As video games and simulations become more realistic, so do the characters that populate them, which in turn means heavier workloads for artists and developers. However, Epic Games just announced a new tool that takes all of the work out of creating realistic digital humans.
Epic may be most well-known right now for being the developer behind Fortnite and for fighting Apple over its cut of App Store sales. But it’s also the company producing some of the best game development tools available today as part of the Unreal Engine, and its latest tool is no exception. It’s called MetaHuman Creator, and it promises to create “a bespoke photorealistic digital human, fully rigged and complete with hair and clothing, in a matter of minutes.”
As the video above demonstrates, these are characters that look as close to real as you can get using today’s hardware, and yet they aren’t handcrafted. As Epic explains, “You can directly manipulate facial features, adjust skin complexion, and select from preset body types, hairstyles, clothing, and more. You can even edit your character’s teeth!” For developers, it’s a tool that could save them months of work and a significant amount of money. For Epic, it’s just another reason for developers to consider using Unreal Engine over its competitors.
MetaHuman will be offered as a “cloud-streamed app” which produces characters that can be imported directly into Unreal Engine with the click of a button. For now, we’re just being given a sneak peek and developers can download a couple of sample characters to play with. Epic says the tool will become available to use later this year.
