Epic Games has announced MetaHuman Creator, a new browser-based tool that runs in the cloud via Unreal Engine Pixel Streaming, which lets users create life-like digital humans in about an hour. And right now, we could all use a little more human interaction.
According to Epic, MetaHuman Creator simplifies the design workflow allowing you to create its life-like humans with ease. As adjustments are made, the software blends between actual examples in the libraries in a "plausible, data-constrained way." This blend will help you create more realistic work without needing to know a lot of how-to. To start, the program allows you to select from several preset faces in Unreal Engine's database. The company hasn't said if the library will expand in the future, but knowing how Epic operates, it seems likely.
With the platform, you can choose from 18 different body types, a variety of hairstyles, and different clothing. After creating your human, you can download it via Quixel Bridge for animation and motion capture in Unreal Engine. Besides the LODs, you will also get source data in the form of a Maya file, including, meshes, skeleton, facial rig, animation controls, and materials.
MetaHuman Creator assets are compatible with Live Link Face iOS app, and Epic says they're currently working with a variety of companies for additional support, including ARKit, Faceware, JALI, Speech Graphics, Dynamixyz, DI4D, Digital Domain, and Cubic Motion. Additionally, animations created for one MetaHuman will run on other MetaHumans, enabling users to easily reuse a single performance across multiple Unreal Engine characters or projects.
We've detailed what Unreal Engine can create when it comes to short films and virtual production, and MetaHuman Creator looks freakin' awesome. At the moment, the platform is only available for early access signup. That said, Epic has released two finished sample characters to modify and use in projects running on Unreal Engine 4.26.1 or later. Epic says MetaHuman Creator will be available as part of an early access program starting in the next few months.
For more info, jump over to the Unreal Engine support page.
