5.4 project, upgrade it to 5.5, then take that skeleton file and replace your projects skeleton file.

If that doesn’t work, you can add them all in manually by adding curves to the skeleton with the EXACT same name as the morph target. But hopefully the other method works.

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1 Like
3

[Solved ]
disable interchange plugin solve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38TeiHDt3HQ

1 Like
4

Do you have a sample you can share with us so I can try to repro?

5

I was just about to try that solution myself, but I thought I’d google a bit more first. lol
It’s super frustrating how broken importing is in 5.5. I got stuck with all my assets coming in with the same wrong name for a bit, and now I get my morphs imported, but the curves show all morph targets for every skeletal mesh now and not the one for the mesh I just imported. Yay Epic!

6

Yes, I reported a similar problem.

7

Heres how I went and resolved this on my project for anyone else that might need it, I am not an animator or a programmer so please let me know if there’s anything wrong with this approach:

(metahumans on my project need weighted normals, just because its not talked about current optimized metahumans that are not the Full Cinematic Metahumans do not have morph targets when imported, only cinematic metahumans have morph targets)

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP): Fixing Missing Morph Targets in Custom MetaHuman Assets

Purpose:

To ensure custom MetaHuman assets retain morph targets when imported into Unreal Engine by transferring shape keys from a high-quality cinematic MetaHuman to a target MetaHuman asset.

Materials/Tools Required:

  1. Software:

    • Unreal Engine
    • Blender
    • FBX 2013.3 Converter (download from Autodesk website)
    • ShapeKeyWrap Plugin for Blender (download from GitHub)

  2. Files:

    • Cinematic MetaHuman Quality FBX
    • Target MetaHuman Quality FBX

Procedure:

Step 1: Prepare Files

  1. Download the Cinematic and Target MetaHuman Quality files.
  2. Import the Target MetaHuman Quality files into your Unreal Engine project.
    • Note: Only Cinematic MetaHumans have morph targets; other quality levels may not.

Step 2: Export FBX Files

  1. Export the following FBX files from Unreal Engine:
    • Target Quality MetaHuman
    • High-Quality Cinematic MetaHuman

Step 3: Convert FBX Files

  1. Download and install the FBX 2013.3 Converter from the Autodesk website.
  2. Convert both the Target and High-Quality Cinematic FBX files using the FBX 2013.3 Converter.

Step 4: Import and Modify in Blender

  1. Import the Target FBX into Blender.
  2. Make any necessary changes or apply modifiers (e.g., Decimate, Weighted Normals) that are incompatible with shape keys.

Step 5: Install ShapeKeyWrap Plugin

  1. Download the ShapeKeyWrap plugin from GitHub.
  2. Install the plugin in Blender.

Step 6: Transfer Shape Keys

  1. Import the High-Quality Cinematic MetaHuman FBX into Blender.
  2. Select the High-Quality Cinematic MetaHuman mesh, then select the Target MetaHuman mesh.
  3. Open the Shape Key Wrap menu from the tools panel on the right.
  4. Click Transfer Shape Keys and wait for the process to complete.
  5. Verify that the shape keys have been transferred to the Target MetaHuman mesh in the Object Data Properties tab.

Step 7: Clean Up and Export

  1. Delete the High-Quality Cinematic MetaHuman mesh and its hierarchy.
  2. Select the Target MetaHuman Root node, then Shift-select down to the Target MetaHuman mesh.
  3. Export the Target MetaHuman as an FBX file with the following settings:
    • General Tab:
      • Limit to Selected Objects
    • Geometry Tab:
      • Smoothing: Face
      • Deselect Apply Modifiers
      • Enable Tangent Space
    • Armature Tab:
      • Deselect Add Leaf Bones
    • Bake Animation Tab:
      • Select only Key All Bones and Force Start/End Keying

Step 8: Reimport into Unreal Engine

  1. In Unreal Engine, select the Target Skeletal Mesh.
  2. Scroll down to the File Path submenu in the Details panel and select the newly exported Target FBX file.
  3. Click Reimport Mesh with Dialog at the top of the Skeletal Mesh menu.
  4. Configure the import settings as follows:
    • Use T0 as Ref Pose
    • Preserve Smoothing Groups
    • Import Meshes in Bone Hierarchy
    • Import Morph Targets
    • Normal Import Method: Import Normals and Tangents
  5. Click Import.
    • If a material import fix menu appears, click Reset to FBX.

Step 9: Verify and Test

  1. Check the LOD0 and other LODs to ensure proper material assignments.
  2. Test the asset in various scenes to confirm functionality.