xGen to Unreal Script - Export custom Metahumans grooms from Maya xGen to UnrealEngine5 in Alembic
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- You can buy the Script here: realtimehair.g...
The Free Guide to hair in UE realtimehair.g...
I recommend this channel for more tutorials /@AG_Groom
• Xgen to UE5 - Hair Set...
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In this video I'll be showing you how to use my script that automates the export of hair made in XGen Maya to Unreal Engine 5 in Alembic format.
The xGen2UE Script assigns attributes for alembic file with one click of a button:
- RootUV attribute
- Guides Attribute
- Hair width
- Group ID (when you need to separate the groom into groups in UE)
- Automates conversion to Interactive Groom and Generation and reimporting hair curves in the process
- combines hair splines (NURBS curves) in case the groom is too heavy (has a loot of hair)
I'll cover topics such as setting up your scene in Maya, installing the scrip, and exporting your hair to Unreal Engine 5.
Next, I'll show you how to import your hair into Unreal Engine 5 and give you some tips on how to optimize your hair for real-time performance in Unreal Engine 5.
Script works with Maya 2022, 2023.
Scripts speeds up the steps described by Epic’s Documentation of how to export xGen hair for UE5 in Alembic file docs.unrealeng...
Hey guys, though I don't support the script anymore, it still works in Maya 2024/2025. I also would like to refer you to /@AG_Groom - he has awesome videos on hair in UE and how to set up everything. Particularly, how to correctly assign the guides attribute to drive animations (which doesn't work correctly in my script) th-cam.com/video/fw7ZSW4naR0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=f-h7gZ7aQnvTUzjD
The main features of the export in my script works absolutely fine in new versions (just the issue with guides). And of cource access my Free Groom in UE Guide here realtimehair.gumroad.com/l/sartrq
strange, cant load it in 2025 :(
Hey guys, I'm closing the chapter on my artist journey to chase something new. I've put together a quick cheat sheet on how to handle Metahuman hair in UE5. Hope it comes in handy for those of you just diving into the subject, and I'm sure it will answer most of your questions. Go download it, its FREE:
realtimehair.gumroad.com/l/sartrq
I got your cheat sheet, but the product seems to be empty!
@@topherw yeah sorry, thanks for your comment - I have updated it - please try to download it now
Thanks for this, I bought you a coffee for your trouble. Best to you on your future endeavors.
It all works fine BUT once you import it in UE, there's is a vertical offset between the groom and the metahuman head. The groom appears to be higher than the sculp.
Finally!! Thank you so much for this!🙏
Great video. I will definitely try it out once I have the need for Metahumans again 👍
My XGen hair goes down a few units after being imported in UE and loaded into my MH, is this expected issue sometimes?
It happens wether I have binding asset or not and I trying to use the location sliders does nothing.
It's 2 units on up axis. The issue is happening when you author groom based on metahuman rig exported to maya from the Bridge app. It accounts for 2 units of the flipflops in the scene. And is seen usually when applied to metahumans in UE which were created with clothes inside creator.
The solutions: 1 - before final export lower the groom curves down 2 units, or 2 - create merahuman in creator without clothes and this issue will not be there.
And again, epic updates their stuff frequently, so always keep in mind that they may modify something in rigs etc.
Tool doesn't seem to work if your groom is already interactive groom. :(
you are right, it doesn't work with interactive groom splines
Love it! Well done :)
Thanks, T! I learned from the best ;)
I purchased this but its not working. not it has the 2 check boxes in the video
Hi kgi7072, I'm sorry it didn't work for your project. Feel free to reach out to me for support (with more details about your issue) or request the refund.
Hello! When I execute the script it prompts:TypeError: Not enough objects for this command (expected at least 1).Could you please help me solve the problem?
Im getting this too and no response, any fixes?
I have followed the steps, in Unreal I get a message that some grups have 0 curves, which object are you selecting when you click on uv att and id att and which one in Final export, in the video they are not shown and maybe I am doing something wrong.
Did you find a fix for the syntax error? I am using Maya 2022.4
Hi Sean, please check if you add the script into the phyton tab (not MEL), and also have xgen in your scene (not interactive groom splines). Feel free to contact me directly with more information about your scene
Unreal! how good is this, and also an amazing breakdown. You got a purchase and a Sub out of me.
Thank you!
Thanks for the tutorial ?? How did you make the red hair streaks & highlights material?
I would like to see the hair simulation in Unreal.. Just a short animation
how do i export simulated hair from xgen Maya to Unreal?
Incredible Video!!! Do you know if you can export alembic hair from UE5 to Maya?
I think with the help of ornatrix plugin, you can do it, check this video th-cam.com/video/4DMv3BPCGTw/w-d-xo.html
To be honest, I didn't explore the option to export back to maya yet.
Thanks. very usefull!
Hey there! I'm trying out the script. It does transfer my xgen hair to interactive groom but it fails to do any more steps like rebuild base or create guides.... This is the error message. Do you know why is it happening and how to solve this # File "", line 307, in rebuild_bases
# AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'bases'
it's useful,save a lot of time
I made dreadlocks which is not exporting through the script. But if I do without it, it is exporting fine. May I know where am I missing?
Hi, it's hard to say where the issue here without more information about your scene setup. Feel free to reach out via email or a platform through which you made the purchase
Hello Hun, may I know this script work with Maya 2024 or not? thank you
It works for me in maya 2024, 2025
how are you creating xgen hair with the metahuman mesh so messy and triangulated?
I download Metahuman characters straight to Maya from the Quixel Bridge application, and it comes in quads
Hello, I am getting an issue on import into Unreal Engine, when I go to create a Groom Binding asset, it will not process and create the Groom Binding...
LogHairStrands: Error: [Groom] Binding asset could not be built. The target skeletal mesh could be missing UVs.
LogHairStrands: Error: [Groom] Binding asset could not be built. Some strand roots are not close enough to the target mesh to be projected onto it.
LogHairStrands: Error: [Groom] The binding asset (TopherHairstyle02_Topher_FaceMesh_Binding) couldn't be built. This binding asset won't be used.
My guess is that the groom has the wrong transformation (scale/rotation) values on import, or the export is empty (the width of alembic file was not written, maybe) try to drop the hair in the scene and see if it's visible and have the correct position before creating the binding. Hope this helps
Hey there!
Currently experiencing this issue: # Error: ValueError: file line 181: More than one object matches name: xgGuide10
Happen to know what this could mean? I have multiple Collections and Descriptions in the scene, is there a way to modify to Python code to fit this?
EDIT: I have solved this issue by simply renaming the duplicate guidenames in the new collection with a suffix after xgGuide
uv attributes doesn't work, what can I do to fix it?
It should work, please make sure twi things are in order:
- select the mesh in the script to which UVs you want to use to assign it (like head, scalp or animals body)
- the UV set name of this mesh should be "map1"
Hi! Thanks for the plugin. I made interactive grooms which could skip the first step (choosing scalp and convert to descriptions), but the plugin didn't detect the groom. It didn't react when I select interactive grooms and click the following steps. What should I do?
Hi Marcel, I'll check, but I almost sure the script doesn't work with the IG only. Please contact me via the platform you bought the script, and I will try to help you. Thanks!
Hello author, I have purchased the plugin and found a BUG. When I IDgroup Xgen hair in maya, it is exported to UE5. The hair group is not distributed according to the ID grouping number in the script. That's Group_0,Group_1.. It doesn't correspond to the actual Groom Group.
Numbers do not correspond to the groups in UE
@@realtimehair 经过测试，UE5 Groom Groups，只要随意更改一个数值，maya 脚本进行的分组，就会刷新出来，Groom Groups 和MAYA 脚本导出的Group_01~N,就会对应上。Hah
在groom面板下，更改strands面板下，随意一个数值，分组就会刷新出来。
Hi there! Great script, helps me a lot. Maybe you can give me a hint on what I do wrong. It seems I can’t apply different materials for different parts of the groom. To be exact, I have a collection with several discriptions, which I made into 2 Group IDs. Everything works except there is only 1 material slot for the whole groom. And it’s a problem, cause I wanted fringe to have ombré, the rest of the hair color to be non-ombré (fringe has id 1, the rest of the hair id 0). I see groups in UE5, but without an option to set different materials, cause there is only one slot(
To apply different materials to different groups, go to the groom asset in UE, Material tab and create material slots for your groups. I believe more tweaks will be required in the MH blueprint to make it work.
@@realtimehairthank you for the reply! Now I’m really into hooman grooming after years of creature art :D
How come my mesh has not got any instances on the list, despite having xgen on it? Does it have to be a metahuman?
I have a question
If It's animal hair, and there's a lot of it, Will not crash？
i made xgen hair in maya. and i was hair attach to character head. but it's some of problem cause hair can not keeping shape. is that plugin refix of exploding hair things?
No, the script will not help with it. It looks to me like the issues with setting up the groom inside unreal
how did you create the groom colors to change in just a few locks?
I'm trying to make my groom base its colors on UV coordinates to match the animal print i created in Substance, but haven't been able to make it work :(
any tips?
In this particular case, I'm using the built-in masks fir highlights in the Epic's hair material.
You can also use your own as you say, but they will only work if you bake the RootUVs to the groom before exporting from Maya
This is nice
Hi there, I'm getting an syntax error when I want to run the script. So it's not working , can you please help me out?
Hi Constantin, thanks for buying the script! I will duplicate my reply here in case anyone else is having the same issue: the two main reasons why the script may show syntax error are using the Maya version earlier than 2022 and pasting a script to MEL Script Editor tab instead of a Python.
this script doesn't work with maya 2020?
No, it doesn't
159 Wiza Village
Marge Plain
Hi! I have a question about fur calculating. I'm running this script on animal fur. This is an optimized groom containg 5 CV points. The miscalculation has been going on for more than three hours. I was hoping your script was faster than Alembic UV Baker script, but this runs at the same speed. It would be great if you could tell me if there is any recommendation for optimizing the groom to get results in less time with your script? Is there any other quick method to get Alembic for fur?
I know there is a method to get the file using Houdini or Ornatrix, but I need to get the alembic file from XGen with uv roots.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Liliia, so my script will not solve the time and overload of maya in this case. I would suggest you to use the script that was created by Epic (it was available for the first few weeks on their documentation page, but then removed). It works from command line and can solve your issue. It works with maya 2019, maybe higher. I think you can download it from Charlie's blog.
Here's a link to the video, you will find more info there th-cam.com/video/IpSVbYveTQA/w-d-xo.html
@@realtimehair Thank you very much for your answer! I'll try this for animal fur. And I'll be using your script with human hair, thanks!
Richmond Ways
Здраствуйте! А подходит ли этот скрипт для Ornatrix волос?
getting an error with the uv
# RuntimeError: Invalid uv_set provided: "map1"
Please make sure the UV set name for the mesh you write the UV roots with is named "map1"
@@realtimehair Yep, still the same error
maya2020.4 invalid syntax :(
Is there a way to use it with the XGEN Interative?
unfortunately no, it doesn't work with interactive splines
Does this have Root UV's?
Yes! With the press of one button 😀 First, you choose the mesh which you will use for baking root UVs. And after you processed your groom (when script reimports it back to maya as nurbs curves), you can assign this attribute
Does this script support UV root export?
Yes! There's an option to select the mesh, which to use for baking root UVs.
this is work on Maya 2023?
Yes
lol. buy the script?
ноу айл бай насинГ
норм
it is not converting more than 6 descriptions. could you please check it
It converts more than 6 descriptions for me and you can d them separately if you want
@@realtimehair 插件还有一个小BUG，因为我们的项目制作的超写实毛发，描述有可能达到20多个，这时候脚本识别的描述，就会显示不完整，不能上下滑动，导致group ID不好赋予