From DNA to your character.

Before you begin

This guide describes the Full 1.0.4 workflow. Check the edition comparison before following a workflow in Free.

• Blender 5.2 on Windows x64. The package contains the DNA and RigLogic libraries for Blender’s Python 3.13.
• Your MetaHuman DNA files. Use the head and body files from the same character. Keep them available throughout the project.
• Source textures, if needed. DNA describes the character; it does not contain all the image files used by its materials.
• A saved working copy. Keep the original DNA and an untouched Unreal character before making changes.

The currently tested scope is listed under Compatibility. Other versions and DNA generations need separate validation.

Install DNA Studio

1. Download the complete ZIP for your edition. Keep the package intact.
2. In Blender, open Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions.
3. Open the menu at the top right, choose Install from Disk, and select the ZIP.
4. Enable Skalin DNA Studio, then restart Blender.
5. In the 3D Viewport, press N and open the Skalin DNA Studio sidebar tab.

Install one edition at a time. Disable the previous edition before switching. Leave the custom Bindings folder empty to use the included libraries.

The add-on preferences provide website, documentation, email support, Re-check Bindings and Copy Support Information controls. You do not need to compile the bundled libraries.

Your first complete workflow

1. Setup: press Setup Scene, name the character and select its head and body DNA. Import All LODs with Shape Keys enabled.
2. Edit Mesh: create the edit meshes, sculpt the neutral shape and conform the edit rig. Check the eyes, mouth and neck.
3. Facial Expressions: build the Face Board, enable the Control Rig and pose the face. Edit an expression, then Apply or Cancel.
4. Shape Keys: sculpt any surface corrections needed for the new character.
5. RBF: inspect corrective poses and adjust those affected by the new anatomy.
6. Sync and Export: finish active edits, synchronize, validate and export the selected components.
7. Unreal: test the exported files on a duplicate character, including animation and every LOD.

You do not need to edit every system for every character. Use the stages your changes require. The All tab shows all panels together; the numbered tabs keep each stage focused.

1. Setup

Set the scene and import the character

1. Press Setup Scene. DNA Studio uses Metric units at a unit scale of 0.01.
2. Set the Character Name and select the head and/or body DNA paths.
3. Use DNA File Info to inspect a file before importing.
4. Choose All LODs for a complete round trip, and enable Shape Keys when you need the original facial mesh deformations.
5. Press Import DNA.

You can drop a DNA file into the viewport to fill a path. Check the selected head/body field before import. Head and body are built with separate original rigs and LOD meshes inside the character’s collection.

View the character

Use the LOD buttons to inspect imported meshes and Edit to return to the edit setup. The View panel also controls rig, Face Board and secondary edit-mesh visibility. Unavailable LOD buttons indicate that those meshes were not imported.

Open Materials to assign the character’s maps and choose a preview mode. See Materials and maps for path setup and wrinkle references.

Repair generated controls

Repair & Advanced → Repair/Rebuild Facial Controls recreates missing generated controls. Use it when controls have been deleted or need rebuilding after an update.

2. Edit Mesh

Create the editable character

Press Create Edit Meshes. DNA Studio creates a seam-welded skin edit mesh for the head/body, separate editable parts, an edit rig and hidden reference snapshots. Sculpt the objects marked as edit meshes.

Change the mesh’s vertex positions rather than moving, rotating or scaling the original objects. Rebuilding Edit Meshes replaces the current edit setup from the originals; synchronize and save first if you have work to retain.

Bring in a sculpt from another application

1. Select the edit mesh and press Create Lightweight Copy. The copy contains geometry without Shape Keys, vertex groups or modifiers.
2. Sculpt that copy in Blender or take it through your external sculpting workflow. Retain its original topology and vertex order.
3. Select the returned sculpt, then select the edit mesh last so it is active.
4. Press Conform to Mesh.

The neutral shape receives the source’s mesh-local vertex positions, and existing Shape Key offsets move with the neutral change. Matching vertex counts alone are not enough: the corresponding vertex order must also match.

Copy shape and work symmetrically

Copy Shape From Selected transfers a selected source onto the active target through UV space. Use corresponding parts with compatible UV layouts. This is separate from the vertex-order-based Conform to Mesh workflow.

Use the mesh symmetry controls on the intended edit mesh or selection. Keep a saved copy before making a broad symmetry change.

Fit the rig and secondary parts

Enter Edit Mode on the edit armature to reveal the Skeleton (Edit Mode) panel. Use Conform Edit Rig to fit the skeleton to the neutral sculpt. Bone mirroring and Conform Twist & RBF to Base help align the skeleton and its helper bones.

In Secondary Meshes, choose the part and the edit surface that drives it, then use Synchronize Secondary or Synchronize All Secondaries. The controls also support a custom target, optional bind noise and Laplacian smoothing. Inspect eye shells, eye edges, saliva and other affected parts after fitting.

Before editing facial systems, check the neutral head/body seam, eyes, teeth, mouth and overall bone alignment.

3. Facial Expressions

Build and pose the face

1. After creating the edit meshes, open Facial Expressions and press Build Face Board.
2. Confirm the button changes to Face Board Ready.
3. Press Enable Control Rig, then Pose Face Board.
4. Move its controls and inspect the resulting face. Use the Active Expressions list to choose the expression you want to adjust.

Face Board controls pose the face. Expression editing changes the bone response associated with a chosen expression.

Edit one expression

1. Use the edit control beside an active expression.
2. Find relevant bones using regions, side, name search or the detail/LOD filter. Start with broader controls, then refine smaller details.
3. Adjust the selected bone transforms. Use Pick Surface (Ctrl+Shift+Click) and the ranked bone list when you need help locating an influential control.
4. Inspect the change, then choose Apply Expression or Cancel.

Hierarchy lines, isolation, delta lines, heat maps, bone scope and control display settings help you see what changed. Widget size and sprite options adjust visibility without changing the expression itself.

Pose Preview blends from neutral to the active expression. Return it to 1 before editing or applying. Finish the current edit before starting another expression, Shape Key or RBF workflow.

Symmetry and restoration

Use Mirror L → R or Mirror R → L for the intended direction while editing. Expression symmetry transfers an active side’s result to its counterpart. Applied changes are stored in the Blender project for DNA export.

Restoration reads a compatible source DNA. Wait for it to finish before starting another edit. If Undo interrupts editing or restoration, inspect the result and enable the Control Rig again if it has reset.

Sculpt-to-Pose

1. Enter the expression you want to correct and open Sculpt-to-Pose.
2. Create a target and sculpt the desired posed shape without changing topology.
3. Return to the same expression and choose the target. Select the automatic or selected-bone scope.
4. Adjust strength, movement limit, protection and solver controls as needed, then run the fit.
5. Inspect the result and choose Keep Fit or Revert Fit. Apply or cancel the expression to finish.

The fit adjusts bone translations. It is an aid to expression correction, not a guarantee that every target sculpt can be reproduced by the existing rig. Automatic mode chooses bones from the sculpted region; use the fit feedback and visual result together.

4. Shape Keys

Shape Keys add mesh deformations on top of the bone-driven face. Use them when the posed surface needs a correction that is better made directly on the mesh.

1. Pose the Control Rig to reveal the keys contributing to the expression.
2. Choose a key in Active Shape Keys and open Sculpt or Edit mode.
3. Make the correction while keeping topology intact. Expression inputs and symmetry are set for the selected key.
4. Choose Apply Sculpt to keep it or Cancel to restore the starting shape.

Keep the neutral Basis separate from expression deformations. Finish the active key edit before changing workflows.

Symmetry, transfer and recovery

Use the Shape Key symmetry tools for matching sides. Transfer Shape Keys, including the corresponding synchronization step, carries edits back to the original meshes. Returning a key to its neutral shape clears its previously transferred deformation.

Under Reset and Restore, you can restore a selected key from DNA, clear the selected key, restore all compatible keys or create empty keys for the existing channels. These operations change the character’s key data; save first and check the selected source.

Restoration validates the channel mapping and topology before changing keys. Missing channels or incompatible layouts are rejected. A full restoration also removes sculpt changes on vertices that have zero deformation in the source target; parts absent from that source remain unchanged.

Channel names and LODs

DNA Studio preserves complete DNA channel names. Very long names have a shorter identifier in Blender’s native Shape Key list; use DNA Studio’s list for the full name. Do not rename the keys or remove their stored mapping. Full names are restored in FBX output.

The stock DNA blendshapes in this release are carried on LOD0. Shape Key transfer does not generate new corrective shapes for every lower LOD.

If an older project already lost long-name mappings, keep a backup and reimport the source DNA into a new scene. Existing sculpts are not automatically migrated.

5. RBF

RBF—radial basis function—solvers blend corrective poses as joints move. The available solvers and poses come from your character’s DNA.

1. Enable the Control Rig and open RBF.
2. Find a solver using its name, region and side. Filter long pose lists by their available groups or show only edited poses.
3. Select a pose to preview it. Use Previous, Next and Neutral to compare samples.
4. Enter the pose’s edit mode and adjust the correction. Isolate Active Solver and dedicated display options can help you inspect it.
5. Choose Apply Pose or Cancel.

Symmetry and recovery

Symmetrize an individual solver, a group or all supported poses. Check that the intended active character and side are selected before applying the operation.

Reset and Remove offers pose reversion, pose removal, solver removal, full reversion and restoration from DNA. Removing a solver affects its poses. Read the confirmation and save before proceeding.

DNA restoration checks the complete joint-group layout. Incompatible joints, controls, PSD counts or group layouts are rejected before any group is changed. Use the source for the matching character.

6. Sync and Export

Synchronize the edited character

1. Apply or cancel every active expression, Shape Key and RBF edit.
2. Select the Head, Body, Shape Keys, Rigs and expression steps you need.
3. Press Synchronize and read the result.
4. Inspect lower LODs and seams. Adjust lower-LOD smoothing or custom normals if needed.

Synchronization transfers the edit setup back to the originals used for export. Expression preview refresh needs the Control Rig; when it is disabled, the other selected tasks can still run and the result identifies the skipped refresh.

If a combined synchronization step fails, the operation restores its geometry, rig and staged-data backups and reports the failed step. Fix that issue and synchronize successfully before exporting.

Validate and export

1. Press Validate Setup. Resolve errors about source paths, the active character, original rigs, missing LODs, topology, transforms or edit references.
2. Choose an output folder and a plain export name. Select Head, Body or both.
3. Export the updated DNA and the FBX LODs required by your workflow.
4. Use Export Textures if you want the configured source maps copied into the output’s Maps folder.

The selected components determine which files are created. A character’s actual DNA determines its available LODs and parts.

Source DNA paths are protected from overwrite. Choose a different name or folder. DNA files are prepared together before publication; an unsuccessful replacement restores existing destination files. FBX export uses temporary copies to preserve the source scene’s rig and selection.

Custom mesh normals affect shading on the mesh. They are different from image-based normal maps. Export Textures copies files; it does not bake materials or normal maps.

Materials and maps

The Materials panel is available in Setup and Edit Mesh. It builds preview materials for the character and connects configured texture files.

1. Set the maps folder, and the source masks folder when your workflow uses animated-map masks.
2. Choose head/body base colour and normal files, plus animated colour maps CM1, CM2 and CM3 as applicable.
3. Press Setup Materials after changing paths.
4. Switch among Skin, Wireframe, Wire+Guides and Animated to inspect the result.

If no maps folder is found, materials can use flat colours. Missing textures are not evidence that the DNA import failed.

Animated-map reference poses

WM1 · Red, WM2 · Green and WM3 · Blue prepare poses for the corresponding animated-map reference. Use these to inspect the face for a wrinkle sculpting or baking workflow.

The current controls prepare references and material previews. A complete custom high-resolution sculpt and normal-map baking walkthrough will be added with the tutorial; no separate general-purpose texture baker is exposed by this version’s DNA Studio panels.

FBX export supplies standard MetaHuman per-part and per-LOD material slots. Building Blender preview materials is optional for that naming. Your Unreal materials still need the correct texture setup for your character.

Bring the character back to Unreal

Start with a duplicate of the intended Unreal character. The tested route uses the legacy skeletal FBX importer. Importer menus and DNA attachment tools can differ across Unreal versions.

1. Import or reimport matching head and body LOD0 FBXs as skeletal meshes. For an existing MetaHuman, retain its Skeleton and Post Process Animation Blueprint.
2. Enable Import Morph Targets for the head. Set Morph Threshold Position to 0.0 to retain small targets.
3. Import normals and tangents. Disable Keep Sections Separate so the expected material-slot names remain available.
4. When reimporting an existing MetaHuman, disable Import Materials and Import Textures to retain its materials.
5. Import the remaining FBX files into their corresponding LOD levels.
6. Attach the matching exported head/body DNA using the DNA import tools available in your Unreal version.
7. Inspect neutral alignment, materials, animation, corrective poses and every LOD.

Check the settings stored on each skeletal mesh before reimport. Assets with Interchange import data need to be moved to the legacy FBX workflow before these legacy settings apply. Interchange itself has not been qualified for this release.

In the tested character, the default morph threshold of 0.015 filtered out five small correctives. A threshold of 0.0 retained all 858 targets. Your character’s target count may differ.

Acceptance checklist

• No unintended missing or renamed bones; correct scale and head/body alignment.
• Correct material slots, eye/mouth alignment and neck seam in neutral.
• Brows, blinking, jaw, lips, asymmetric poses and combined expressions deform as intended.
• Shoulders, elbows, hips and knees behave correctly in representative body animation.
• All imported LODs preserve acceptable alignment and deformation during playback.
• Clothing, grooms and your game’s animation setup are checked separately where used.

A successful file import alone does not establish that the assembled character animates correctly.

Save, reopen and keep refining

Save the Blender project after applying edits. Keep source DNA paths valid and retain earlier project versions. On reopening, enable the Control Rig again when you need live posing. Synchronization and DNA export can revive saved sessions from the source paths.

For a later design revision, return to the relevant edit stage, apply the change, synchronize and export a new set of files. Repeat the Unreal checks on a duplicate before replacing the previous version.

Use Apply and Cancel to finish each active edit. If Undo or Redo interrupts an edit or restoration, inspect the restored scene before proceeding and re-enable the Control Rig when needed.

Compatibility and tested scope

Full 1.0.4 added verified Face Board creation, recognition, repeat-build and save/reopen coverage. The Unreal evidence comes from 1.0.3’s unchanged export implementation. It does not certify every game, animation, clothing or groom setup.

Troubleshooting

Video tutorials

A start-to-finish tutorial is being recorded, followed by a deeper playlist covering each workflow tab.

Temporary video placeholder. The DNA Studio tutorial and detailed playlist are coming soon.

Open the placeholder video on YouTube ↗

Planned sections: Setup and materials, Edit Mesh and sculpting, Facial Expressions, Shape Keys, RBF, and Sync and Export.

Support and credits

DNA Studio is made by Victor Skalin / Skalin3D.

Website: skalin.org
Support: victor@skalin.org

Include your add-on edition and version, Blender and Unreal versions, the exact error and the steps to reproduce it. Use Copy Support Information in the add-on preferences. Share private character assets only when you are permitted to do so.

The add-on is distributed under GPL-3.0-or-later. The package includes LICENSE, THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES and the OpenRigLogic license. Character assets have their own terms. Skalin DNA Studio is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Epic Games or the Blender Foundation.