MetaHuman: discussion: custom character
Hi, I've been investigating creating custom MH(MetaHuman) characters. The main reason for me to utilize MH is for the face rig and the skinning of the body that are automatic.
The purpose of this post is to be a basis of discussion of the different approaches there are out there to create custom MH models to make an educated choice for the one that best suits your needs. I'm interested in both realtime and pre-rendered animations.
To start off. MH as it comes, only have 3 body types to choose from. You can't change the height or proportions of limbs. It seems the faces can be morphed to a 3D head scan with the "mesh to MetaHuman" feature, but not bodies.
disclaimer: If anything is incorrect in this post, please correct me.
Import your MH, change proportions, but keep angles of arms and legs the same. I'm not sure how much different you can make it in terms of height compared to the original MH mesh. A solution can be to scale it afterwards when it is rigged and setup. You can also wrap your MH mesh to a sculpt, but keep in mind the arms and legs angles so it is similar. The key here is to stay with the MH topology.
There is another solution for MetaPipe 2.0 that enables you to instead use 3DScanStore models:
https://www.3dscanstore.com/retopologised-body-models/animation-ready-body-scans
https://www.3dscanstore.com/characters/realistic-characters
This way you get all the maps and no need to wrap the MH topology over the 3DScanStore model. However, the full body is packed into one texture and ideally I want the face to be on its own texture map.
MeshMorpher: Unreal Engine plug-in
This only works with the MH topology, but it seems like a very easy solution to go from a MH mesh, sculpt and import it back into UE. Joints move to accomodate to changing character size and you can very easy animate a character morphing into a Hulk, werewolf etc.
It's more costly than the MetaPipe 2.0 plug-in.
This is obviously not a flaw of the plug-ins, but a weakness of MH.
On one hand, using MH topology with MeshMorpher seems so intuitive, but baking down all maps to MH UV:s might take a long time.
Going with MetaPipe 2.0 with the ScanStore model, no baking necessary. However I still would like the head to be on its own map and not shared with the rest of the body. I could create a new UV, but then I'd have to bake it down anyway. The advantage would be that I can use any head scan data from the 3DScanStore.
As I'm planning on creating many characters, I just can't decide on which approach is the best for me.
The purpose of this post is to be a basis of discussion of the different approaches there are out there to create custom MH models to make an educated choice for the one that best suits your needs. I'm interested in both realtime and pre-rendered animations.
To start off. MH as it comes, only have 3 body types to choose from. You can't change the height or proportions of limbs. It seems the faces can be morphed to a 3D head scan with the "mesh to MetaHuman" feature, but not bodies.
disclaimer: If anything is incorrect in this post, please correct me.
Workflows:
MetaPipe 2.0: Maya plug-in.Import your MH, change proportions, but keep angles of arms and legs the same. I'm not sure how much different you can make it in terms of height compared to the original MH mesh. A solution can be to scale it afterwards when it is rigged and setup. You can also wrap your MH mesh to a sculpt, but keep in mind the arms and legs angles so it is similar. The key here is to stay with the MH topology.
There is another solution for MetaPipe 2.0 that enables you to instead use 3DScanStore models:
https://www.3dscanstore.com/retopologised-body-models/animation-ready-body-scans
https://www.3dscanstore.com/characters/realistic-characters
This way you get all the maps and no need to wrap the MH topology over the 3DScanStore model. However, the full body is packed into one texture and ideally I want the face to be on its own texture map.
MeshMorpher: Unreal Engine plug-in
This only works with the MH topology, but it seems like a very easy solution to go from a MH mesh, sculpt and import it back into UE. Joints move to accomodate to changing character size and you can very easy animate a character morphing into a Hulk, werewolf etc.
It's more costly than the MetaPipe 2.0 plug-in.
Drawbacks:
For both solutions, you can't change the topology or have MH character with 4 arms etc. Also I'm unsure of how it is affected by size. 50 meter tall character vs 5 cm tall?This is obviously not a flaw of the plug-ins, but a weakness of MH.
Solution:
What you could do I suppose is to model/sculpt your character as a biped and another version with 4 arms, 4 legs, tails etc. They should match each other topology wise, aside form the extra arms and legs. Then bring the biped version back into UE and have it setup as a MH. export it back into Maya where you now transfer the skinning of the biped to your very custom character with 4 arms, 4 legs and tail. Create the necessary joints for the arms, legs and tail and rig it up with mGear for instance.Discussion:
I'm undecided on which approach to take myself which prompted me to start this whole thread.On one hand, using MH topology with MeshMorpher seems so intuitive, but baking down all maps to MH UV:s might take a long time.
Going with MetaPipe 2.0 with the ScanStore model, no baking necessary. However I still would like the head to be on its own map and not shared with the rest of the body. I could create a new UV, but then I'd have to bake it down anyway. The advantage would be that I can use any head scan data from the 3DScanStore.
As I'm planning on creating many characters, I just can't decide on which approach is the best for me.