Per-Expression OBJs

With Export on PER-EXPRESSION OBJs, the exporter writes a neutral OBJ plus one posed OBJ per expression. Every file has the same topology and vertex order, so any tool can subtract the neutral from a pose to get a blendshape target. It is the set an expression rig is built from in Maya or Blender.

The OBJs carry no textures, materials or Unity settings, so the window hides those groups while this mode is on.

Parts

Parts chooses which OBJs are written.

• FACE writes the head: the neutral and one OBJ per expression.
• BODY writes BaseBody.obj, the neutral body. A body carries no expressions of its own.
• FACE & BODY writes both.

Export

ExportPER-EXPRESSION OBJs

PartsFACE & BODY

The body is read from DNA, so a Parts choice that includes it needs Shape on CHARACTER DNA (EXPORT TO DCC). With DNA Source on DNA FILE, the body comes from the Body DNA File. Otherwise UE 5.8 reads it from the character itself. On UE 5.6 and 5.7 it comes from the assembled MetaHuman unless the character has a fixed body type, so assemble the MetaHuman before exporting its body there.

Blendshape Set

• DNA-263 writes one OBJ per expression control the MetaHuman rig has, each named after its control, such as CTRL_expressions.jawOpen.obj. A control that moves nothing still gets its file, a copy of the neutral, so the set is always complete.
• ARKIT-52 writes the 52 ARKit shapes, named in PascalCase, such as JawOpen.obj.

The FBX export's NONE is not offered here, since the OBJs are the expressions.

Export

Blendshape SetDNA-263

Shape

Shape chooses which head the expressions are posed from.

• CHARACTER DNA (EXPORT TO DCC) uses the character's own rig maths, the same head MetaHuman's Export to DCC hands to Maya. It needs no assembled MetaHuman.
• ASSEMBLED FACE (MATCHES THE FBX) poses the assembled face in Unreal, exactly the shapes an FBX export carries.

For a character assembled from its current state, the two describe the same head within about half a millimetre.

Expression OBJs

ShapeCHARACTER DNA (EXPORT TO DCC)

DNA Source

With Character DNA, DNA Source says where the DNA is read from. METAHUMAN CHARACTER reads the character asset in this project. DNA FILE reads a .dna file on disk, such as the head.dna that Export to DCC writes. Pick that file in DNA File, and when Parts includes the body, pick the body's in Body DNA File.

Expression OBJs

ShapeCHARACTER DNA (EXPORT TO DCC)

DNA SourceMETAHUMAN CHARACTER

Faces

QUADS writes the MetaHuman topology as it was authored, what a modeller expects to edit. TRIANGLES splits each quad the way Unreal splits it, so the OBJs match an FBX export triangle for triangle.

Expression OBJs

FacesQUADS

LOD

LOD is the level of detail written, from 0, the full-resolution head, up to 7. A higher number writes a lighter mesh with fewer vertices. The body has fewer levels than the head, so BaseBody.obj falls back to its last one.

Expression OBJs

LOD0

Jaw Correctives

Shown for DNA-263. Jaw Correctives writes the jaw correctives as the shape they add on top of an open jaw. These few expressions only deform while another control is already driving the face, so on their own they come out flat. Off, they are written as they pose alone, which moves nothing.

Expression OBJs

Jaw Correctives

What Lands

The OBJs go into a folder inside the Output Folder, named after the character and the set: <Name>_DNA or <Name>_ARKit-52, with _LOD<n> added when LOD is above 0.

Output

Output FolderC:/Users/You/Desktop/Akari

Open Output Folder After Export

<Name>_DNA/
  BaseHead.obj                    the neutral head
  CTRL_expressions.jawOpen.obj    one OBJ per expression
  ...
  BaseBody.obj                    the neutral body, when Parts includes it

When the export finishes, the message reports how many files were written and where.