Explore New MetaHuman Features In Unreal Engine 5.6

The Unreal Fest 2025 was packed with exciting reveals, including our first look at The Witcher 4 and the official launch of Unreal Engine 5.6, which brought a host of powerful new features designed to help creators build ultra-high-fidelity, large-scale open worlds optimized to run smoothly at 60 FPS on current-generation hardware.

From the preview days, we knew big things were coming, and now it's real: the MetaHuman plug-in has arrived with major enhancements. MetaHuman Creator is now fully integrated into Unreal Engine, featuring enhanced fidelity and brand-new authoring workflows that significantly expand customization options for faces, bodies, and clothing. On top of that, MetaHuman Animator now supports real-time animation generation from almost any camera or audio source, making it even easier to bring digital humans to life.

Cory Strassburger returned to showcase this feature with his alter ego Blu, an alien who lives on his spaceship Xanadu:

As previously mentioned, MetaHuman Creator is now available in-engine, eliminating wait times and streamlining the export process. Users can also benefit from having Creator, Animator, and Mesh to MetaHuman in one unified tool, with improved local asset management and access to full source code for deeper customization.

MetaHuman Creator's intuitive face authoring tools now extend to bodies, thanks to a new parametric system based on real-world scanned data. You can easily sculpt and blend a wide range of realistic body shapes with adjustable measurements like height, chest, waist, and leg length, ideal for use cases like online fashion retail.

You can now also create realistic mesh-based clothing in DCC apps and use the new Unreal Engine Outfit Asset to build full wardrobes for MetaHumans. This system lets you combine garments and accessories into a single asset, automatically adapting to different body shapes. Outfits can be packaged in the MetaHuman format and sold on the Fab marketplace and other platforms, expanding access to ready-made clothing options.

As for Animator, it now supports real-time animation using mono cameras, including most webcams and many smartphones, removing the previous reliance on stereo HMCs and iPhones. Any camera compatible with Unreal Engine LiveLink, including select Android devices, can be used. Whether for live performances or on-set feedback, MetaHumans can now mirror actors' performances in real-time, with offline processing still available as needed.

Even better, MetaHuman Animator can now generate real-time animation directly from audio. It interprets the speaker's emotion to deliver more lifelike results, with manual adjustment options for greater control.

Thanks to updated licensing in the Unreal Engine EULA, which allows use with any engine or creative software, MetaHumans will be seen in more places. The ecosystem will also expand with new plug-ins, starter kits for other DCC tools, and integration with the Fab marketplace.

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