Reimagining Characters with Unreal Engine's MetaHuman Creator

Book excerpt: Discover the power of Unreal Engine 5 and the MetaHuman Creator in this illustrated guide to develop 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 DescriptionMetaHuman Creator (MHC) is an online, user-friendly 3D design tool for creating highly realistic digital humans that can be animated within Unreal Engine (UE) and enhanced with motion capture technology. This means that filmmakers and game developers now have access to a high quality, affordable solution that was previously only available to specialist studios. This book will focus on using UE5 and MHC from a filmmaker angle. Firstly, you’ll understand how to use the online MHC to create a digital character, changing its facial structure, body type, and clothing. After that, you’ll learn all the necessary steps to bring the character into UE5 and set it up for animation. Then, using an iPhone and a webcam to capture face and body movements, you’ll mix these motion capture files, refine the animations using the MetaHuman Control Rig, and save these takes to be reused and edited again within the Level Sequencer. On top of that, you’ll learn how to create a rendered video file for film production using both the Level Sequencer and a VR Cinematic Camera. By the end of this book, you’ll have created your own MetaHuman character, as well as face and body motion capture data, and learned the necessary skills to give your future projects further realism and creative control.What you will learn Create your own bespoke character using MHC Develop custom faces based on real people Utilize Blueprints to take control of your digital character Retarget animations using the Unreal Mannequin Use DeepMotion and Live Link for complete body and face animation Use the Control Rig to refine animations Export and render your character Who this book is for This book is for filmmakers and hobbyists who are planning to make a film using Unreal Engine for the first time, having worked in live action or purely digital media previously, either professionally or as a hobby. No experience with Unreal Engine is required, however it is useful to have some knowledge of 3D development applications and concepts like wireframes, skin weights, transform tools, and motion capture. 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.