← ArchiveTalk2021
Digital Humans: Inside Epic's MetaHuman Creator
Epic Games VP of Digital Humans Technology presents MetaHuman Creator, detailing the high-fidelity facial rigging system and workflow for generating realistic real-time digital humans.
Abstract
Vladimir Mastilovic, VP of Digital Humans Technology at Epic, presents the MetaHuman Creator, a cloud-streamed browser tool that generates real-time digital human faces from a scanned, data-driven database too large to ship client-side. He explains that the tool computes a full rig of about 700 joints, 700 blend shapes and eight levels of detail in roughly a second, using preset characters and per-region blend spaces plus a direct-manipulation face-IK tool whose end effectors are constrained by real scan data to keep appearances plausible. He details separable low- and high-frequency skin detail that affects texture, geometry and dynamic compression and stretching maps driven by facial muscle contractions, procedurally generated iris color and refraction in the eye shader, and attachable simulated grooms and facial hair. The resulting asset, including geometry, layered textures, joints and blend shapes, exports one-to-one into both Unreal Engine and Maya over an FBX workflow with a live link for animating in Maya while previewing in the engine, and is positioned as a customizable starting point rather than a likeness or scan-replication tool, with MoCap support via ARKit, Faceware, Dynamixyz and others.
How to read this
- Category
- Production talk / system breakdown (MetaHuman Creator)
- Contributions
- Demonstrates MetaHuman Creator, a cloud-streamed browser tool that generates real-time digital human faces from a data-driven scan database too large to ship client-side
- Shows a fast pipeline computing a full rig (about 700 joints, 700 blend shapes, eight LODs) in roughly a second, with scan-constrained face-IK direct manipulation
- Details separable low/high-frequency skin detail, muscle-driven compression/stretch maps, procedural iris shading, attachable grooms, and one-to-one FBX export to Unreal and Maya with live link
- Context
- Relates to photorealistic digital-actor work such as the Digital Emily Project, repackaging scan-based facial capture into a real-time, preset-plus-blend-space authoring tool.Builds on: The Digital Emily Project: Achieving a Photorealistic Digital Actor
- Correctness
- Studio/vendor practice, not peer-reviewed; the results are production-proven and shipping, but figures are presenter-stated and the tool is positioned as a plausible starting point, not a likeness or scan-replication system.
- Clarity
- Accessible; a single viewing conveys the workflow and component breakdown.
- How to read it
- Watch once for the rig structure, the scan-constrained face-IK idea, and the export/live-link workflow; revisit specific segments (skin detail layers, eye shader) if relevant to your own facial pipeline.
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