Tutorial — Pose Editor Correctives for Period Tailoring
Augmented Traveler local tutorial. Back to Maya — Tutorials · related: Tutorial — Skinning Garments and Props to a MetaHuman
How to use the Pose Editor in MetaHuman for Maya to fix body shapes that break under period clothing. The usual problems are at the shoulders and elbows:
- 1840s dropped shoulder seams;
- tight set-in sleeves;
- a fitted bodice or tailcoat;
- a corseted torso.
Draft. Written from Epic's Maya Pose Editor documentation. Validate after the first costume test and correct menu names here.
1. What the Pose Editor does
- The Pose Editor adds secondary body deformation. It works through RBF solvers and SwingTwist set-ups.
- An RBF solver reads a driver joint's rotation (for example
upperarm_lraised forward) and moves, rotates or scales driven helper joints into a stored pose. The helpers carry skin weights, so the surface keeps its volume. - SwingTwist splits a joint's rotation into swing and twist. It drives twist joints so forearms and upper arms don't "candy-wrap".
- What it exports into body DNA: skeleton, geometry (with normals and UVs), skinning, RBF solvers and poses, and SwingTwist set-ups. RigLogic plays all of this in Unreal.
2. Stay compatible with MetaHuman Creator
| Change | Stays Creator-compatible? |
|---|---|
| Moving pose joint positions of existing poses | ✅ Yes |
| Editing skin weights | ✅ Yes |
| Adding or removing joints, solvers, poses or SwingTwist set-ups | ❌ No: the DNA becomes RigLogic-only |
| Changing body topology | ❌ No |
Our rule: use only the two ✅ changes, so each figure can still be edited in Creator. Use a RigLogic-only change only if the CTO signs it off. Record it in the figure's rig log, because that character can no longer go back into Creator.
3. Requirements
- One skeleton in the scene, with unique joint names.
- Maya stores a joint's neutral rotation in Joint Orient, but DNA can't hold it. Don't "fix" orients by hand.
- Legacy MetaHuman scenes must be converted before the Pose Editor can use them.
- LOD layout: keep Character Assembler's order, Geometry > Groups > Meshes, so the exporter can work out the LODs and the influences per vertex.
- The garment for the test: the figure's actual costume as a Cloth Asset or skinned garment (Marvelous Designer to MetaHuman — Considerations, Tutorial — Skinning Garments and Props to a MetaHuman).
4. Find the problem poses first
- In Unreal, play the figure's gesture set and idles with the costume on.
- In Maya, play the same set on the assembled body.
- List the poses where the body breaks. Typical ones:
| Period problem | Pose | Symptom |
|---|---|---|
| Dropped shoulder seam (1830s–1850s dresses) | Arm raised forward 60–90° | Shoulder collapses; cloth pokes through at the deltoid |
| Tight set-in sleeve / tailcoat | Arm across the body (writing, holding a ledger) | Upper-arm volume flattens; the back of the armpit pinches |
| Fitted forearm sleeve | Forearm twisted (turning a page, adjusting a telescope) | Candy-wrap twist at the wrist |
| Corseted torso | Bending forward at a desk | The body bends at the waist where a corset wouldn't |
| Stiff collar | Head turned or looking down | Neck skin intersects the collar |
A corset limits movement. Fix that in the animation (see Tutorial — HumanIK Mocap Cleanup for MetaHuman), not with correctives. Correctives fix deformation, not posture.
5. Fix a pose (Creator-compatible)
- Open the Pose Editor from the MetaHuman for Maya menu. Load the body DNA of the Character Assembler scene.
- Find the solver that owns the driver joint (for example the left shoulder's RBF) and the pose nearest the problem angle.
- Go to the pose. The editor sets the driver to the stored rotation.
- Move the driven helper joints (translate first, then rotate) until the volume is right. Check with the garment visible.
- Adjust skin weights only where helper movement can't fix it. Use the Skin Tools / ngSkinTools layers from the skinning tutorial on the body only in this context, and only on the helper influences. Don't repaint the main MetaHuman weights.
- Mirror to the other side if the problem is symmetrical.
- Scrub from rest to the pose and past it. The correction must blend in smoothly and not pop.
6. Validate and export
- Click the Pose Editor's validation for MetaHuman Creator. If it fails, you have made a RigLogic-only change; undo it.
- Export the modified body DNA. Version it:
AT_<Figure>_body_v###.dna. - Bring it back by the route in Epic's Saving and Exporting Data for your target (Creator, or Unreal directly).
- Test in Unreal with the costume:
- the full gesture set;
- the kiosk camera angle;
- one headset build.
7. Check before handing off
Sources
- Epic, Maya Pose Editor: https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/metahuman/maya-pose-editor?lang=en-US
- Epic, Saving and Exporting Data: https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/metahuman/saving-and-exporting-data
- Epic, MetaHuman 5.8 release notes (textures in the Pose Editor; Maya 2026 support): https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/metahuman/metahuman-5-8-release-notes-in-unreal-engine?lang=en-US
- Full list: Sources — 2026-09-19