News
March 19, 2026
MetaHuman 5.7 brings major improvements to body conforming—with more to come.
Alongside the latest features in the recent MetaHuman 5.7 release, we wanted to make sure you knew about the major improvements we’ve made to body conforming—that is, the process of fitting a MetaHuman mesh and rig to the source mesh. This is an essential step you need to take if you’ve created a custom character or edited your MetaHuman in a third-party DCC tool before bringing it back to Unreal Engine.
If you struggled with the workflow in MetaHuman 5.6—due to issues such as the A-pose requirement, character height restrictions, and the inability to round-trip via FBX—you’re not alone. We heard you, and this release goes some way toward addressing those limitations, as well as adding some new options for greater flexibility. We’re not done yet, and you can look forward to more enhancements in future releases.
Here’s a quick look at some of those improvements.
If you struggled with the workflow in MetaHuman 5.6—due to issues such as the A-pose requirement, character height restrictions, and the inability to round-trip via FBX—you’re not alone. We heard you, and this release goes some way toward addressing those limitations, as well as adding some new options for greater flexibility. We’re not done yet, and you can look forward to more enhancements in future releases.
Here’s a quick look at some of those improvements.
Enhanced body conforming workflows in MetaHuman 5.7
MetaHuman body conforming improvements in Unreal Engine 5.7
Pose flexibility
With this release, MetaHuman Creator (MHC) supports conforming to any pose within a viable range—anywhere between an A-pose and a T-pose; previously, your source mesh had to be in the standard MetaHuman A-pose. While you’ll still get the best results when using the MetaHuman A-pose (you can specify that this is the case to ensure accurate alignment), this does provide greater flexibility when it comes to creating and editing your source character.Viable pose range for MetaHuman conforming in Unreal Engine 5.7
FBX round-tripping
In MetaHuman 5.6, conforming relied on vertex ID data ordering, which is currently lost when exporting FBX from Unreal Engine. This made it impossible to round-trip characters with DCCs other than the apps that currently support DNA via the provided plugins (MetaHuman for Maya and MetaHuman for Houdini). Now, you can use UV mapping to preserve vertex IDs, enabling you to sculpt your meshes in your tool of choice—be it Blender, ZBrush, or beyond—before reimporting them for conforming in MetaHuman Creator.MetaHuman round-tripping via FBX in Unreal Engine 5.7
Volumetric joint fitting for stylized or extreme characters
Not all MetaHumans are human! For characters with extreme proportions—trolls, for example—a new advanced Estimate Joints from Mesh option fits joints to the mesh volumetrically, improving joint placement and providing feasible rigs for source meshes that are very far from our database. Caveat: The more extreme you go, the more likely your results will vary.Increased height ranges
Previously, character heights were limited to the minimum and maximum height parameters from the MetaHuman database. In this release, you can conform characters within a viable human height range that extends beyond those limits. It’s still a step away from fully arbitrary scaling—something we’re continuing to work toward—but you should find it more flexible than before.Import mesh
It’s now possible to import meshes onto existing MetaHuman assets, updating the mesh vertex positions in the current MetaHuman Character from the source body (and optionally, head) mesh while retaining the core skeleton and optionally recreating the deformation systems. With this feature, you can create multiple variations of a character that share the same skeleton, enabling you to use the same animation across them with predictable results.Importing meshes onto existing MetaHuman assets
Import joints
And on the flip slide, you now import your MetaHuman skeletons onto existing MetaHuman assets without altering the body shape, allowing for iterative character refinement and skeleton reuse. This includes the ability to load corrective helper joints or rebuild deformations from the current MHC state.Importing skeletons onto existing MetaHuman assets
Looking ahead
We know there’s still more we can do to make your life easier and help you create a wider range of MetaHuman characters, and we’re working on it.
If you haven’t yet given MetaHuman a try in Unreal Engine 5.7, there’s never been a better time. And remember, we’re always happy to hear your feedback: you can drop us a line on the forums.