Your Own Mesh

Use TensionFX on Your Own Mesh

This is the standard workflow for a normal skeletal mesh (anything that isn't a MetaHuman). It's two parts: assign a Deformer Graph so the mesh writes its stretch/squash vertex colors, then use those vertex colors in a material.

For MetaHumans, follow MetaHumans instead — they need a different deformer and a material-function swap.

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Part A — Assign the Deformer Graph

The Deformer Graph is what measures stretch/squash and writes it into the mesh's vertex colors (Red = stretch, Green = squash).

1. Open your Skeletal Mesh asset.
2. In the asset Details panel, find Default Mesh Deformer (type deform in the details search box to jump to it).
3. Set it to the deformer that matches how your mesh moves:
   • DG_TensionFX_LBSkinning — for ordinary skinned meshes (most cases).
   • DG_TensionFX_Morph_and_MLDeformers — if your mesh is driven by morph targets or an ML Deformer.

That's it for the data. With the deformer assigned, the mesh now writes live stretch/squash into its vertex colors every frame. You can preview the raw vertex colors by temporarily assigning a debug material (M_TensionDebug reads vertex color straight to emissive).

The deformer also exposes power constants inside the graph itself, so you can bias stretch/squash strength at the deformer level (affecting every mesh that uses it) rather than per-material. See Material Controls & Tuning.

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Part B — React to the vertex colors in your material

Now make a material that does something with the stretch/squash values.

The quickest path is to start from the provided example material so you can see the wiring, then adapt it:

1. Open MI_Sqworm in Content/TensionFX/Examples/Sqworm/Materials/, or open its parent material to see the full graph.
2. The pattern is simple:
   • A Vertex Color node brings in the values.
   • Red channel = stretch amount, Green channel = squash amount.
   • Those drive color, roughness, and (in the wrinkle example material) procedural wrinkles, each behind an on/off switch and a power/strength control.

To use it on your mesh, either assign that material (swapping the base textures for yours) or rebuild the same Vertex-Color→effect wiring in your own material.

Some controls to start with

Create a Material Instance of your material to tune it non-destructively. The example material exposes things like Stretch/Squash Power, roughness and saturation shifts, and the wrinkle controls — see Material Controls & Tuning for more. The display colors in the example are just for visualization — change them freely; they don't affect the math.

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Next: Material Controls & Tuning → · or the MetaHuman workflow →