Designing lifelike people into a video game can be a time-consuming process for video game developers, but the new MetaHuman Creator for Unreal Engine can make it a much simpler process. According to Epic Games, the cloud-stream app includes a number of different options for producing ‘MetaHuman’ characters, including hairstyles and body types. Users start by choosing from predefined faces and then make adjustments. Once the user is done, the creation can be downloaded via Quixel Bridge for use in Unreal Engine. MetaHuman Creator is free from Unreal Engine and offers this technology to a much larger pool of potential users.
A preview for the app can be found in the Tweet below.
We introduce MetaHumans – the next generation of digital people. # UE4
Animation and ready for mocap, #MetaHumans will be created by you using the new easy-to-use MetaHuman Creator.
Get a sneak peak at this groundbreaking new tool: https: //t.co/oF9yUcNByn
– Unreal Engine (@UnrealEngine) 10 February 2021
Users will be able to animate these MetaHumans using various tools, including Unreal’s Live Link Face iOS app. Epic Games is also enabling support from vendors such as ARKit, Digital Domain, and more. Animations created using one MetaHuman can then be used for additional projects, potentially saving developers even more time. An early access version of the program is currently running, but a fixed release date has not been announced.
If MetaHuman Creator really works as advertised, it can be of great benefit to developers and publishers. The development of video games has become increasingly expensive over the years and the new console generation leads to greater expectations of players. MetaHuman Creator can save an immeasurable amount of time, allowing developers to shift their focus to other priorities.
However, there are possible disadvantages. In the responses to Unreal Engine’s Tweet, some note that they are concerned that this could lead to some games having human characters that look exactly the same. It can quickly become boring and lead to less creativity. It remains to be seen whether this will eventually be the case, but the individual developers need to make sure they create models that really stand out.
What do you think of MetaHuman Creator so far? Do you think this will be a big advantage for developers? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to play all games!