Print view · Create DNA · 1 pageChoose "Save as PDF" as the destination in the print dialog.
Back to the docs

Mesh Morpher documentation

Create DNA

1 page · exported 2026-09-06 · https://meshmorpher.com/docs/studio-and-graph/metahuman-dna/create-dna

Studio and Graph › MetaHuman DNA

Create DNA

Builds a brand new MetaHuman-shaped DNA from a mesh: skeleton, skin weights and geometry, plus a structurally complete but functionally identity behavior layer underneath - no controls, no blendsha...

Create DNA node

The Create DNA node

When to use it

Builds a brand new MetaHuman-shaped DNA from a mesh: skeleton, skin weights and geometry, plus a structurally complete but functionally identity behavior layer underneath - no controls, no blendshapes, so RigLogic evaluates it and nothing moves. This is a geometry-and-skeleton round trip, not a rig round trip. To edit an existing DNA and keep its rig, use Bake DNA Geometry instead.

How to use it

  1. 1

    Wire your base mesh (bones + skin weights already on it, e.g. from a DNA To Mesh sculpt or an Auto Rig) into Mesh. It becomes LOD 0

  2. 2

    Optionally wire coarser LODs into Additional LODs, element i becoming LOD i+1

  3. 3

    Pick Body Part - it decides the db-name convention and the default mesh name, nothing geometric

  4. 4

    Press Create DNA

    This is a geometry-and-skeleton round trip, not a rig round trip: the file this produces has no GUI controls and no blendshapes. Chain Create DNA → Set DNA Blendshape to author shapes on top of it.

Pins

Pin Type Description
Mesh Mesh The base mesh. Its bones and skin weights become the new DNA's skeleton and weights. Becomes LOD 0.
AdditionalLODs Mesh List Optional coarser LODs, in order - element 0 becomes LOD 1, element 1 becomes LOD 2, and so on. Leave unwired for a single-LOD DNA.
TemplateDNA DNA Optional. The rig donor when Scaffold Rig is on. Leave unwired to use the engine's own MetaHuman archetype for Body Part when available.
Pin Type Description
DNA DNA The new DNA. Empty until Create DNA succeeds - never a partial file.

Settings

Setting Type Description
Body Part Choice Whether the file describes a head or a body. Head / Face uses the mh.6 db-name convention, head_lod_mesh mesh names and the 8-LOD convention; Body uses mhb.1, body_lod_mesh and 4.
DNA Name Text The descriptor's own Name field - metadata inside the file. No longer overridable from a pin (the DNAName override input pin is gone); edit it here.
Ethnicity Choice The archetype field is an ethnicity field (asian/black/caucasian/hispanic/ alien/other), never head-vs-body - Body Part above is the separate answer to that question.
Gender Choice
Age Whole number
Write UVs True/False Write real UVs. Off writes the same layout structure with placeholder (0,1) UVs, so a later re-topology tool still finds a UV channel.
Write Skin Weights True/False Write the mesh's own skin weights. Off writes no skin weights at all - the mesh will not deform under any pose.
Synthesize Root Joint True/False When the mesh carries no bones at all, add a single "root" joint at the origin and bind every vertex to it 100%, rather than refusing. A DNA needs at least one joint - JointRowCount is JointCount*9, and zero is a defect the validator reports, not a legal empty rig.
Max Influences Per Vertex Whole number Skin weights are truncated to this many influences per vertex (fewest- first dropped, matching the reader's own influence ordering). RigLogic's own MAX_TOTAL_INFLUENCES ceiling is 12.
Scaffold Rig True/False Also donate a rig from a template DNA - generic face expressions for Head, RBF/twist-swing machinery for Body - so the created DNA is immediately drivable instead of geometry+skeleton only. Off by default: the plain geometry+skeleton contract stays what Create DNA promises unless you ask for more. The template is transferred by matching joint names against your mesh's own skeleton - never a hard-coded control list - so a mesh whose bone names do not match the template gets little or nothing scaffolded, honestly reported either way. Geometry, skin weights and your mesh's own neutral pose are never touched by this - only the rig layers are donated. Wire Template DNA to choose the source explicitly; leave it unwired to use the engine's own MetaHuman archetype for the chosen Body Part when available, or a badge naming the fix when it is not.
Bone Mapping List of MMDNA Bone Map Row Which bone in your mesh's own skeleton a template joint donates its rig to, keyed by template joint - Writable by the in-app agent but hidden from the ordinary properties rows; the bone-map panel is its real editor. Reactively prefilled from the resolved scaffold template whenever it changes; explicit Auto-Map/Clear via the widget's buttons force a full re-map / empty it.

Learn more

Modify MetaHuman RBF posesRead the walkthrough on meshmorpher.comhttps://meshmorpher.com/blog/modify-metahuman-rbf-poses
Modify DNA bone expressionsRead the walkthrough on meshmorpher.comhttps://meshmorpher.com/blog/modify-meta-human-dna-bone-expressions-with-mesh-morpher
Custom DNA topologyRead the walkthrough on meshmorpher.comhttps://meshmorpher.com/blog/custom-dna-topology-with-mesh-morpher-graph

Available in Mesh Morpher Graph and Mesh Morpher Studio.