Unreal Engine 5 · MetaHumans

MetaGen

Generate realistic MetaHuman families in a single click

MetaGen is a procedural generation system for Unreal Engine 5 that automates the creation of MetaHuman offspring from two selected parents. By combining Mendelian genetics with real-time facial morphing, it generates a unique child in seconds instead of hours of manual character sculpting.

Prototype · actively in development

View on GitHub See the pipeline

Generated Results

Believable families, generated in seconds.

Every child is procedurally generated from two selected MetaHuman parents, preserving recognizable family traits while producing unique descendants.

Generated MetaHuman children

Overview

About MetaGen

MetaGen is a real-time genetic inheritance system for MetaHumans, built for Unreal Engine 5 as a Bachelor's Thesis. Select two parents to generate a wide variety of descendants, with every result still open to final user customization.

Mendelian genetics

Eye color, skin tone, hair texture and hair color follow Mendelian dominance rules.

Real-time morph targets

Facial structure is generated by interpolating segmented morph targets from both parents at runtime.

6 parents, 1 base child

Ships with six pre-configured parent models and a base child mesh.

Built to extend

A documented production pipeline lets you add your own custom parent characters to the pool.

Current scope: MetaGen is a real-time generation and preview prototype. Persistent saving — exporting generated characters and runtime mesh modifications back to editor assets — isn't supported yet; it's the focus of ongoing development.

Runtime Workflow

How it works

A quick breakdown of the user interface and operation pipeline inside Unreal Engine.

MetaGen selection scene interface
Phase 01 - Parental selection

Execute ParentSelection inside the Content folder to start the program.

1
Dropdown menus Select the parent models.
2
Generate child button Triggers genetic logic and opens the customization hub.
MetaGen customization scene interface
Phase 02 - Dynamic customization
1
Gender swap Toggles offspring gender while preserving traits.
2
Randomize offspring Generate a new random mix from the same parents.
3
Customization menus Fine-tune facial structure, hair types and hair/eye/skin color.
4
Genetic filter toggle Switch between parental constraints and global options.
5
360º view control Click and drag left mouse button to rotate the model.
6
Return button Go back to the initial selection scene.

Development Pipeline

From Blender to Unreal Engine

This one-minute overview summarizes the complete development workflow behind MetaGen, from preparing facial morph targets in Blender to generating procedural descendants in Unreal Engine 5.

For Developers

Integrate your own parent characters

Want to expand the genetic pool? Download the template and follow the accompanying documentation to integrate your own custom parental models. The guide covers the following implementation steps:

  • 01 Mendelian trait configuration
  • 02 Facial geometry extraction
  • 03 Morph target generation & segmentation
  • 04 Mutable system integration
Read the full guide Includes the .blend template & every screenshot

Get in Touch

Found a bug? Have feedback?

This is an early prototype, reports and suggestions are genuinely welcome.

Report a bug

Open an issue on GitHub.

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Carla Puga Pérez

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