Reimagining Characters with Unreal Engine's MetaHuman Creator

Discover the power of MetaHuman Creator and Unreal Engine 5 to create realistic digital characters, infusing them with full body and facial animation

Key Features

• Create realistic characters using the MetaHuman Creator using a mixture of preset and custom tools
• Import your character into Unreal Engine 5 to access more editing options and begin animating it
• Combine face and body motion capturing to fully animate your digital humans

Book Description

The MetaHuman Creator is a user-friendly 3D design tool for creating highly realistic digital humans, which can then be animated within the Unreal Engine, particularly using Motion Capture. This means that filmmakers and game developers now have access to a highly realistic and affordable solution which was previously exclusive to specialist studios.

In this book, we are going to focus on using the MetaHuman Creator and UE5 from a filmmaker angle. Firstly, you'll discover how to use the online MetaHuman Creator from changing facial structures, clothing, and body types. Then you'll learn all the necessary steps to bring the character into the Unreal Engine and set it up for animation using library motion capture files. With an iPhone you'll learn how to create your own facial capture and mix it with body motion capture files, refine the animation using the MetaHuman control rig, and save out the Animation Takes to be reused and edited again within a Level Sequencer. You'll then learn how to save it out as a Blueprint for game play or as a rendered video file for film production using a VR Cinematic Camera.

By the end of this book, you'll have accomplished your own character creation, face and body motion capture, and have learned the skills to take it to the next level for further realism and creative control.

What you will learn

• Create your own bespoke characters using the MetaHuman Creator
• Utilize blueprints to take control of your digital character
• Retarget animations using the Unreal Mannequin
• Use Deep Motion and Live Link for full body and face animation
• Utilize the Control Rig to refine the animations
• Export and render your characters

Who This Book Is For

This book is for filmmakers and hobbyists who are planning to make a film using Unreal for the first time, having worked in live action or purely digital media previously, either professionally or personally. Little to no experience with the Unreal Engine is required, however it is useful to have some general knowledge of 3D development applications and concepts like wireframes, skin weights, transform tools, motion capture etc.

It is recommended that you have access to an iPhone X (or a later model). Alternatively, you can use a free or paid version of Faceware, along with a basic webcam.

Table of Contents

1. Installing Bridge and setting up an Unreal Account
2. Creating Characters in The Metahumans Interface
3. Diving into The Metahumans Blueprint
4. Retargeting Animations using the Unreal Mannequin and Metahuman
5. Setting up Live Link & Recalibration
6. Deep Motion and FBX to create your own body mocap library
7. Using the Blueprint in Level Sequencer and recording using Take Recorder
8. Making minor adjustments using the Control Rig
9. Exporting, merging and blending takes
10. Export animations as Blueprints, and FBX animations
11. Rendering out Animation