MetaHuman Creator, the newest cloud-based service provided by Epic Games is allowing players to create high-detail 3D humans for their games or projects using the Unreal Engine.
The service allows you to create a diverse selection of realistic-looking humans, with various presets for hair and facial features. According to Epic Games, the aim for this is to speed up the 3D asset production for games aiming for a more realistic look, letting them work on their games faster.
“Up until now, one of the most arduous tasks in 3D content creation has been constructing truly convincing digital humans. Even the most experienced artists require significant amounts of time, effort, and equipment, just for one character,” shared Vladimir Mastilovic, VP, Digital Humans Technology at Epic Games. “After decades of research and development, and thanks to bringing companies like 3Lateral, Cubic Motion, and Quixel into the Epic family, that barrier is being erased through Unreal Engine, and we’re thrilled to introduce MetaHuman Creator.”
Of course, the service is more than just a preset selector. According to Epic Games, you’ll be able to sculpt your humans as well, adding personal touches that you see fit.
It’s not just about creating static models, though. MetaHuman Creator will also provide tools to animate the models, such as with the Unreal Live Link Face iOS app, and is looking into supporting more forms of performance capture. Alternatively, more traditional animators can also keyframe the models manually, allowing for more exaggerated performances.
To illustrate the quality of the digital humans made possible with MetaHuman Creator, Epic is releasing two fully finished sample characters available to explore, modify, and use in projects running on Unreal Engine 4.26.1 and later. MetaHuman Creator will be available as part of an Early Access program within the next few months