You can get a full MetaHuman body and face skeleton (with full face rig GUI) by using the standalone version of Quixel Bridge.

(Last updated June 2024)

Software needed

• Maya 2022 or Maya 2023 (there is currently no plugin for 2024 – see official Quixel help page – actually as of June 2024 its annoyingly moved to this weird Fab page)
• The free standalone version of Quixel Bridge (download here)

Process

• Open Maya 2022, with a new blank scene
• Open the desktop version of Quixel Bridge.
  • In the right top corner, click the icon of a person, and sign into your account.
  • In the top menu, go Edit > Download Settings. In the MODELS tab, change the MetaHumans dropdown to be “Source Asset”
  • In the top menu, go Edit > Export Settings. Change the “Export Target” dropdown to be Maya. Install the plug-in if necessary and restart both programs.
  • In Quixel Bridge, click METAHUMANS on the left hand side. Make sure you’re in the “MetaHuman Preset U-E-5” section. Click the tile of your selected MetaHuman.
  • On the right side, click the “Download” button.
  • When the metahuman is finished downloading in Bridge, click “Export”.
• Switch to Maya.
  • In Maya, click YES to the dialogue box.
  • It can take up to 20 minutes to load the metahuman, depending on your pc.
  • Once it’s loaded, you’ll see the feet of the MetaHuman.
  • The scene defaults to being z-up. But we need it to be Y-up.
  • Go  WINDOWS > SETTINGS / PREFERENCES > PREFERENCES
  • In the popup, click “settings” on the left hand side.
  • Change the “up axis” to “y”.
  • While we’re here, you should also change something else.
    • So under “settings” on the left, click “animation”.
    • Then make sure, “NEW H-I-K CURVE DEFAULT”, is set to “Independent Euler angle curves”.
    • This is just something you should get in the habit of doing any time you’re working with Maya, to make MetaHuman animation work in the future.
  • Now, on the left, click “color management“. Turn off the checkbox for “Enable Color Management“. This stops the skin looking bright red in the viewport.
  • Click “Save” to close this dialogue box.
  • Now in the Outliner, click, “root_drv”.
  • In the channel box, change ROTATE “x” to -90.
  • Now in the outliner, click “Lights”.
  • And in the channel box, again change ROTATE “x” to -90.
  • Now in the Outliner, twirl down, “rig”.
  • Then “Head grp”.
  • Then click to select, “head rig grp”.
  • And in the Channel box, change ROTATE “x”, to -90.
  • Go into the “view” menu above the “Viewport”. Hover over, “View Along Axis”. Then click -Z.
  • Press F on the keyboard, to frame the entire body.
  • Okay, now go FILE > SAVE SCENE AS.
  • To the end of the name, add “_01_Y-up“. (For example “Svetka_full_rig_01_Y-up.mb“)
  • And click “SAVE AS”.

Next Steps

You might want to export the body mesh for Marvelous Designer.

You also might want to then add a HumanIK rig to the body, to make it easier to animate – and to more easily import and apply animations.

See How to add a HumanIK rig (HIK) to a MetaHuman body in a source file from Quixel Bridge