Epic Games has announced a new, browser-based software tool powered by the Unreal Engine called the MetaHuman Creator, which can create highly realistic human faces and help with more realistic body movements and facial animations. Epic offers a preview of the platform today in a few YouTube videos showing examples of creations built with the MetaHuman Creator, and ‘metahuman’ seems to be the term the company uses to describe this brand of virtual, non- describe real individual. .
Epic says the MetaHuman Creator can be used in conjunction with modern motion recording and animation techniques to create lifelike movements and human interaction scenes built for video games, film, TV and other formats. According to the company, these photorealistic people can be generated within minutes and equipped with unique hairstyles and clothes, and then they can be further customized to meet the needs of a production. And these ‘metahumans’ can be manipulated within the tool itself at the right time and only by using a web browser, says Epic.
‘So far, one of the most difficult tasks in creating 3D content has been building compelling digital people. Even the most experienced artists need a lot of time, effort and equipment, just for one character, ”said Vladimir Mastilovic, Epic’s Vice President of Digital Technology, in a statement. “After decades of research and development, and thanks to the addition of companies like 3Lateral, Cubic Motion and Quixel to the Epic family, the barrier with Unreal Engine is being erased, and we are excited to introduce MetaHuman Creator.”
The people created with Epic’s new tool do not approach the photorealism of, for example, the digitally rendered photos of fake people produced by generative adverts networks, it is the AI technique that projects like ‘This Person Do Not Exist.’
But as a kind of tool for creating video games for characters, MetaHuman Creator does seem to be able to create shockingly realistic people who can easily succeed in an actor caught in the real motion. Although, perhaps we should wait to see what the tool is really capable of being in the hands of third-party creators before making a judgment or escaping from the strange valley.
It’s not clear when Epic plans to release MetaHuman Creator beyond a broad 2021 release, but interested developers and artists can sign up for updates on the Unreal Engine website.