Epic Games demonstrated the MetaHuman Animator tool at the GDC 2023 event – it is designed to create realistic facial expressions using motion capture technology, and a mobile phone camera is enough for its operation.
Image source: youtube.com/@officialninjatheory
MetaHuman Animator’s capabilities are shown in an excerpt from Ninja Theory’s upcoming game Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. Actress Melina Juergens, who plays the main character, acted out a scene that her character repeated. When working in the studio, expensive cameras designed to capture motion were used, so the result was amazing. Although the technology allows the use of almost any camera, this can make things a lot easier for independent game creators who are looking for easy ways to animate characters.
MetaHuman technology is based on artificial intelligence algorithms and an extensive database of facial animations. Epic Games obtained this data set by acquiring several motion capture technology companies, including Cubic Motion, 3Lateral and Hyprsense – new MetaHuman Animator capabilities enable real-time performance of the solution. The release of the updated tool is expected this summer.
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