MetaHumans

Animate your MetaHumans with HEAT!

Unreal Engine MetaHuman plug-in version 2.0.0 or above is required!

IMPORTING YOUR METAHUMAN

• Epic has a large amount of preset MetaHumans at your disposal. Alternatively, you can also create your own MetaHuman through the MetaHuman Creator found here.

• Ensure that the MetaHuman plug-in is installed to your current Unreal Engine version and that you have the plug-in activated in your project.

• Open up Quixel Bridge by navigating in the top menu bar 'Window -> Quixel Bridge'

Quixel Bridge menu option

• In the upper right hand corner of the Quixel Bridge window click the profile button () and click 'Sign In' to log into your epic games account within Quixel Bridge.
• On the left hand side of the Quixel Bridge window click the MetaHumans button. If you have created your own MetaHuman then a pop-out menu will appear where you can select between 'MetaHuman Presets' and 'My MetaHumans'.

• Choose a MetaHuman to download to your Quixel Bridge by clicking on the MetaHuman profile picture and then clicking the green 'Download' button () in the lower right corner of the Bridge.
• Once the download is complete click the blue 'Add' button () in the lower right corner of the Bridge to add the MetaHuman to your project.
• Once the adding process is complete you can close Quixel Bridge and ensure that your MetaHuman has been imported by navigating in your Unreal project content browser to 'All -> Content -> MetaHumans -> *your MetaHumans name*'.

• Finally we must COMPILE the MetaHuman blueprint in order for it to properly work with HEAT:

  1. Navigate in your Content Browser to your MetaHumans folder by following the file path 'All -> Content -> MetaHumans -> *your MetaHumans name*'.

  2. In this folder you will find the MetaHumans 'Blueprint Class' named 'BP_*your MetaHumans name*'. Open this file by double clicking it.

  3. In the upper left hand corner of the Blueprint Class asset window you will see the 'Compile' button (). Press this button.
  4. Once compiled your MetaHuman is fully ready to be animated with HEAT!

It is IMPERITIVE that you compile your MetaHuman's Blueprint Class before attempting to animate. Animations will not work without compiling.

ANIMATING YOUR METAHUMAN WITH HEAT

• Now that your MetaHuman is downloaded, installed, and compiled you are able to animated your MetaHuman with HEAT. Start by opening the HEAT plug-in and logging in.

• In the lower right hand corner of the HEAT plug-in click the 'Import As:' drop down menu and select 'MetaHuman'.

Import as MetaHuman selection

• After selecting MetaHuman another drop down menu will appear labelled 'Model'. From this drop down select your MetaHumans name.

MetaHuman model selection

• With your MetaHuman model name selected simply drag and drop any HEAT animation from the plug-in into your scene. Your metahuman will appear and will automatically animate. It's that easy!

MetaHuman drag and drop

Next we will go over implementing Unreal Engine's IK retargeting system with HEAT animations to reduce foot sliding.