Full custom metahuman workflow tutorial Blender Unreal Substance

this is a full custom metahuman workflow using blender Unreal Engine substance painter I will show you all I do creating this character from match defa to tracking animation you can make your own custom met the human character by following all steps in this tutorial so let's get started first we need to install on your engine 5 metahuman plugin and quickel Bridge plugin I used 5.2 on this video but you can use 5.1 or 5.3 as well after installing open a new project select game and put any name for your project we need to activate metahuman plugin through edit plugin search metahuman ticket and restart it then go to the window tab open the quicker Bridge you need to sign in epic games here then click this icon then you can see metahuman presets then click this MH C icon the new window tab will be popped up choose your version and launch and we are set since I decided to make Kaja in teken 8 I choose the most resembl one to him we can roughly change our metahuman skin eye hair and many things those are not really important the important thing here is taking all clothes off yeah boy if clothes Remain the parts inside the clothes are missing so you should remove them after tweaking things just close this window tab all we did saved already so don't worry about it now in the quicker Bridge we can see our metahuman on my metahuman tab we need to download it first to edit downloading met human takes a while so be patient push this button and we go back to Unreal in unreal editor open the content browser find metahuman folder then drag our metahuman blueprint to the viewport click our character and on the detail panel select body and click this icon which is locating us to the folder I'll duplicate this mesh for backup then right click the backup mesh asset action export just uncheck the LOD level and Export it we'll do the same thing for the face it's time to switch to the blender we going to modify our mesh by using shape key shape Keys turn into more Targets in unreal and it Customs our mesh without losing any rig data we need to Autodesk fvx converter to import our mesh to blender if we just import our fvx wires without converting we lose shap keys of head mesh from metahuman download this drag files and drop here convert and import converted FV X to blender we got head and body we're going to modify those and then put these back separately to met human in unreal so you don't want these to be joined as one object what we should be careful is keeping this line between head and body first make a new shape key for each object and name it you're going to use the exact same name in unreal later so it's important then we're going to merge intersected vertices in edit mode select select by traits no manifold and deselect I and mouse area and press M to merge by distance same thing on the body no manifold select merge by distance no need to deselect anything in the body then choose these two objects both press tap key to be in edit mode enable proportional editing grab and move the Gap we you can keep the Gap by using this method after finishing modify this line we're going to sculpt our body and head so keep in mind that you're not touching these Gap while sculpting so you can use face sets for masking like I did or just be careful not touching the Gap when you sculpt for making fa sets you select the area you want in edit mode then in sculpt mode click face set menu and then face set in edit mode selection make the inverted area selected again then make another face set also make sure check the auto masking option in Brush setting I only separated eyes then sculped head body each nothing special just make basic shape with basic brushes I used draw draw shop grab brushes mostly take your time till you are happy with the shape it's time to export to Unreal for the body we need to select body mesh and the body rig then file export fbx this time I will change some export settings check the selected object in Geometry bces for smoothing option amateure uncheck add Lea bones for the head somehow my head is rotated minus 90° on x-axis in on real so I rotate my head and face bone group 90° on x-axis first in blender then EXP both with the same settings with body so it straightens in unreal double click our duplicated face Mash then scroll all the way down open this pile fast click the browsing icon find our imported fvx from blender save it before closing this window reimporting face mesh is kind of heavy while reimporting if your PC is Frozen like mine you can change project setting here edit project setting search rhi change default r hi to vcan or DirectX 11 it could help you you just need to restart unre for the changes setting put any name for saving level then when it's restarted on the content browser find our duplicated face Mash right click and reimport it takes a little while then the reimport material window tab pops up just right click each reimport ass materials and match the same one on the left file open level select our level we want to see the custom face mesh on the viewport to do this we need to tweak some noes on it select our blueprint click edit in Blueprint on the right then go to the event grab tab find the node called set update animation in editor drag and drop from the end of this Noe then you can see the search bar type set morph then you can set morph Target face cuz we want our face deformed put morph Target name in the exact same one with the shape key and change the value to one we can also see the morph Target Name by double clicking our face mesh find it on the right side also be able to copy the name by right click copy name then come back to the event grab tab right click on the canvas type custom then you can find the custom event node and put the mor Target name for this node name connect this node to set Mor Target node let's move to construction script tab we move to all the way right and find set an name instance class node drag a drop and type our Mo Target name which is head M for me then compile go back to our view fault you should replace our blueprint phace to reimported mesh select the face on the blueprint open the content browser drag and drop our reimported face mesh to skeleton mesh asset then our hair all messed up don't be afraid we'll fix it let's go back to blueprint editor this time we will click this viewport Tab and click here and see the detail tab on the right there's Gro menu the reason why our hair messed up is binding ass set is no longer correct so we have to make a new one and replace it click the browser icon on hair groom right click our hair and create binding then select our new face mesh create you can see the detail tab close it now change the binding asset to the new one we just made you can see the hair is positioned correctly then compile we can fix all hair like eyebrow lashes first hair in the exact same method for the body only one thing to do differently is double click our body mesh then search Mo check import Mo targets since the bodies had no mo Target before customed it's unchecked in default other things are exact same with the face reimport make the nodes compile then it's done to make custom hair in x-ray mode select our scalp mesh then duplicate and separate add a particle hair and change lengths then make a shape in partic edit mode select children interpolated to make more dance when you're done with hair shape file export L Lambic change scale to 100 and the frame to one check selected visible object both then uncheck object options in unreal edit plugin search groom utter plugin and enable it then drag and drop our alic file to content browser change X rotation 90 y scale to minus one in Blueprint editor replace our hair to this custom here we also need to create a new binding asset as well just like we did before also in same method we can custom eyebrows lashes and any kind of hair we are taking metahuman based textures and put detail in substance painter also preparing High poly scoped model to bake a normal map so first we're going to duplicate face and body meshes in face mesh only select face part and separate selected we need no shape keys to apply them all also we can make face and body to be one object join them and merge by distance in edit mode delete all materials except only one and add multi-resolution modifier subdivide few times then switch to sculpt mode put wrinkles scars and more details since we need low poly and high poly model both let's export low P one first check the selected object uncheck add modifier in Geometry tab as M resolution modifier isn't applied so it's going to be our low poly model this time we check apply modifier in Geometry it's going to be our High poly model in substance painter we bring our low poly model and check udm option since we met a human texture using udm to the bake tab load our high poly body then bake it after finishing this we need to extract our metalum skin textures from unreal select metahuman blueprint in detail tab click the body first double click the material we can find the main skin texture color map and normal map browse the location right click asset action extract let's do the same thing for the face texture you can see three other textures like cm1 cm2 3 and normal Maps as well we'll come back later for this so let's just export main textures first since these are udim textures it's important to name these in order you can put any name but you should add that 101 for head and that 102 for body for example base color do11 for head color map base color do 102 for body color map because head UV is on 101 tile and body UV is on one or2 tile then drag all textures and drop on the substance painter select the type as texture and import we can see our textures on the left make a new fi layer drag our color texture to color Channel normal textures to normal channel that number two on the texture means there are two tiled textures cuz we named it in udem order I want to make scar color more red so add a white mask and paint throw the scar area and make a new layer for reddish color move this layer down change the color also we can Twix skin color tone by adding level on the base color layer you can add some more scar area on the body when you're happy with your texture we can export it file export textures set a save location make a new folder not to get confused choose un Engine 4 for output templates remove emission Channel cuz we didn't use it then export metahuman uses 2K color Maps 8K normal Maps so we need to export two times one time for 2K color map second time for 8K normal map in unre make a new folder for textures from substance painter let's rename our textures before dragging and drop I broke UD naming order this time cuz we will replace textures on our head body each so I just rename them to recognize easily double click our body material and replace the main color and normal do the same thing for the face material as well let's talk about the other three levels of Textures in the face these help metum facial expression more realistic it switches and blends according to the Expressions so we need to replace those three colors and normals as well export those three level textures go back to substance painter replace the base color layers color and normal to each level's color and normal map so first we replace them to level one textures exported put level two textures export lastly put level three texture and normal and Export them back to Unreal replace all level textures to exported once if we tweak our face texture also need to change all levels of textures so it's better to be done when our texture work is finish it animation we're going to be tracking our face motion using our phone and retargeting body animation from unreal menu download live Link at first unfortunately this is only available on iPhone if you use Android you can ask your friend using iPhone for the footage so start this app check metalum animator then record your face motion for calibration first R to side first left side right side and show your teeth you can record Another footage to use for character animation so we have two footages one for calibration other one for our actual facial animation click this browser icon select choose our videos send these to your mail or messenger any app you can download to your PC then download this on your PC unip it on the unreal content browser right click metahuman animator capture Source double click our capture Source change Source type to live link face archives find the file we uned go to tools capture manager you can see the footages we took on the app select boss add to queue import them all right click metahuman animator metahuman identity double click metahuman identity create component created from footage select our calibration footage by the way this process is only available on Direct X12 so if your rhi setting is workan or director 11 go back to project setting search rhi change back to direct X12 click this plus icon to set our calibration frame then check our tracker is correct just see the green dots on our eyebrows eyes knees Leia folds and lifs check this button if it's all right then change the frame to side view click the plus button repeat this for the other side view then click metahuman identity so select your body type but we don't use this body so it's just for the process after selecting body type click mesh to metahuman full metahuman when it's done push this add button add pose at the teeth go to the frame you show your teeth set the frame hide the teeth lower P low two layer for better animation click fit teeth prepare for performance this process takes a while we almost done let's carry on go back to content browser right click metahuman animator metahuman performance double click metah Human Performance browse footage capture select our actual animation footage then select our metahuman identity there's only one we just made and change our head movement option to control rig then process it's the process baking our facial animation from the footage to our metahuman identity also we can use this motion to our custom metahuman that's the reason why we did it after this export level sequence save it open the level sequence we can see our custom atuman footage metahuman identity head click our identity head replace to our custom metahuman face then play the animation by pressing space bar check the animation is correct in the sequence add the track act to sequence choose our custom metahuman blueprint then scroll down find the face tab under the new metahuman performance right click bake animation sequence if unwear is frozen change rhi from direct X12 to X11 or vercon my PC is always Frozen in this process after baking go to the face tab under the metahuman blueprint add a track animation find the baked animation mute the the face control rig by right click mute then you can see your faal animation is applied to our custom met human one problem is our head is detached it from the body we'll fix this later after applying body animation content browser add at features or content pack choose third person view add to project if you started this from third person view you don't need to add this on the content browser content character manquin animations Manu select all animations except the first one right click retarget animation ass sets select this now we can retarget these animations we selected to our metahuman select ik retarget to RTC metahuman s skeleton mesh to skm Manu then retarget go to the body tab at the track animation select any body animation in the same way mute body control R then play the animation if you can't see the the body animation bar just to restart on your engine now we need to fix our head and body detach it select face first find the animation menu in the detail tab add a key frame and check the disable postprocess blueprint then do the same thing for the body seems like it's fine but we lost our neck movements so click the face again click the browser icon on the anim class then double click face enim blueprint double click anim graph click layered blend per bone node change blend mode to blend mask click this blue skeleton icon search the head push this setting icon blend profile add blend mask name our blend mask blend mask for head to one and right click recursively set Blended scales to one then under the head hierarchy set to one then go back to anying gra tab open blend masks select the blend mask we just made and comp High all done now you can make any custom meta human these steps are not simple to be honest but I didn't want to make these video very long so if you have any question problem or opinion please leave a comment down below I will help you out more tutorials are coming so I will see you in the next video thanks

Channel: Han3D

Views: 5,380

Keywords: Metahuman, Blender, Unreal engine, Substance, Substance painter, custom metahuman, Unreal, tutorial, metahuman tutorial, unreal tutorial, blender tutorial, UE, Unreal metahuman, Unreal metahuman tutorial, metahuman workflow, full metahuman workflow, custom metahuman tutorial, Unreal Blender, Unreal Blender tutorial, Blender metahuman, Blender metahuman tutorial, Blender metahuman workflow, Metahuman blender, Metahuman custom blender, kazuya, tekken8, tekken, customize metahuman

Id: Pwm2zc4k1Ms

Length: 20min 23sec (1223 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 21 2024