Watch amazing MetaHuman Animator demo Blue Dot
Epic Games has released Blue Dot, a photorealistic three-minute animation created in Unreal Engine using the firm’s much-anticipated MetaHuman Animation toolset.
For it, Epic’s 3Lateral studio used MetaHuman Animator to transfer the facial performance of actor Radivoje Bukvić to a MetaHuman character inside Unreal Engine 5.
According to Epic, the final short represents the raw output from MetaHuman Animator with “minimal interventions” from 3Lateral’s artists.
Subtle facial animation generated using Epic Games’ new MetaHuman Animator toolset
Although Epic’s previous Unreal Engine demos have largely been action-packed, intended to showcase the quality of the lighting and effects the game engine can deliver, Blue Dot is deliberately low-key.
The short shows actor Radivoje Bukvić delivering a monologue to camera based on a poem by Serbian writer Mika Antić, focusing on the nuanaces of the facial performance.
Only the more stylised background environment – glimpsed in flashes throughout the short – serves to remind the viewer that Bukvić is actually a 3D character: a MetaHuman.
Based on source footage recorded using a high-end stereo head-mounted camera
The facial performance was extracted from video footage of Bukvić and transferred to a MetaHuman inside Unreal Engine using MetaHuman Animator.
The much-anticipated new facial animation and performance capture toolset was released today as part of the latest update to Epic’s free MetaHuman plugin for Unreal Engine.
Although most of the coverage, including our own, focuses on MetaHuman Animator’s ability to work with iPhone footage, the toolset is also designed for use with professional cameras.
Blue Dot is intended to showcase its high-end production capabilities, 3Lateral having filmed Bukvić’s performance on Take One‘s mocap stage using a stereo head-mounted camera.
According to Epic’s blog post, only “minimal interventions” were required to refine the raw output from MetaHuman Animator into the final animation.
You can see cinematographer Ivan Šijak discuss the project in the video above, which also features concept artist Aaron Sims discussing how Aaron Sims Creative has adopted MetaHuman Animator in its own work.
Read more about the making of Blue Dot on Epic Games’ blog
Added 21 September: Read a more detailed making-of on Epic Games’ blog