FaceNinja
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The inventory

Everything in a head, unpacked.

This is the inventory: every file, map and shape you download, and what each is for. It is the same whether the head came from the API, an AI agent or the web app, and it is what your pipeline can rely on. One head costs $15 and includes all of it.

Files of one head
Three-quarter render of a FaceNinja head built from a synthetic photo
captain-vera/
├─ head.glb          GLB · 4K maps · 52 ARKit shapes
├─ head.fbx          FBX · centimetres · 52 ARKit shapes
├─ head-obj.zip      OBJ + MTL + maps
├─ head.stl          millimetres · for print previews
├─ head.ply          vertex colours
└─ metahuman.zip     for MetaHuman Creator
   ├─ head.fbx       MetaHuman vertex order
   ├─ Head_Color.png    4096 px
   ├─ Head_Normal.png   4096 px · DirectX
   ├─ Head_Cavity.png   4096 px
   ├─ Head_SRMF.png     4096 px
   ├─ groom.json · groom.md
   └─ README          the Unreal steps, by hand
Illustrative layout. Each format is a separate download; names follow your head's name.

One mesh, every face.

Every head is MetaHuman head topology with the neck and upper shoulders, eyes and teeth. Head 1 and head 500 share every vertex index and every UV, so one rig, one material and one set of texture masks fit both. Blending two faces is a vertex-by-vertex mix.

Mesh specification
TopologyMetaHuman head, neck and shoulders; fixed vertex order and UVs
EyesIn their sockets, iris colour from the photo, a clear cornea shell that turns with the gaze
TeethIncluded
ScaleLife size in real units (GLB: 1 unit = 10 cm; FBX: centimetres; STL: millimetres). Optionally scaled to the person's measured size

Four 4K maps, in MetaHuman's UV layout.

The skin comes from your photo, not from a library. Freckles, moles and lines stay. Wrinkles and pores become relief in the normal map, and freckles stay as colour instead of turning into dents.

Skin maps
MapFile in the MetaHuman ZIPWhat it holds
Base colourHead_ColorSkin colour with the photo's lighting taken out
NormalHead_NormalWrinkles and pores as relief
CavityHead_CavityPores and creases for shading
Specular / roughnessHead_SRMFShine and roughness, packed for Unreal's skin material

Download options (GLB, OBJ, FBX): JPEG, PNG or no maps · OpenGL or DirectX normal maps · 1K, 2K or 4K. The MetaHuman ZIP is always PNG, DirectX, 4K.

Skin the photos do not show, such as under the hair, is completed so the head has no gaps. A beard is reduced to stubble on the skin so the beard groom has a clean surface. The finest grain on plain skin is not the person's own.

The 3D MetaHuman head FaceNinja built from that photo
The orange cast is gone from the skin; the wrinkles stay as relief. Synthetic person.

All 52 ARKit shapes, tongueOut included.

Every expression shape is made for this face, under ARKit's own names. Anything that outputs ARKit weights (iPhone face tracking, Live Link Face, webcam trackers, lip-sync tools) drives the GLB or FBX straight away. three.js and Babylon.js load the GLB as is.

Tip: tongueOut moves only the tongue. Pair it with jawOpen at about 0.3, as a captured face would.

The 52 names

Eyes (14)
  • eyeBlinkLeft
  • eyeBlinkRight
  • eyeLookDownLeft
  • eyeLookDownRight
  • eyeLookInLeft
  • eyeLookInRight
  • eyeLookOutLeft
  • eyeLookOutRight
  • eyeLookUpLeft
  • eyeLookUpRight
  • eyeSquintLeft
  • eyeSquintRight
  • eyeWideLeft
  • eyeWideRight
Jaw (4)
  • jawForward
  • jawLeft
  • jawRight
  • jawOpen
Mouth (23)
  • mouthClose
  • mouthFunnel
  • mouthPucker
  • mouthLeft
  • mouthRight
  • mouthSmileLeft
  • mouthSmileRight
  • mouthFrownLeft
  • mouthFrownRight
  • mouthDimpleLeft
  • mouthDimpleRight
  • mouthStretchLeft
  • mouthStretchRight
  • mouthRollLower
  • mouthRollUpper
  • mouthShrugLower
  • mouthShrugUpper
  • mouthPressLeft
  • mouthPressRight
  • mouthLowerDownLeft
  • mouthLowerDownRight
  • mouthUpperUpLeft
  • mouthUpperUpRight
Brows (5)
  • browDownLeft
  • browDownRight
  • browInnerUp
  • browOuterUpLeft
  • browOuterUpRight
Cheeks (3)
  • cheekPuff
  • cheekSquintLeft
  • cheekSquintRight
Nose (2)
  • noseSneerLeft
  • noseSneerRight
Tongue (1)
  • tongueOut
Try them on a head

The groom recipe.

A MetaHuman head is bald by design: hair, brows, lashes and beards are grooms. Every head comes with a recipe that names them.

  • One recommendation per slot (hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, moustache, beard, peach fuzz) plus the next-best options with scores
  • Melanin, Redness and Whiteness for each, with swatches
  • “Leave empty” when the person has no beard, instead of a default
  • groom.json for tools and groom.md for people, in every MetaHuman ZIP, so a pipeline can apply the recipe without reading it

Colours are approximate. Strongly coloured light in the photo shifts them.

Neck and trapezius, fitted to the person.

The neck matches the person's own width and depth, and the trapezius line sits where theirs does. A body that joins it fits without a step at the collar.

Back view of the head with the neck and trapezius fitted to the person
Back view. Synthetic person.
More about the neck

Six formats, one price.

Formats
FormatAPI formatWhat you getTypical use
GLBglbBinary glTF with embedded maps and clear corneas; with or without the 52 ARKit shapesWeb, three.js, Babylon.js, Unity, Godot
FBXfbxCentimetres, Y-up, MetaHuman vertex order, maps embedded; with or without ARKit shapesUnreal, Maya, Blender
OBJobjA ZIP with the OBJ, its MTL and the mapsAny DCC tool
STLstlMillimetres, life size; open at the neckPrint previews
PLYplyTriangle mesh with vertex coloursPoint and mesh tools
MetaHuman ZIPmetahuman_ziphead.fbx in MetaHuman vertex order, the four 4K maps, the groom recipe, an Unreal READMEMetaHuman Creator

Download any format as often as you like, for 30 days after the head finishes. It is all included in the head. Need them from code? The API returns the same six: Developers. Or ask your agent for “every head as FBX”: Use with AI agents.

From ZIP to finished MetaHuman.

With the MetaHuman ZIP you can do the Unreal steps yourself, and the README walks you through them. Or let our Unreal automation do them for you (early access):

  1. Conform the MetaHuman face to the FaceNinja mesh. The rig and facial animation follow.
  2. Override the skin with the person's maps. Without this step MetaHuman picks a stock skin, and the freckles, moles and wrinkles are gone.
  3. Put on the grooms from the recipe, with their colours.
  4. Pick a body that matches the fitted neck and shoulders.
Ask for early access
The head with its hair preview
With its hair preview. In Unreal the recommended groom takes its place.

Check it before you download.

The web app opens every finished head in a 3D viewer. It shows expression presets driven by the head's own ARKit shapes, a hair preview coloured from your photos, and the groom recipe alongside. The hair preview is for judging resemblance only; it is not exported.

Try the viewer

What a head does not include.

  • Hair in the mesh. Hair is a groom: recommended and previewed, not modelled.
  • Ear shape from the photo. Ear shape is not taken from the photo, so the ears are not the person's own.
  • Pore-level detail on plain skin. The texture is from your photos at 4K, but the finest grain on plain skin is not the person's own.
  • Expression sets beyond the 52 ARKit shapes.
  • Heads from a name or a web search. You upload photos of someone who agreed.

All of this, for one photo.

1,500 credits a head, at $0.01 a credit.

Create an accountSee all prices