Use Faceware Studio for free for six months
Markerless motion-capture specialist Faceware Technologies has launched Faceware Studio PLE, a new free edition of Faceware Studio, its real-time facial mocap software.
The PLE licence enables artists to use Faceware Studio free for six months for non-commercial game development, visual effects or virtual production projects.
Faceware is pitching the promo as a way to animate characters created using MetaHuman Creator, Epic Games’ free next-gen character creator.
Solve an actor’s facial movements in real time and stream the data to MotionBuilder or game engines
Launched last year, Faceware Studio processes footage of a single actor’s face, and streams the resulting data to a CG character in MotionBuilder, Unity or Unreal Engine.
Users can modulate the animation data the software outputs using visual controls to tweak the intensity of individual facial movements in real time.
We covered the software on its release, so check out our original story for full details.
New PLE licence lets you use the software free for six months in non-commercial work
The new Faceware Studio PLE enables new users to try Faceware Studio free on non-commercial projects.
Although it’s officially a Personal Learning Edition, as far as we can see, there are no feature restrictions from the commercial edition, making it more like a six-month trial licence.
Faceware describes it as “provid[ing] you with the most recent version of Faceware Studio for six months, free of charge, for non-commercial use only”.
Stream facial animation data to MetaHuman characters inside Unreal Engine
Faceware is currently promoting the PLE licence as a way of animating characters created in MetaHuman Creator, even using ‘METAHUMAN’ as the promo code in its e-store.
MetaHuman Creator is mainly intended to create 3D characters for use in Unreal Engine – for which, you also need Glassbox Technologies’ Live Client plugin to stream the data into the engine from Faceware Studio.
Live Client is a commercial product, but Glassbox has just extended its free trial period to 90 days, making it possible to use the plugin free for half of the usage period for Faceware Studio PLE.
However, MetaHuman Creator can also export characters to Maya, so from there, it should be possible to get them to MotionBuilder or Unity, for which Faceware has free integration plugins.
Pricing and system requirements
Faceware Studio PLE is available free in Faceware Technologies’ e-store by entering the promo code METAHUMAN at checkout to reduce the price to $0. The offer is available until 31 July 2021.
Faceware Studio is available for Windows 7+ only. Commercial use requires a $2,340/year subscription. Perpetual licences are available on enquiry.
Integration plugins are available for MotionBuilder, Unity and Unreal Engine. The former two are free; the third-party UE4 plugin costs $1,300/year.
Read more about Faceware Studio PLE on Faceware Technologies’ blog
Read Faceware’s online documentation for using Faceware Studio to animate MetaHuman characters
Download Faceware Studio PLE free from Faceware’s e-store
(Until 31 July 2021 only: use code METAHUMAN at checkout)