Wednesday, May 25th, 2022 Posted by Jim Thacker

Reallusion releases Character Creator 4


Originally posted on 5 November 2021. Scroll down for news of the commercial release.

Reallusion has unveiled Character Creator 4, the next major version of its 3D character creation tool.

The update lets users import a much greater range of character rigs into the software, with rigs from 3ds Max, Blender, Maya and Unreal Engine converted automatically.

Other key changes include improved import and management of props, a new extended expression profile with over 140 facial blendshapes, and a new ‘smart’ skin colour shader.

Import any rigged character, with many biped rigs converted automatically
Character Creator 4 makes it possible to work with a much greater range of characters inside the software, with the option to import and edit both humanoid characters and creatures.

Users can import any rigged biped character in FBX format and remap it to a HumanIK rig, making it possible to use with the full range of animation features in iClone, Reallusion’s animation software.

3ds Max Biped rigs, Blender Rigify Meta-Rigs, DAZ G3 and G8 characters, Maya Human IK rigs, Mixamo characters and Unreal Engine characters are remapped automatically.

It is also possible to import non-humanoid rigs, but they are compatible with a more limited range of features in iClone: facial animation and the Motion Live mocap plugin are not supported, for example.

However, it is now possible to set up secondary motion for creature body parts like tails on any imported or native character via a new Spring Effects system.

Better workflows for importing and organising props, animation preview system
Support for props has also been expanded, with the option to batch import assets, and organise them into hierarchies inside Character Creator’s Scene Manager.

Users can also optimise props for real-time use via Character Creator’s InstaLOD technology.

In addition, the update adds a new animation preview and display system, with preset motions intended to test a character’s rig, facial animation and hair and clothing simulation.



Extended expression profile provides over 140 facial blendshapes
The existing set of 63 facial blendshapes for Character Creator CC3+ characters has been extended to an “advanced facial expression set” containing over 140 facial blendshapes.

The new shapes provide greater control over a character’s eyes and mouth, including new options for eyeball rotation, eye widening, eye blink crease lines, pupil size, and lip roll and pucker.

It is also possible to modify blendshapes in external sculpting software like ZBrush, or other DCC applications that support ZBrush’s GoZ bridge technology.



Delta Mush smooths unwanted artefacts in character meshes
Updated 24 March 2022: Character Creator 4 also introduces a Delta Mush system, similar to that used in other animation packages, for smoothing character meshes.

Reallusion’s implementation enables users to marquee-select part or all of the mesh and smooth it iteratively, to remove unwanted artefacts when a figure is scaled or reposed. You can see it at 02:05 in the video above.



New Smart Skin Color Shader
Reallusion has also introduced a new Skin Color shader, supplementing the existing Digital Human Shader, and capable of creating both natural skin tones and effects like make-up and creature skin.

The firm describes the workflow as a quicker alternative to Character Creator’s existing SkinGen system. Skin colour can be baked to texture for export.

But still no dynamic wrinkles yet
However, one long-awaited feature not currently due in Character Creator 4 is the dynamic facial wrinkle system originally slated for Character Creator 3.3, and later rescheduled for version 3.4.

According to Reallusion’s forum thread, dynamic wrinkles will now be supported “in the next release”.

Free edition discontinued, along with the 3DXChange add-on
In addition, Reallusion is discontinuing the old free edition of Character Creator, available to users of iClone and designed to export characters to the animation software.

The firm is also scrapping 3DXChange, the paid add-on required by users of the free edition to export characters to other DCC applications in OBJ or FBX format.

Part of its functionality has been integrated into Character Creator 4 itself – you can see the list of file formats it imports and exports here – with the price of the paid edition rising correspondingly, from $199 to $299.



Updated 12 May 2022: Reallusion has released Character Creator 4.

The official release trailer is embedded above, and you can see video tutorials covering the new features on Reallusion’s YouTube channel, and find detailed documentation in the online manual.

Pricing and availability
Character Creator 4 is available for Windows 7+. New licences cost $299.


Read an overview of the new features in Character Creator 4 on Reallusion’s blog

Read the online documentation for Character Creator 4