MetaHuman Import

Copresence provides the MetaHuman Import Wizard as an Unreal Engine plugin to create a MetaHuman based on your Copresence scan. This tutorial is based on Unreal 5.5. We are actively working on supporting the new workflow in Unreal 5.6 as soon as possible.

Setup

This section will explain how to setup the Copresence MetaHuman Import Wizard. As a prerequisit, you need to install the official MetaHuman plugin.

After completion, you are ready to use our MetaHuman Import Wizard. Start by downloading the plugin for the supported version of Unreal Engine from here: Unreal Engine 5.5

Install our plugin for a specific project by extracting the downloaded zip to [Project Root Directory]/Plugins/copresence. Restart the Unreal Editor, in case it has been opened while extracting the content.

To ensure the plugin is activate, navigate to the plugins menu in the Unreal editor via Edit -> Plugins and enter Copresence into the search bar. Make sure the plugin is activated. If activated, the “Copresence” menu will be located in the top menu bar of your Unreal editor.

Workflow

This section will show you how to convert Copresence avatars into MetaHumans and import them into Unreal Engine. As a prerequisit, you need to have a Copresence account and a recorded avatar with exports unlocked. If you don’t have an unlocked avatar, you may also choose the default Demo Avatar which is added to every account and unlocked by default.

Log into the Copresence webapp and select your unlocked avatar. Click the … and choose download. Select MetaHuman and download the .zip asset file. Open the Unreal editor and navigate to the main menu bar. Click Copresence -> MetaHuman Import to launch the wizard.

Intro

The opening screen explains the wizard and provides more references to MetaHumans, Copresence and this guide. Click Continue to start the process.

Source File Selection

Select the file you downloaded from the webapp and click Continue. This will import the Copresence scan assets into your Unreal project. The imported files will be located under /Game/copresence/<basename_of_the_zip_file>.

Running Template-to-Metahuman

The next step explains the Template-to-MetaHuman workflow. The process is semi-automated and needs some manual operations to be performed.

Press the Create MetaHuman button to create a new MetaHuman identity file in your assets. The file will open automatically and is ready for loading you scan. From here on, some manual steps are required.

1. Navigate to the menu bar at the top and click on Assets. In the drop-down menu click Configure Components from Conformed. It will open a list where you need to search for a static mesh asset named template. There might be multiple files with that name so make sure to select the one which is located in the folder containing the imported files from the previous step. After clicking the file, it takes a couple of seconds until the mesh is shown.

2. Finish this step by pressing the Mesh to MetaHuman button. Make sure to select the Full MetaHuman option. After this, the reconstructed geometry will be uploaded to the MetaHuman Creator, ready for editing in the next step.

Now, you may close the Template-to-MetaHuman dialog window and proceed with the wizard by clicking Continue.

Editing in MetaHuman Creator

After the Template-to-MetaHuman transfer, the current state of the MetaHuman is rather a draft than a finalized character. That is why the final editing takes place in the MetaHuman Creator tool. The previous step has already uploaded the geometry to the tool, so you can start editing right away. The MetaHuman Import Wizard in Unreal now outlines the most important steps to follow and includes some information that you will need to enter. The steps are summarized briefly below:

In the category Face -> Skin* select the skin color coordinate that is shown in the instructions list of the Copresence wizard
Disable the hair by selecting None in the Hair -> Head menu
Disable the eyebrows by selecting None in the Hair -> Eyebrows menu
Select a proper bodyshape and head scale in the menu Body -> Proportions

Optionally, you might want to add clothing in the Body menu. Once you done, you may close the MetaHuman creator, go back to the wizard in Unreal and click Continue.

Importing the MetaHuman

The MetaHuman is now ready to be imported into your current Unreal project. Go back to the Unreal editor and follow the instructions shown by the import wizard.

Open the Quixel Bridge by navigating to Window in the top menu bar and select Quixel Bridge
Select My MetaHumans under the MetaHuman category
Select your MetaHuman and quality preset and press the Download button. This will generate and download the assets required for your MetaHuman. This step can take a few minutes.
Once the download is finished, press the Add button

Once you done, go back to the wizard in Unreal and click Continue.

Apply Copresence Assets

In this last step, face texture and hair assets of the MetaHuman get replaced by the ones from your Copresence scan. Therefore, go back to the wizard window and select the blueprint of your MetaHuman in the drop-down list. If you can not find it click Refresh. Then, press the Transfer Assets button. After everything is finished, click Continue.

Finalize

Now your MetaHuman is ready to be used. Press the View MetaHuman button on the last page of the wizard to open the MetaHuman blueprint. Make sure to close any opened editor windows for this blueprint. Otherwise, the contents of the asset will not be refreshed. You can close the wizard now and drag the MetaHuman blueprint asset into the scene. Below, you see an example result with a reference input picture captured by our app during the original scan.