UE 5.6 MetaHuman Creator fails to bring in a custom character effectively.

Development Character & Animation
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Hi Epic Games Support Team,

I am writing to report a persistent issue when attempting to import a custom character sculpture with a small jaw shape into MetaHuman using Unreal Engine 5.6. Despite following recommended advanced workflows, the resulting MetaHuman consistently misrepresents the character’s unique facial contour, particularly the jaw. This issue appears to be a regression, as I observed better results in earlier UE versions.

Here are the detailed procedures I have followed:

A. CONFORMED MESH METHOD (Using Web-based MetaHuman Creator)

  1. Acquired a neutral MetaHuman full-body mesh (with correct topology) from SketchFab.
  2. Extracted the head part from this MetaHuman mesh in Blender.
  3. Wrapped this extracted MetaHuman head topology onto my custom sculpture (which has the desired small jaw shape) using Wrap4D.
  4. Uploaded the wrapped head mesh to the web-based MetaHuman Creator using the “Mesh to MetaHuman” feature, selecting "Conformed Mesh.”

B. IMPORTING *.DNA FILE (Using Blender Add-on & MetaHuman Creator)

  1. Acquired a neutral MetaHuman full-body mesh (with correct topology) from SketchFab.
  2. Extracted the head part from this MetaHuman mesh in Blender.
  3. Wrapped the head part to my custom sculpture in Wrap4D, ensuring the MetaHuman topology was preserved.
  4. Using the MetaHuman DNA add-on for Blender (latest versionat the time of use), I fed the wrapped MetaHuman head into the add-on. The add-on successfully generated a .dna file, and I was able to verify the correct facial shape and expressions using the automatically generated facial rig within Blender. This confirms the .dna file itself accurately captured my sculpt’s shape.
  5. I then used this generated *.dna file to create the MetaHuman in the MetaHuman Creator by selecting the “Conform to DNA file” option.

OBSERVED RESULTS in UE 5.6 (UE Version: 5.6.0):

In both attempts (A and B), the generated MetaHuman character in Unreal Engine 5.6 consistently failed to accurately capture the contour of her facial shape, especially the small jaw. The jaw appears significantly larger and less defined than intended.

COMPARISON WITH THE ORIGINAL IN BLENDER

As a result, the original character in Blender looks quite different:

I do not think UE 5.6 metahuman conversion has captured the contour of her facial shape closely enough. The problem especially seems to be the misrepresentation of the jaw shape.

However, what I call ‘vampire effect,’ by which her cheeks are made excessively thin when the jaw is open wide, has been improved in UE 5.6 metahuman.

Her jaw is small, but I have referenced many celebrities around the world, who had small jaws and round face as she does.

Moreover, MetaHuman DNA addon for Blender seems (I am not entirely certain since I have not connected the texture maps and HDR lighting yet) to have produced a better representation of her shape. That means UE 5.6 metahuman has not imported the DNA file as it is and applied some transformation.

Interestingly, web version of the MetaHuman Creator (at the time when UE 5.4 was available) was able to produce a better representation of her, although some subtle uniqueness was still lost. This suggests a potential regression in the MetaHuman Identity Solver’s accuracy in UE 5.6 for certain features.

MY HYPOTHESIS

Given that the MetaHuman DNA add-on for Blender accurately produced a rig reflecting her shape, it appears that the UE 5.6 MetaHuman Identity Solver (or the backend service) is not importing the .dna file without modification. It seems to be applying some internal transformation or constraint that prevents it from fully capturing realistic, yet subtly extreme, facial features like her small jaw.

Request for Assistance

I am practically lost on what else I can try to effectively bring this character into MetaHuman with fidelity in UE 5.6.

Could this be a known issue or a change in the MetaHuman Identity Solver in UE 5.6? Are there any specific updated workflows, settings, or parameters I should be aware of to ensure the .dna file is imported without unwanted modifications and accurately reflects the jaw shape in the current version?

Any advice or insights you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Best,

Jae.

xylonit@outlook.com

  • At request, I can provide a *.pdf file that contains numerous screen captures related to the issue. I do not know how I can do it here, though.