How to Fix Skin Weights on MetaHuman Outfits

When you attach a custom outfit to a MetaHuman, Unreal copies the body's skin weights onto the clothing. This overwrites the outfit's original weights and often causes bad stretching around the shoulders, hips, knees, and neck. Follow these steps to make your clothes bend naturally. If your outfit has several pieces, repeat the steps for each one.

1. Open the Skeletal Mesh
Double-click the outfit's Skeletal Mesh in the Content Browser. Make sure it is in the Reference Pose (T-Pose).

2. Weld the mesh points
In the Mesh tab, choose Weld. Keep the default Tolerance, leave Split Bowties on, and set Split Attribute Welding to "On Welded Mesh Edges Only". Click Apply to Asset.

3. Set an X-Pose
In the Skeleton Tree, select a bone such as upperarm_l or thigh_l and rotate it outward (press E). Repeat for both arms and legs. This pose is temporary and only makes painting easier.

4. Edit the skin weights
Open the Skin tab, click Edit Skin Weights, and choose Brush mode. Adjust Radius, Strength, and Falloff. Pick a brush: Add, Replace, Multiply, or Relax (Relax smooths harsh transitions). Select a bone and paint the problem areas. Hold Shift to smooth and Ctrl to remove weight. Focus on the underarms, hips, back of the knees, and collar. Rotate the joints often to preview the result.

5. Review and apply
Test several poses. When happy, click Apply to Asset, then Reset Bone Transforms to return to the default pose.

6. Test on your character
Check that the outfit is still linked to the MetaHuman and play an animation. If something still looks wrong, go back to Step 4.

Tip: work on one bone at a time. The X-Pose does not affect your final animations.

mijan3d

mijan3d

Product types