Epic Games and SideFX have launched MetaHuman for Houdini: a free set of Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs) to streamline the process of getting MetaHuman characters into Houdini.
The add-on was released in June, but this week’s update adds a new HDA that assembles any MetaHuman exported from Unreal Engine as a ready-to-animate rigged and textured character.
Transfer MetaHumans from Unreal Engine to Houdini for games, animation or VFX work
MetaHuman for Houdini is intended to bridge the gap between Epic Games’ MetaHuman Creator and Houdini, streamlining the process of getting MetaHumans into the 3D software.
It has a range of potential uses: as well as simply making it possible to use MetaHumans as characters for animation, motion graphics or VFX projects in Houdini, games artists can create MetaHuman-compatible hair grooms in Houdini, then export them back to Unreal Engine.
SideFX previewed the new features in MetaHuman for Houdini during its Houdini 21 keynote at SIGGRAPH 2025. You can see the add-on in action at 00:47:20.
Now assembles a complete rigged, textured 3D character inside Houdini
MetaHuman for Houdini was originally released in June alongside Unreal Engine 5.6, which integrated MetaHuman Creator directly inside the Unreal Editor.
However, it got a real boost this week with the new MetaHuman Character Rig HDA.
It assembles any MetaHuman Character asset exported from Unreal Engine using the DCC Export assembly pipeline as a ready-to-animate rigged and textured character inside Houdini.
As well as the facial rig, you can import the body generated by MetaHuman Creator’s new parametric body system – which, thanks to the new Autorig Builder in Houdini 21, gives you a full-body rig out of the box.
In addition, the existing groom tools have been updated, making it possible to create hairstyles directly on a specific MetaHuman character, without having to round trip to Unreal Engine.
Price and system requirements
MetaHuman for Houdini is compatible with Houdini 20.5+ and MetaHumans created in Unreal Engine 5.6. The new MetaHuman Character Rig HDA requires Houdini 21. It’s a free download.
You can find system requirements and pricing for Houdini itself in our story on Houdini 21.
Read more about the new features in MetaHuman for Houdini on the Unreal Engine forum
Find more technical details in the online documentation
Get the free MetaHuman for Houdini add-on on Fab
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