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Bake Mesh

Editor-only node. Runs only in Mesh Morpher Graph inside the Unreal Editor, because it reads or writes Unreal Engine assets. Not available in the standalone Mesh Morpher Studio app.

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Editor-only node. Runs only in Mesh Morpher Graph inside the Unreal Editor, because it reads or writes Unreal Engine assets. Not available in the standalone Mesh Morpher Studio app.

Bake Mesh node

The Bake Mesh node

When to use it

Editor only. Writes the edited geometry back into the project asset it came from, closing a Load Skeletal Mesh or Load Static Mesh round trip. It can take the reference skeleton, the skeleton asset, an attached DNA, re-projected morph targets, higher LODs and bound grooms along with it.

The Mesh input has to originate from one of those loader nodes, because that is where the asset path comes from. A mesh that came from a file import has nowhere to bake to, and the node will say so.

For a new asset instead of overwriting the source, Export Dynamic Mesh To Skeletal Mesh.

Press Bake Mesh. This modifies content on disk, which is why no wire change will ever trigger it.

How to use it

  1. 1

    Connect the modified mesh, tracing back to an asset loader

  2. 2

    Choose what the bake should write

  3. 3

    Click Bake Mesh

Pins

Pin Type Description
Mesh Mesh The edited mesh. It must trace back to Load Skeletal Mesh or Load Static Mesh, or the bake has no asset to write to.

Settings

Setting Type Description
Bake Reference Skeleton True/False Writes the mesh's bone hierarchy and rest pose back onto the asset. Turn it off to keep the asset's existing skeleton and change only geometry.
Bake To Skeleton Asset True/False Pushes the bone changes into the shared Skeleton asset as well, not just this mesh. Every other mesh on that skeleton feels it, so leave it off unless you meant to change them all.
Bake Mesh Data True/False Writes the geometry itself: positions, triangles, UVs, materials. Off means only the skeleton side of the bake happens.
Bake Vertex Colors True/False Carries your painted vertex colours into the asset. Off and the build drops the colour channel, so the asset comes back white.
Bake Skin Weights True/False Carries your painted skin weights into the asset. Skeletal meshes only.
Bake To DNA Asset (if available) True/False Updates the MetaHuman DNA riding along on the asset so the rig keeps up with the new shape. Skipped if you changed the vertex count, since the DNA can no longer be matched up.
Bake Groom Assets (Experimental) True/False Also updates grooms bound to this mesh, so hair follows the new surface instead of floating off it. Experimental, and slow on a full head.
Remove Scaling True/False Strips scale off every bone, keeping position and rotation. Bones end up at a scale of 1. Reach for it when a rig arrived with baked-in scale that fights animation.
Reapply Morph Targets True/False Rebuilds the asset's morph targets against the new shape. Only does anything when you changed the vertex count; if the count still matches, the morphs already line up and are left alone.
Projection Quality Whole number How finely the old mesh is subdivided before the morphs are re-read off it. Two or three steps is plenty. Push it higher and the bake slows to a crawl for no visible gain.
Normal Threshold Number How far apart two surfaces can face and still be matched during the morph rebuild, as a fraction of half a turn. The 0.5 default allows anything up to a right angle. Lower it when a morph latches onto the wrong side of something thin like an eyelid or a lip. Set it to 0 and the check is off entirely, which is the opposite of strict.
Skip Material Matching True/False Lets the morph rebuild match vertices across different material slots. Turn it on when the new mesh has its materials split up differently from the old one.
Apply To LODs True/False Pushes your edit down onto the asset's other LODs too. Only runs when the vertex count still matches the original; change the count and every LOD below the one you edited stays on the old shape.
Transfer UVs To LODs True/False Copies the base mesh's UVs onto the other LODs as well. It overwrites whatever UV layout each LOD had, and it welds their UV seams shut, so leave it off if the lower LODs were unwrapped on purpose.
Vertex Threshold Number How far the LOD projection will search for a matching point on the edited mesh. Too low and parts of the LOD never move. Too high and the change jumps a gap onto the wrong side of a fold, so lips pull into teeth and eyelids stick shut.
Normal Incompatibility Threshold Number How different two surfaces can face before the projection treats them as unrelated. It is what stops triangles turning inside out where two surfaces nearly touch.
Smooth Type Choice How the projected result gets smoothed. Preserve UV Flow keeps the smoothing from dragging UVs around, which is usually what you want on a textured character.
Smooth Strength Number How hard each smoothing pass pulls. Small values here; large ones melt the detail you just projected.
Smooth Iterations Whole number How many smoothing passes to run. Zero means none at all, which is the default, so nothing above has any effect until you raise this.

Available in Mesh Morpher Graph only. Compare the products.